Would You Accept a Job If..?

[LadyLoba]

This is a spinoff of both the "I'm hot" bragging seen on some of the youtube and dancer web sites...and some other threads on the perception of belly dance and belly dancers.


My question: Would you take a job if the person doing the hiring only seemed to be looking to hire a belly dancer because they found belly dancing sexy?

I'm not talking about a person who failed to understand that belly dancers aren't strippers or was being disrespectful...just someone who wanted to watch a belly dancer because they personally...or the person they were hiring the dancer for...found it sexy? For example...suppose a woman wanted to hire you for a male friend's birthday party and made the comment "Joe Blow will love it. He thinks belly dance is hot" or something along those lines as she made the arrangements.

I'm not going to argue with anyone's answer or anything...as it is each dancer's own decision to make...what gigs they will accept and who they will work for...just wondering what everyone's policy is toward client attitudes or types of events they will dance at.

 

[gisela]

"Joe Blow will love it. He thinks belly dance is hot"

IMO this is a pretty good starting point for doing a gig at a party. It could be a lot worse- like "joe blow hates bellydancers, so we are hiring you to make him suffer"

I was hired for a man's 50th birthday party and the mom (yes his mom)said something along the lines that she was pulling a prank on him or doing it for a laugh or something. It was a perfectly fun and nice gig and the mom and the guests were nothing but nice to me. They were very pleased afterwards.

If they find bellydancing sexy and say so, then I am (mostly) totally ok with that. Of course there are situations were the gig seems fishy and I would then either find out more or refuse the gig.

 

[Darshiva]

I pretty much agree with gisela. The idea is to take the job and show them that it's all this other stuff as well. We can't reject jobs just because the client has a preconceived notion about bellydance that comes direct from hollywood. What we can do is our best, and let our best educate them. If they still think bellydance is sexy afterward, that's okay too - just so long as they keep it in their pants while I'm around.

 

[LadyLoba]

Great answers...I guess I'd be along those lines if I were going to dance professionally. I personally couldn't have a problem with anyone else thinking belly dance is sexy...I think it is too. But it is one thing to think something is sexy but still respect it and the people who do it...and quite another to behave in a creepy way about it. Look how many women (and gay and bi men) find men in ballet or male guitar players or male construction workers or cowboys sexy...and their skills and their work are still respected.

The line I guess I would draw is if they just thought it was sexy...or if they seemed to believe that finding it sexy gave them license to behave in a rude or disrespectful manner toward me or anyone else.

 

[Shanazel]

Depends on whether "sexy" and "hot" mean "really cool and entertaining" or "some drunk dude is gonna try and warm his hands on you."

 

[Amulya]

It depends so much on how they explain things on the phone, you can easily weed out the creeps that way. Most of the times when the words hot or sexy come up it's a no deal for me.

 

[LadyLoba]

Depends on whether "sexy" and "hot" mean "really cool and entertaining" or "some drunk dude is gonna try and warm his hands on you."

Exactly! Very descriptive way to put it.

I have visited several belly dance web sites where the dancer states flat out that they will not accept jobs dancing at bachelor parties...I'm assuming for that precise reason...that bachelor parties often feature many drunk guys under the impression that it's ok to paw at any female who shows up.