I’ve noticed the past few times that I was at the Middle Eastern Restaurant that a few of the dancers would go up to a table of men and shimmy to their hearts content and allow the males in the audience to place tips in the front of their bras while shimmying.
I don’t know about you, but I was always taught by my teachers that you never allow anyone to place a tip in the front of your bra. It is disrespectful to us as dancers to allow this to happen.
Charleena’s school of Belly Dance always told us:
“It is okay to accept tips but only on the side of your hip belt”
Professional Middle Eastern Dancer Meleea from Tennessee told me:
“I not only discourage tipping I don’t allow anyone to touch me period”
Alizah from Georgetown mentioned that she was taught that
“It was okay to accept tips on the side of your hip belt as well as
on the side of your bra strap”.
The question I have is should you or shouldn’t you accept tips while dancing? Not every dancer is willing to accept tips tucked into her costume. If you choose to do so, turn to the side and point at your hip and allow them to place the tip on the side of your hip belt. Not the front and not the back.
Why? Because it looks cheap and there’s always a chance audience members may have wandering hands after a few drinks.
A note for everyone, Please don’t beg! It offends the audience members as well as the other dancers if you plant yourself directly in front of the crowd suggesting that you won’t leave until you have been tipped. Customers find this annoying and it makes you look unprofessional.
If you count on tips as part of your performance then you can however, set the expectation. Say you are working in a restaurant; tuck a few dollars into your hip belt before the show which suggests to the audience members that tips are welcome. If you know someone in the audience, prior to your performance, you could ask them to shower you with money while you are dancing to set an example to the audience.
If you are uncomfortable with the thought of total strangers touching you, you might consider dancing with a tambourine and when offered a tip use the tambourine as a receptacle to place your tips in while dancing.
If the tips fall out of your costume or someone showers you with money, don’t bend over to pick up the money it makes you look greedy and it looks tacky. Instead, before you dance, make arrangements with either the staff of the restaurant, DJ, hostess, wait staff, or someone you know that is in the audience to collect any tips for you.
Please ask your teachers there recommendations for placement of tips and their feelings on this matter. As a general rule, don’t ever do anything you don’t feel comfortable doing.
