The Difference Between Musicians and Dancers

By a bizarre quirk of events I ended up at a small Persian restaurant last Friday night. I got to dance for the band and do a performance, which was wonderful. After all, that is what most belly dancers who perform are trained to do: dance with a live band. There really is nothing short of heaven for those of us who truly love it. I totally understand therefore the competition between dancers to get these precious moments to perform with a live band in public.
I was not paid for my impromptu performance, nor for my willingness to be photographed for the restaurants' ad. I did it for the opportunity to perform and for the free advertisement it gave me. That night, I gave away a handful of business cards, and was solicited for a birthday party the following week. So, I may get private gigs from my efforts as well, which will always be far more lucrative than the amount of cash the restaurant would have been willing to pay me, had they been willing to. So for me, it was a worthwhile endeavor.

For a while it seems that although performance opportunities for both musicians and dancers in general was tough, there still seemed to be more opportunities for musicians than dancers. After all, dancers can always perform to canned music, and we sometimes create our own events such as haflis and fundraisers, for our own opportunities to perform, but these are not paid opportunities. Speaking of paid opportunities, there have always been more for bands than dancers because some places and events will have music without necessarily having a dancer. However, after my conversation with the musicians last Friday night, my suspicion that it was now equally difficult for musicians as well was substantiated by the remarks made by the guys in the band.

I host student showcases usually a couple of times a year for myself, my students and my classes to perform and demonstrate our learning and skills. After hearing the guys in the band lament about how there are no longer enough places or opportunities for them to perform anymore, and how much this saddened and frustrated them, I offered them the opportunity to come and perform for me and my girls at my next upcoming showcase. Of course, I cannot afford to pay them, but, it was an opportunity for them to perform, so I offered.

They looked at me with the eyes of death.

This is the difference between musicians and dancers: dancers are expected to be willing to dance for little or nothing because there are so many more of us than there are opportunities for us, and that we are very eager and grateful for any opportunity to dance and the benefits of the free advertising it grants us. Musicians, on the other hand, will be willing to suffer and languish without the performance opportunity because they will refuse to perform without reasonable pay for any gig.