Top Ten Tips to Taking Tasteful Tips

Holiday shows at Greek/Middle Eastern restaurants or at home parties means close contact with your audience. No pressure but, YOU were hired to be the life of the party. You’ve got to be friendly and entertaining while commanding their respect. Maintaining a professional distance from your audience can be tricky, especially when they want to give you a tip. You never know who in the audience is uninhibited enough to take things too far. Getting paid to entertain is one thing, but no tip is worth an unwanted grope.

If you dance well and provide an exciting show, the audience will gladly tip you. In fact, it’s also a big part of their fun. Here are my Top Ten Tips to Taking Tasteful Tips:

1. Tips are Extra: Tips are gratuities. Be sure to make it clear to whoever hires you that gratuities are extra and not part of your performance fee.
2. You decide the Method: There are several different ways you may collect tips, and it is up to you to decide how you want to handle them. Before the show begins, let your host know the method you prefer, whether it is a collection basket, have a tip handed to you, have tips thrown over you, or acquire tips that are tucked into your costume.
3. Using a Basket: A collection basket is best used in a restaurant setting. It can be left in an obvious location that everyone sees, or it can be passed around the room from table to table. Unfortunately, a basket is not as much fun for the audience, so it tends to be the least productive way to earn tips. The advantage is no one touches you.
4. Accepting by Hand: If someone hands you money, you can slide it into your bra strap just in front of your shoulder. This is a great location because you wear the tip like a corsage, which suggests room for more. Also, when you are the one doing the tucking, you can insert the money snugly into your costume, so there’s no worry about it falling out.
5. Tips that are Thrown: In an Arabic nightclub or wedding, tips are often thrown over the dancer’s head, cascading down her body and landing on the floor. Unfortunately, in a nightclub setting, the money on the floor usually belongs to the owner. If your agreement with the owner is that you get at least part of the tips, the owner will arrange for someone to sweep them off the floor and get them to you. At a wedding or similar private event, the tips usually belong to you. Whatever your do, never grovel on the floor to pick up the money. Have someone else pick up the tips after your show is done and bring the tips to your dressing room.
6. Tips that are Tucked: Tips tucked into your costume are the trickiest of all to manage. Western audiences and Turkish audiences prefer tipping in this manner. It’s up to you to maintain your dignity and keep it family-style entertainment. My first and most important suggestion is that you keep moving! Never standstill and easily allow someone to insert money into your costume no matter how benign that costume location may be. Keep dancing. Don’t move so fast that it’s impossible to tip you. A slow-paced dance movement gives the tipper a challenge that the audience will enjoy. It also keeps you safe from lingering fingertips. If the money falls out, ask someone in a fun way to pick up the money and reinsert it into your costume.
7. Directing the Placement of the Tip: When someone indicates to you that they would like to tip you like waving the bill into the air to lure you closer, you can direct the person to where you want it placed in your costume. For example, if they reach for your belt, simply turn your body so that their hand is to the side of your hip. Avoid front-center of your belt for obvious reasons. If they reach for your bra, try to shoulder shimmy and lean them towards a strap rather than over one cup or between the cups. Should the tipper insist on inserting the money into a bra cup or within your cleavage, you must move quickly away so fingers barely reach inside. I can’t stress this enough. When a hand reaches inside your clothing, don’t be naive. Should anyone aggressively grab your costume, disengage their grip as quickly as possible and dance away. You needn’t act angry or say anything, just abandon the tip and the tipper.
8. Stay in Charge: You always have the right to refuse a tip. If someone is too forward or rude, or if someone approaches you with the money in their mouth, you needn’t accept the money. Try your best to stay professional, calm, and cool. Do your best to keep it fun, even if you refuse.
9. Tipper Equality: If someone should give you a very large tip (say a $100 bill), they do not need to be lavished with extra attention. Treat all audience members equally.
10. Lower your Expectations: Your salary should be satisfactory, so that if you do not make any tips at all you are still happy. The best policy is expecting nothing, so you won’t be disappointed. Then when you walk out with extra earnings, you will be twice as thrilled.

The success of your performance is measured on how happy you have made your audience and that you’ve left them with good memories of the celebration for which you were hired to entertain. You need courage and diplomacy to skillfully manage an audience. Only with time and experience can you learn to balance the audience’s pleasure with making your show memorable and profitable. When you perform, it is your personality, talent and charisma that will make it or break it for you as an entertainer.
​
My suggestions are meant to guide and assist. Feel free anytime to write to me your questions or concerns. I encourage you to dance from the heart! It’s all the magic you’ll ever need to succeed.