Re: Question from a new dancer for DJs
Well, all these things vary from club to club, but there are some general trends I can describe and some advice I can give you, that will help.
There are also a lot of other DJs with experience working in all kinds of clubs around the country who might be willing to post as well--and some of them have more experience than I do, too.
Generally speaking, in the smaller clubs, and a fairly large number of medium sized clubs, the dancer will be allowed to pick her music, or at least have a fair amount of say-so in the selection. But money talks, and tipping well is a great way to aid the process, lol.
You are usually better off tipping well if it means you really like what you are dancing to--this will mean you'll dance much better, the customers will like watching even more, and they'll then want to get VIPs from you. An extra 5$ to the DJ could easily mean another 50-100$ to you, depending on how much it matters to you what music you hear, and how cooperative the DJs are.
In the bigger clubs, it's much harder--and it's not necessarily the DJ's fault, especially if he or she has to put up 2-4 (or even more sometimes) dancers on the front or main stage at a time. Then you have 4 dancers, each of whom wants a different song perhaps--it's impossible to please everyone all the time! not to mention other dancers on other stages, but they usually cede precedence to the main stage.
Bigger clubs will often have stricter music policies, as well.
In some of the smaller clubs, there will be strict music policies, too--which mean you can only listen to certain genres, or avoid heavier music or hardcore rap, etc.
Then you'll unfortunately run into the 'bad DJs', and they are out there, trust me, lol. These are guys who don't give a damn what you want, they like what they like, and that's what they're going to play. Some of them even demand large tips regardless! But let's try to be positive for the sake of brevity and good karma.
What you want to do, and hopefully the DJ will help you do, is find a reasonable balance between what the customers want to hear, and what you will dance well to.
If you have a guy who wants to hear The Beatles or other such Fossil rock, and you know for a fact he will be paying you several hundred dollars if you fulfill his fantasy of his dream girl dancing to The Beatles, try like hell to learn to like it!
OTOH, if he likes The Beatles, and he might get a dance, and there's 50 guys who want AC/DC--by all means go for the AC/DC!
You'll have clubs where there is a preponderance of Classic rock fans, others where they like techno and club music, others where they like new rock, etc, etc.--and all mixtures, as well. usually there is an attempt to mix it up, with an eye not only for the kind of customers there, but the kind of customers they want to draw in and satisfy--if they are smart, the guys with money...
Quite often the older guys are the guys with money, and quite often they like older rock, so it would really help most dancers to learn to like it as well. But it's not a hard and fast rule. There are also certain kinds of new rock, R&B, and techno/dance, etc., that will go over way better with guys that like old rock but are flexible in what they can enjoy.
The more flexible you are, the better...
It's good to mix up the songs in a set to a certain extent--you don't want to use three songs by the same band, for instance. It's also quite effective to use similarly themed songs for a set, especially if it goes with your costume or style of dancing or mood (hopefully a good mood, and a sexy one, lol).
Like tonight, I had the pleasure of working with Sky, a really sweet, cute, girl next door type--but she's kinda naughty--so I like playing the Jackyl song "Dirty Little Mind" a hard rocking 80's song that the old guys love even if it's borderline overplayed, but then I will follow it with "Filthy Mind" by Amanda Ghost--sort of a techno song but with a pretty rockish sound to it.
Also, for instance, you'll see threads here about a police or schoolgirl (or whatever) costume, what songs would work, etc.
As far as bringing in your own CDs, some DJs like it, some don't--just make sure they aren't scratched, you know exactly which song it is on the CD you want (especially if it's burned--we don't have much time to be listening to CDs, trying to find songs, lol), and that it's something the management will approve.
OK, I hope I've helped you out, but this is getting long, lol--and also there are other DJs who can definitely help you as well--so let's give them an opportunity now...
Re: Question from a new dancer for DJs
;D Thanks soo much DJoser. Appreciate all the advice.