I'm curious as to what everyone's personal thoughts and plans are in regards to retiring from dancing.
I am currently trying to transition out of dancing
I plan to leave the industry soon (2 years or less)
I have plans to leave, but not for at least a couple more years
I enjoy dancing and plan to stick with it for now
I want to dance as long as I can
I would like to leave, but don't know how/when I'll be able to
I am happily retired
I have retired, but would like to start dancing again





Wish I had made better ones. I just flat out quit with very little savings!
XoXo Gia
Danielle Fishell (the Dish): "If the Super-Star thing doesn't work out, Gia makes a great stripper name"




Haven't stripped since the end of August, but it's too soon for me to call myself retired. All I know is I'm glad to be out of what had become a very demoralizing and un-lucrative environment.





I am for the most part happily retired. I say for the most part because every so often I'll do a bachelor party for a few regulars I've stayed in touch with or someone they recommend. However these parties have gotten fewer and fewer every year and this is fine with me as well.
I doubt I'll ever go back to club dancing though. I started when the money was fantastic (current dancers are stunned when I tell them about making $400 doing bikini air dances) and it started to slow by the time I retired. I got tired of making less and paying more and more to the club. I got tired of the rude customers and the cheapos. I got tired of those dancers who were there only to find johns for a trick. I got tired of certain clubs hiring anyone who walked in the door, including extremely obese and homely dancers. I got tired of clubs expecting me to do more and more just to keep my job (By this I mean one club actually wanted us to make public appearances at local clubs promoting the club for free. Another club auctioned off a party on stage and forced all the dancers to go on stage to dance for the winner). I got tired of more and more outrageous rules just to get more money. I got tired of clubs forcing me to go topless for no customers or cheap ones not even tipping a dollar (and getting mad when I refuse to). I got tired of customers expecting more and paying less, and with the stories I hear, it's gotten worse. I am not letting a guy touch my boobs for a measly 5 dollar bill. I won't grind on some random guy's crotch for any amount.
I started dancing when it was air dances. I was an entertainer. I was never a hooker or a sleazy dancer. I feel sorry for those clean dancers of today.
I dance at a nude, air dance club (well, that is, I'm one out of probably 2 girls in the whole club who still sticks to these rules).
I'm still enjoying the industry, and making pretty awesome money. But I think the reason I still like it is because 1) I don't 'have' to do it (I've saved enough money that I would be fine if I quit) and 2) I can work as much or as little as I like.
I'm currently working one day a week, and honestly don't think I could do much more. I can't imaaagine working 4+ days a week for weeks at a time, like I know some of you ladies do. I'd go insane, and I know for a fact I'd make a hell of a lot less $.
Once I stopped paying attention to how much contact is going on in my air dance club, I started making a lot more money. I went through a period of time while my club started ignoring all of the dirty shit going on in the club where I'd just sit and watch the girls' dances on the moniter...thinking "how can I possibly compete with that?" Now, I ignore their dances, and concentrate on my own hustle.
It's really incredible how many guys will get a dance with a dirty girl (even though she's pretty) who will spend the whole dance grinding cock, and then get multiple dances with me afterwards (even though I air dance--at most, I straddle their laps with no sexual contact). It's not because I'm extraordinarily hot: it's because I'm confident, and I do something different.
The more I work, however, the more problems I have ignoring other dancers' extras





This is my last season. I'm currently looking for a P/T day job to help ease myself back out.
Truth be told, the idea of waiting tables sounds fun to me.





Same story in my own case !I started dancing when it was air dances. I was an entertainer. I was never a hooker or a sleazy dancer. I feel sorry for those clean dancers of today
Some of the main reasons that I retired also involved a general loss of respect for exotic dancers by both club management as well as customers, an ever increasing 'sleaze' factor both in terms of customer expectations and the 'menu' offered by other dancers, less and less money to be earned by clean dancers despite working just as hard etc.
Also, I was fortunate enough to have picked up some investment savvy by listening to bankers / brokers / lawyers talking amongst themselves in NY VIP rooms. Combined with a disciplined savings program and 12 years worth of 'serious professional dancing', I finally reached the point where I really didn't need to dance to earn additional money any more ! Unfortunately, with all of the tax increases being enacted / proposed, I've had to move out of the country in order to keep what I have earned !
Danced for 9 years and really enjoyed it until the last year or so. Then I just started taking more and more time off until I stopped entirely in March 2007. No big flame out or anything, I just stopped putting my name on the schedule and never started again.
I had a decent amount of savings and a day job (booking bachelor party strippers) that kept me busy, so money wasn't an issue anymore. I do miss the attention, but the thought of returning to stripping now has no appeal. I like my lifestyle after stripping and don't miss the house fees, late nights, crappy customers and crappier management (in many places, there were plenty of nice people too).
My savings took a pretty good hit in the recession and I'm living pretty lean at the moment. But having a savings has helped enormously in transitioning away from dancing. I paid off all my credit cards and loans before quitting (still have a mortgage), so I really don't need much to live off of in comparison to my non-stripping friends.
Promote yourself and earn more money! This is a business that is owned by strippers for strippers. Let's make that money!





Currently looking for another job. Well, finishing this semester and then "really" looking, but I'm pre-looking right now.
If that makes sense.





I started dancing 5 and half months ago and I really enjoy it. I am making very good money and I like my club. I don't do "air dances" but I still consider myself a clean dancer and am comfortable with my level of contact.
I didn't dance when it was "clean and good $" so maybe that's why it doesn't bother me. I plan to continue dancing through undergrad and graduate school (5 more years). If my opinion of it changes over that period of time I'll quit, but right now I'm happy with it and it's the only job I know of that with 30 hours of work a week is going to pay all my bills that I actually enjoy.





I danced for 4 months, retired and then came back 3 years later and have been back at it for a year. I'm happy 70% of the time. Sometimes I get stale when I have 2 or 3 bad weeks in a row. Last week was great which has me re-motivated. I plan to go back to Uni for a 5 year course in March, so I'll have to dance the whole time as my living expenses are too high, especially with the extra $8K needed for tuition and god knows how much for all the other study expenses. As long as I still look good after that (I'll be 33 by then) I'll prob still keep at it but cut down to one night a week since in my new career I won't make as much at the start.
My plan if I get really sick of it is to try a few other options... 1) glamour modeling (if I get some boobies) 2) lingerie waitressing 3) starting my own stripper agency



every few years i'll burn out and leave for awhile, but after a few months i always miss the job and come back. I have a feeling though when the next burn out hits that'll be it, i ain't gettin' any younger. I worry that the older i get the harder it will be to start a new career.





All I can say is that I want out. Sooner rather than later, but I don't know what's feasible yet.
Sorry I missed church. I was too busy practicing witchcraft and becoming a lesbian.
"If you're good at something, never do it for free." The Dark Knight
"you conjunctively engender an intoxicating combination of wicked, wholesome & insanely intelligent" - a friend describing me
Blessed Be




I am happily retired. I miss performing but I don't miss husteling. I mean its still in me but I don't need to do it and I'm allright with that.










^^ Say what?!





Sorry I missed church. I was too busy practicing witchcraft and becoming a lesbian.
"If you're good at something, never do it for free." The Dark Knight
"you conjunctively engender an intoxicating combination of wicked, wholesome & insanely intelligent" - a friend describing me
Blessed Be
Yup. I quit. Almost 2 weeks ago now. I am no longer a stripper.
I was just way too burned out. I was tired of being surrounded by drugs and drunks. Tired of the secrets, the double life. It had gotten to the point where I couldn't not drink to get through a shift anymore, so I had to quit.
Luckily, I'm in a position where I don't have a lot of financial worries right now, so I'm going to take some time to explore where I'd like to go from here. Maybe I'll return to dancing someday, but I'll have to be sure it's a healthy choice for me.





I am incredibly envious.





i am hoping that in two years, i will be happily retired. i thought that i would be selling by clothes and saying fuck all that, by now, but the economy in ohio is terrible, so of course, now i'm on a hunt for work and dancing is what i know best.
I dance one night a week right now because I am a student. However, when I graduate in May I plan on working a lot more with maybe a crappy part-time job on the side as a resume filler. I am graduating with a liberal arts degree that I cannot see myself using and am way too burned out to do more schooling for a while. I plan to dance for a few years to build up some savings while using all the free time to pursue my own hobbies and goals. When I have decided what kind of professional career I want to pursue (possibly something in the accounting/finance field) I will go back to school and maybe dance on the side or just quit outright. We'll see.
None of the above!
Ive slowly transitioned out of dancing - not that it was planned - I just started going less and less and less. I went last Sept and then a few times this past spring into June... in the last year Ive worked maybe 8-9 times?
I wont call myself retired yet tho - since I kind of want to go back just for a weekend and I will not part with my dancing attire.
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