WHERE DO WE DANCE NOW?
LOOKING AT ONE PROBLEM DANCE CLUBS OFTEN HAVE....
Why can’t some dance clubs (bars, lounges, etc. that allow dancing by patrons) survive? It seems they often don't, closing for one reason or another, but usually financial in nature. In other words, they don't make enough money.
Some review has shown that the same problem exists throughout the dance world, not just here in beach and shag land. The answer may be quite simple: more money per patron for each day of operation. One seemingly sure solution is much more difficult to enact and maintain and certainly unpopular with many: for many venues to survive, dancers must pay to dance.
When you walk into any dance club, you should expect to pay to get in. You cannot expect to go in with no cover charge, drink tap water all night, or buy one drink or one beer and nurse it all night and expect the club (it's a bar with dancing) to stay in business and support your dance habit.
These clubs simply can't support your dance habits for free. Some serious estimates have put the figure of $15 per person per day on this. That is, monies spent at the club, whether to simply get in or combined with drinks purchased, etc. Income for the operating club.
Let’s face it, dancers often don’t drink that much. It seems like they come to dance instead of drink. Like they want to have fun yet not go home totally sloshed, maybe get arrested on the way, maybe cause a wreck and kill someone's Mama. This is an enigma to club owners, understandable, yet directly lending to the problem at hand. The fewer drinks sold, the smaller the revenue total. For whatever reason, good or not.
So, if these dancers buying more drinks is not the answer, then the dreaded "cover charge" rears its ugly head. What else is there? The club has fixed, non-negotiable expenses---rent usually, utilities, staffing, security, perhaps parking fees, who knows what?
Dance clubs nationwide sometimes end up spending this aforementioned $15 per person or more to simply maintain their venues. When dance clubs attempt to provide the same quality of service in their venues for less than this amount, history shows their days are often numbered. So the estimate that many dance clubs need at least $15 per person per day for them to survive may be true.
If you are walking into one of them and dancing all night and you are not spending at least $15 in there, you may be contributing to the club's demise, and sometimes failure.
$15 per person per day seems to be the magic number for many dance clubs. If you all had spent this much at those clubs that have closed, they might conceivably still be open. (If money was the only reason they closed, of course.)
You can buy a CD for $15-20, take it home, and dance with yourself. You can go to a movie, buy popcorn and a small drink, and spend $15 or more. The cost of a nose bleed ticket to any ball game, concert or orchestra performance, or most any other reasonable form of entertainment is often more than $15.
No dance club owner is going to get rich off a $5, $8 or $10 cover charge. It is often a labor of love that dance club owners try to stay open. The higher the charge you pay to simply get in and participate (including watching, of course), the greater the chance of longevity of that club. Again, if money is the only factor working....
Budget your money to dance, if you must. “Supporting” those dance clubs still open and operating for you means coming out at least once a week when you can, and spending at least $15 per person there.
Dance club owners provide the venue, pay all the bills and stay open for you! Any profit they earn may thus be well deserved in relation to the sheer time and work it takes to stay open. Your personal profit, as a customer and supporter of your favorite venue, is large fun!!
“Free” places to dance often can only happen at odd days and times and often are limited to odd places. Dance clubs could turn into Biker Bars, or Disco Bars or Country Bars and make a profit quicker or easier perhaps. To remain a “dancer only” bar for you and your friends is
expensive. To dance in a nice, safe place to the particular, often one kind of music you love, dancers must be willing to take an active part in the financial responsibilities that entails to the club owner.
Although dancers sometimes don’t drink ANY alcohol, bar owners do want their business, too. Dancers can impact the bottom line and be the cause of a venue's success or failure.
So spend your money at your favorite dance club, hopefully you have a local one to support, and be most happy to have such a places to go dance!
SO IF YOU WANNA PLAY YOU GOTTA PAY!!
Sam Lail
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