Dancing at an event or in a club to hold the atmosphere rather than to perform a routine. The work is done in shifts, usually several appearances an evening.
How a shift works
The evening is broken into fifteen or twenty minute sets with breaks between them. Between sets you change and rest in a separate room — if there is none, that is the first question for the organiser. The shift ends late, so the way home is agreed before you accept, not at four in the morning.
What is required
Stamina and a sense of rhythm rather than dance training. Costumes are usually your own, occasionally the venue’s; establish which at once, because a set of them costs money.
The detail that settles it
Payment per shift is normal. Payment as a percentage of the bar means the job is a different one: you are being hired not to dance but to increase somebody else’s tab. That is no longer a performance, and the rules there are different — «Scams Beyond Castings: Fake Clients, Prepay Fraud, Phishing».
The second sign is the venue itself. A real one has a name, exists online, has listings and an address. A “private party” with no named location is a reason to decline.
What to establish first
Who the client is and what the venue is. The number and length of sets. The rate and when it is paid. Whether there is a changing room and security. And whether talking to guests is part of the job: the correct answer is no, and it should be given before the shift rather than during it.
Relation to a modelling career
None directly: it does not go in a book and is not shown to an agency. As side work with its own market and its own rules it exists, and confusing it with modelling helps nobody in either direction.
