 In
these trying times, it's very difficult to maintain our seemingly
frivolous nights-out dancing with friends. Many dance outlets and DIs are
feeling the effects of the crunch and belt-tightening of many dance
guests.
It seems that dancing is moving farther
and farther away from our pocket's reach, and is now becoming almost the
exclusive past time of the rich and famous.
Let's compute
How much does our favorite hobby actually cost? Let's take the case of a
dance enthusiast who regularly spends one 'night-out with the girls' per
week (could easily be you or me!!).Let's assume too that we're seeing each
other at 8 pm and dinner and dancing till 1 am. Individually, you'd spend
for your own car fuel or taxi fare, the minimum consumable in the dance
outlet, and DI tips. So that's
P 100 for gas, P 300 for the minimum
consumable charge, and at least P300 each for the 3 roving DIs you danced
with. Total is P1,300 for the night. In 4 weeks that's easily P5,200.
How about the monthly fund-raising dance
events? That's another P500 each for two people (you and your DI), no less
than P1,500 for the DI's fee (bring your own DI, lest you wanna end up
with waiting for your turn with the roving DIs), and P200 miscellaneous
costs.
There are also some hidden costs. If
you're like me, you'd probably get a brand new outfit every month (can't
afford to have a new one every week) at P2000 each. How about a new pair
of shoes at P2000 (o sige na nga, P1,000 na lang), a nice evening
bag for P1,000 too. [Could we just exclude not include our little
luxuries, like hair cut, hair coloring, manicure and pedicure,
facial, etc. etc. etc. (huh!)]
How much does that add up to so far?
P10,900 per month, or an average of P2,180 each for 5 nights-out. For the
average professional with an income of P20,000 per month, the amount is
obviously steep. Dancing out is definitely expensive. One has has
to earn no less than P50,000 a month to comfortably afford it. Now, how
many women earn P50,000 a month from a legitimate employment or business?
Practice Parties: Less cost, same quality
Because we are bent on continuing our dancing, we are looking at possible
options to lessen costs, yet enjoy our dancing without sacrificing
quality.
One solution which a group of my students
have come up with is weekly dance sessions at home. Seven to ten girl
friends agree to meet every Monday night from 7 pm to 12 midnight. Dinner
is pot-luck style. Two male DIs are invited over to dance with everyone at
P1500 each; they also bring the dance CDS and tapes. No one needs a new
dress, nor do they have to have a parlor-made 'do. It's a very casual and
relaxed affair with good friends. So everyone has hours and hours of
dancing, and conversing (which is almost impossible in a noisy ballroom
outlet), and indulging in the food they prefer. All these at an average
cost of only P450 per week per person.
An advantage of these sessions is the
opportunity to learn dance execution and techniques away from the eyes of
strangers. They are also able to concentrate on certain dances instead of
being forced to change dances every 10 minutes.
Many of us have cut down on the number of
our nights out. One lady has convinced her husband to learn to dance (she
invested in P5000 worth of dance lessons), to eventually cancel out her DI
fees. Mas sweet pa sila ngayon.
Other people have less honorable ways of
solving their dance cost problems. Believe it or not, some would even risk
losing their faces with the DIs but handing over P100 for 3 hours of
continuous dancing. Gosh, lady, do you know what 'barat' means? Some would
pretend ignorance of the need to tip the DIs, and ends the night with a
'thank you'.
How have you adjusted to the situation? Let
us know.
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Simple
Thoughts
"Do you know of a dance place in the
Philippines where it's fashionable to dance with other guests instead of DIs?
It'd create less strain on our pocketbooks."
Add
you own
thoughts here
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Side Steps
