Girls of different ages, backgrounds and goals become dancers. As I traveled around Europe, I encountered many different perspectives on the work of a club dancer. However, from people who have never been to a nightclub and have never talked to these girls. So I decided to ask the dancers themselves – the women I work with on a daily basis – for their opinions. But let’s start at the beginning.
Work Dancers
When starting work, the dancer chooses a new name for herself, under which she performs in the club from now on it can be the name of a child , a flower or a porn actress , whoever likes what. 🙂 Dancers (especially Polish women) most often do not tell family or friends about their profession. In Western Europe, this happens less often now, and the reason is a change in mentality, which is still lacking in Poland.
As important as openness is in the dancer’s business, imaginative costume, striking staging, expressive makeup and hairstyle, and music are equally important. This mix makes the shows attract more interest – not only from men, but also from women who come to watch the show. The dancer herself selects the entire setting of her performance: from the music to the costume. This is an opportunity for girls to test new layouts and watch the reactions.
The work of a dancer in the words of a dancer
In my travels around Europe and my search for clubs to work with Kate’s Diary, I met many different women. Less and more ambitious, having been in the industry for several years, like those who have only worked for a few weeks. Women thinking about their future, as well as living in the moment.
During one of my trips, I met an over-sympathetic Polish woman named Magda, who was 28 years old. She has worked as a dancer for 2 years. I decided to ask her, and later many more girls as well, why she decided to become a club dancer. I wanted to further discover and understand this world, and thus the needs and expectations of the girls in my care.
Magda’s answer to my question was:
“Why shouldn’t I become a dancer? I gained financial independence, freedom and flexibility. Working in no other profession I knew was so profitable for women. It was always men who earned more. Here I can choose my hours, take time off and still keep a job I could return to.”
“As a dancer, I was able to travel the world and that’s what I did (and still do). I have the opportunity to work with strong women: with master’s degrees that are useless and mortgages to pay. Women who have raised children, opened businesses, started charities. Working as a dancer offers me endless possibilities. I am an educated middle-class woman and I control my choices. And one of them was to work in a club.”
A few words from Nicola from Argentina:
“Women throughout their lives have to play. But playing is not just pretending, I am of the opinion that in life there are no things to regret. There are only experiences to learn from. You have to remember that your life may not always be comfortable.”
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve tried to do things I wasn’t ready for: I just wanted to and did. Women have to try everything. Life is too beautiful to live normally.”
These are just two of the many stories of passionate women I have met during my travels. Women with the courage to do things that others feared – to follow their inner intuition.
Kate :*