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Ricardo -> RE: What do you do for a living? (Jan. 28 2024 16:48:17)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: metalhead
you must be doing a hell lot of gigs to have 50% income come from gigs since I've heard most people say gigs make very few bucks. Most say it comes from teaching. and after the pandemic ended, the dancing scene never picked up again?
No you miss read that. Nearly 100% of my income was from gigs. I teach more for fun and do make some money there that amounts to maybe gas money or something. I used to get gigs from and for Dancers before the pandemic. Things were already starting to wind down right before the pandemic, so I was already doing more Rumba at the time. I was at certain times in the last 20 years, performing 5 or 6 days a week regularly, with a fairly steady income, trying to split it between venues because when one gig goes down, I can’t afford to lose it all at once. Meanwhile, school shows and special events/projects will be extra (I have had 3 gigs in one day sometimes) income. I would get my minimum fee to take off from a gig (usually triple my weekly pay or more, but often got more) and get a sub. Professional dancers were constantly active and getting projects going and we would negotiate through a heirarchy of professionals getting the best available people for whatever job. Often students were around to help with subbing etc. There were several people around who could do Rumba singing and guitar so, those gigs were as frequent as the flamenco gigs, so I felt about a 50/50 balance between the two projects. In 2018 for example, I had two big contracts back to back, where not only did I make big bucks, but I could afford to finally pay my people what they deserved for a gig. One was a Rumba/jazz fusion type show and the other was a flamenco guitar concert where I introduced the dancers at various times. Very different repertoire but that is how I basically viewed my pro career. I would also apply and receive artistic grants for my pieces. (2-6k type awards).
In 2019 when my regular singer suddenly (and disrespectfully IMO) quit on me, I started singing myself. I gave him a 1099 for 18k that year (for the previous year’s work)….that was only gigs I paid HIM for, there were many he got paid separate (just to give you an idea) and he also did his own projects without me, and I had used other singers too. Since the pandemic I have only done a few flamenco projects, so it is now feeling more like my income is 80% rumba group or solo gigs. The social distancing situation allowed me to do Rumba stuff pretty easy, but the dancing network did not recover. Many of the pro dancers have gotten day jobs, my wife included.
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