Apparently this blog is turning into a running response to all the questions I've received over the course of my career. At least for now...
What goes on in the VIP room varies widely depending on a range of variables: what club you visit, which dancer you choose, which bounce is overseeing the room, who is managing the shift, whether or not the club's owners are in the building, if the club has been raided by vice recently, if another club in town has been raided recently, what city/county/state/country you are in, etc.
What usually happens when I dance in the VIP room: I give a very slow, seductive dance where much is implied but nothing actually happens. Lots of eye-contact, some heavy breathing, a well-timed giggle...they eat that shit up.
On a more explicit level (Mom cover your ears), it depends on two things: what club I am at and how cool the individual customer is. When I dance in Sacramento, the customers always have to keep their hands on the seat, and I have to keep one foot on the floor, which is great because I never feel like I'm dancing for an octopus and it keeps the other girls from getting too frisky (less "competition"). In Los Angeles the VIP booths were completely closed off by translucent curtains and from what I could see when I peeked a lot of the girls got pretty nasty in there. Since that particular club took an automatic 55% of my earnings I usually made the guys keep their hands on the seat or at most let them touch my legs/back.
In Las Vegas I give every guy my standard "Don't touch my pussy and don't go up my ass crack" line (complete with a "say no to crack" joke). But the truth is there are lots of little things guys do besides reach towards my holiest of holies that piss me off and make my dances less enthusiastic. Short list: touching my knees (of course), touching my feet, tickling me on purpose, putting his mouth on me (usually in the form of kissing or licking, but I have been bit a few times), grabbing my hips and trying to hump me like a blow-up doll, spending too much time on my tits (a quick squeeze is all you really need).
Bottom line: if a guy is cool, i.e. laid-back and generou$, and makes me feel comfortable, he's going to have a way better time than if I'm constantly jerking away from him. But then, some guys are freaks who get off on making women uncomfortable. You never really know until you get back there...which is why it's always good to get your money before you dance and remind them that you can stop dancing any time you want.
Monday, June 29, 2009
The MOST Frequently Asked Question: "How did you get into this?"
Let me take you back. Way back, to October, 2003. I was 21 and the U.S. was in its post-9/11 recession. I was sitting in my dad's living room when I got a call from my employer, Washington Mutual, saying they would no longer be needing my services as a loan auditor. As I sat on the couch, rather disappointed to be out of my seventh (yes, seventh) job that year, my girlfriend Crystal happened to call. When I told her I had just been laid off, she replied, "We should go strip."
The next day I met Crystal at her apartment in San Francisco. She helped me pick out my first pair of shoes (5" clear platform heels) and loaned me a lacy black tank top and black panties with ruffles to dance in. We walked down Broadway and talked to a few doormen until we got an audition at Roaring 20s. Honestly, this was so long ago that I don't remember much except that we were terrified to go on stage, but stoked afterward when we were hired. We filled out paperwork, had an orientation, and then left. We came back the next day, danced on stage for a few songs (and yes I looked like an idiot/deer in headlights/TOTAL NEWB), and left having never given a lap dance.
That was my first exposure to dancing. The two aspects that stand out most vividly in my memory are being absolutely terrified to go on stage (like, shaking and almost in tears), and the orientation we received. We asked the hiring manager how much money we could expect to earn working there, and he told us: "Dancers here make about $5000 a month working three shifts a week." At that point, mind you, I had just been laid off from a job where I was working 40 hours a week, and making $12/hr meant I still didn't have enough to move out of my dad's house, let alone go back to school. Even though Crystal and I never went back to 20s after our second day, that figure ($5000/month for part-time work!) stuck in my head, and after thinking about it and researching the industry for about six more months, in May of 2004 I ultimately quit my job (working full-time for $10/hr as a "fax coordinator" for a company that does billing for radiologists), moved to Sacramento, and dancing became my sole source of income.
Second to going back to school, it was the best decision I've made as an adult.
The next day I met Crystal at her apartment in San Francisco. She helped me pick out my first pair of shoes (5" clear platform heels) and loaned me a lacy black tank top and black panties with ruffles to dance in. We walked down Broadway and talked to a few doormen until we got an audition at Roaring 20s. Honestly, this was so long ago that I don't remember much except that we were terrified to go on stage, but stoked afterward when we were hired. We filled out paperwork, had an orientation, and then left. We came back the next day, danced on stage for a few songs (and yes I looked like an idiot/deer in headlights/TOTAL NEWB), and left having never given a lap dance.
That was my first exposure to dancing. The two aspects that stand out most vividly in my memory are being absolutely terrified to go on stage (like, shaking and almost in tears), and the orientation we received. We asked the hiring manager how much money we could expect to earn working there, and he told us: "Dancers here make about $5000 a month working three shifts a week." At that point, mind you, I had just been laid off from a job where I was working 40 hours a week, and making $12/hr meant I still didn't have enough to move out of my dad's house, let alone go back to school. Even though Crystal and I never went back to 20s after our second day, that figure ($5000/month for part-time work!) stuck in my head, and after thinking about it and researching the industry for about six more months, in May of 2004 I ultimately quit my job (working full-time for $10/hr as a "fax coordinator" for a company that does billing for radiologists), moved to Sacramento, and dancing became my sole source of income.
Second to going back to school, it was the best decision I've made as an adult.
Friday, June 26, 2009
FAQ
I think it is appropriate for my first real blog to answer some of the most frequently asked questions I have routinely encountered over the years.
Q: "How did you choose your stage name?"
A: I picked "Felix" out of a baby name book. I called my best friend Chad and read him a list of possible names. When I got to Felix he expressed overwhelming disdain for the name, swearing to end our friendship if I chose it. So naturally...I chose it.
Q: "What kind of music do you dance to on stage?"
A: Sexy house (think Starkillers, Thomas Gold). In the past I have also enjoyed dancing to Rage Against the Machine, trance, and hip hop with extremely explicit lyrics (think "Me So Horny," "Freaks of the Industry," "Cherry Pie," etc).
Q: "What do you wear at work?"
A: Bikinis and 7 1/2" white platform stilettos. I am 5'10" in my heels!
Q: "Do your parents know?"
A: Yes! Dad's cool with it, although we don't talk about it much. Mom doesn't like it but at the end of the day she supports me in whatever I do.
Q: "What do you average per shift?"
A: First of all, it's extremely rude to ask someone how much money they make. That being said, here's a breakdown of what I've averaged at each club I've worked at:
City Limits (Sacramento, 2004): $150-250
Gold Club Centerfolds (Sacramento, 2004-2006): $400-700
The Bare Elegance (Los Angeles, 2006): $300-600
Spearmint Rhino (Las Vegas, 2006-2007): $1100-1500 (before I went to France)
Spearmint Rhino (Las Vegas, 2008-present): $500-800 (stupid recession)
Q: "What's the most you've ever made?"
A: Gotta break this down again (all in Vegas, btw):
In two hours: $1400
In one night: $2700
In two consecutive nights: $4200
In one week: $5000
In one month: $15,000
Q: "How did you learn to dance?"
A: Watching other girls; also via trial and error.
Q: "Do you ever get turned on while giving a dance?"
A: No.
Q: "What do you think about while you're dancing?"
A: I listen to the music and try to enjoy myself. Sometimes I pretend I'm dancing for whatever guy I like.
Q: "What is that scent you all wear?"
A: This is the most annoying question I get. We all wear different scents. I wear lots of lotion & body spray. Most girls get their scents from Bath & Body Works or Victoria's Secret.
Q: "What's the craziest thing you've ever seen?"
A: Gotta break it down by category:
SEX: Everything but intercourse.
DRUGS: A customer and a dancer doing lines of what I assume was cocaine off each other. Also I have overheard girls in the dressing room bathroom smoking something that was definitely not weed, and I'm pretty sure one time I heard two girls shooting up.
VIOLENCE: I saw a customer pick up a dancer by her hair and throw her across the room.
RANDOM: A dancer passed out with her head in a trash can in the dressing room (very depressing).
Q: "How often do you get offered money for sex?"
A: In every other city, it's been maybe once or twice a night. In Vegas, it's pretty much every customer, every night.
Q: "Is it hard to date?"
A: Not really. Most guys are at least willing to give me a chance. I wouldn't date someone who wouldn't date a dancer, anyway.
Q: "Do you ever date your customers?"
A: I've met a few guys for dinner. Once, I kept in touch with a customer and really fell for him (that's probably good fodder for a future post). But that's ONCE in five years of dancing. I do keep in touch with a few of the awesome guys I've met in the club, but most of them live too far away to make anything of it.
Q: "How did you choose your stage name?"
A: I picked "Felix" out of a baby name book. I called my best friend Chad and read him a list of possible names. When I got to Felix he expressed overwhelming disdain for the name, swearing to end our friendship if I chose it. So naturally...I chose it.
Q: "What kind of music do you dance to on stage?"
A: Sexy house (think Starkillers, Thomas Gold). In the past I have also enjoyed dancing to Rage Against the Machine, trance, and hip hop with extremely explicit lyrics (think "Me So Horny," "Freaks of the Industry," "Cherry Pie," etc).
Q: "What do you wear at work?"
A: Bikinis and 7 1/2" white platform stilettos. I am 5'10" in my heels!
Q: "Do your parents know?"
A: Yes! Dad's cool with it, although we don't talk about it much. Mom doesn't like it but at the end of the day she supports me in whatever I do.
Q: "What do you average per shift?"
A: First of all, it's extremely rude to ask someone how much money they make. That being said, here's a breakdown of what I've averaged at each club I've worked at:
City Limits (Sacramento, 2004): $150-250
Gold Club Centerfolds (Sacramento, 2004-2006): $400-700
The Bare Elegance (Los Angeles, 2006): $300-600
Spearmint Rhino (Las Vegas, 2006-2007): $1100-1500 (before I went to France)
Spearmint Rhino (Las Vegas, 2008-present): $500-800 (stupid recession)
Q: "What's the most you've ever made?"
A: Gotta break this down again (all in Vegas, btw):
In two hours: $1400
In one night: $2700
In two consecutive nights: $4200
In one week: $5000
In one month: $15,000
Q: "How did you learn to dance?"
A: Watching other girls; also via trial and error.
Q: "Do you ever get turned on while giving a dance?"
A: No.
Q: "What do you think about while you're dancing?"
A: I listen to the music and try to enjoy myself. Sometimes I pretend I'm dancing for whatever guy I like.
Q: "What is that scent you all wear?"
A: This is the most annoying question I get. We all wear different scents. I wear lots of lotion & body spray. Most girls get their scents from Bath & Body Works or Victoria's Secret.
Q: "What's the craziest thing you've ever seen?"
A: Gotta break it down by category:
SEX: Everything but intercourse.
DRUGS: A customer and a dancer doing lines of what I assume was cocaine off each other. Also I have overheard girls in the dressing room bathroom smoking something that was definitely not weed, and I'm pretty sure one time I heard two girls shooting up.
VIOLENCE: I saw a customer pick up a dancer by her hair and throw her across the room.
RANDOM: A dancer passed out with her head in a trash can in the dressing room (very depressing).
Q: "How often do you get offered money for sex?"
A: In every other city, it's been maybe once or twice a night. In Vegas, it's pretty much every customer, every night.
Q: "Is it hard to date?"
A: Not really. Most guys are at least willing to give me a chance. I wouldn't date someone who wouldn't date a dancer, anyway.
Q: "Do you ever date your customers?"
A: I've met a few guys for dinner. Once, I kept in touch with a customer and really fell for him (that's probably good fodder for a future post). But that's ONCE in five years of dancing. I do keep in touch with a few of the awesome guys I've met in the club, but most of them live too far away to make anything of it.
Why I'm Doing This
I have created this blog for two reasons. First, to document some of the night-to-night madness I experience on the job. Second, as an outlet to express my thoughts, feelings, and concerns regarding the industry as it relates to me, and vice-versa.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
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