Dancer Archive

I know I'm not the only guy out there persuing the dancing elite profession. I also know I'm in the minority doing so, however.

I dance because I enjoy it. And not just in the stand in place and gyrate male dance. I like fluid movement, spectacular displays, leaps, twirls, and such. That kind of thing. I didn't really like any of the dances until formal, which is still my favorite even having "better" now. I like the social aspect of it. The interaction with the patrons, and with the other entertainers. And I like that I can talk without having to figure out how I am talking and playing a wind instrument at the same time. That and I always feel bad bringing the band down to my level.

However, I've noticed a few things. First, everyone tells me there are no good clothes for guys. I only have two sets of clothes - the ones I came with, and a set of black ribbed pants and shirt that I got early on. I don't really have anything else to dance in. I'm told that there are leotarts that guys can wear. I'm sure there must be other looks to fit the different dances. And I've been trying to find out if I can wear lekku wraps or if those are female only. However even if that turns out, I rarely see women in the same outfit and many have a whole set of different clothes. So what do other professional dancers out there recommend guys wear?

The second thing I've noticed is tips. Rather, I've noticed their lacking. I can dance for days and not get a tip. But if the band has no musician and I stop and pick up my fizz, I get a few small tips almost instantly. However even these are small compared to what the females of the dancing profession get. Now I'm sure I'll never match the income of someone who wears fleshwraps and lap dances. But is there anything I can do to get tips?

I'm looking for answers from either gender. I figure women can answer what they've seen that looks good on guys, and can also answer what would get them to toss some coin at a dancer, as I figure that would be my main target for tips - the guys being too busy drooling over the twi'lek in flesh wraps dancing exotic.

Aaaah.....male dancing clothes. What are those? Lol.I have two outfits I wear, depending on dance and reactions. I have the generic open jacket/no shirt/hotpants most startign females wear. I also have a belt/form fitting shirt/pants for formal and whatnot. But I am looking for more.

I may have a broader selection than you may prefer, however. I've noticed by looking through the tailoring skills that some things are listed as ONLY worn by females, and others are listed as generally/usually worn by females, and are henceforth available to be worn by males. Which makes me tempted to experiment with a few and see how they work out, but that's just me.

As for tipping--female dancers generally make more. Since I dance almost constantly, I do get a good bit of tips, 1k on a good day. I've gotten over 3k in tips on a REALLY good day.

As for the lekku wrap, I'm not Twi'lek, so I can't say...but I remember reading about a male who bought them, and it said he couldn't wear them. But again, I'm not entirely sure.

Hope I've helped you out a bit!

Clothes:

Tactical skinsuit, the spiderman body wrap thing. Have fun with the colors.
Muscle Shirt, thin striped pants
Boring black and white dress shirts with the ugly black pants (not dress pants),

*sigh* I've heard other suggestions, I've tried other stuff, but usually just draw laughs with it.

Tips:

Days without tips is fairly accurate. If you are good with the comedy, you can try to use that and that will work pretty good. However being funnyfor 3-6 hours a night is a worthy challenge for anyone.

Actually I have absolutely no problem wearing clothes made for women that guys can wear. But.. where do you see the list? Where does it say what can and can't be worn? Maybe I'll bug some of my dancer friends and see if I can borrow their clothes to try them on.

However I would like input from some women on the clothes thing. No offense to your tastes or anything, but I know often what guys find attractive in guys is different from what girls do.

Oh, how do you see? That's easy. Pull up the skills menu (Ctrl+S) check the artisan and Tailor skill trees. Click the various skill boxes, like formal I, etc. In a box is a list of clothes you'd be able to make. Hold the cursor over an item and it describes that item, and in the description, in parenthesis, it'll say only worn by women, generally worn by women, usually worn by women, etc.

I have some male twi'lek musician friends, and I can tell you what I think looks good on them (what I like to see them wearing). The various 'suits' granted at field wear 4 all look really good on guys IMO; striped slacks with a duster or cloak and no shirt; muscle shirt with camos; smock; robe of honor. If you have problems choosing colors, make black the base color and then have some fun with the trim colors. There are also some really nice vests in the casual line that would look great with pants (I am partial to striped pants-the texture on the stripe adds just a bit more visual interest IMO).

Lekku wraps and the bone crest are both female only. The twi'lek hats granted at master tailor can be worn by both sexes, but one is currently bugged and looks kind of like you're wearing a white diaper on your head (I *think* it's the noble's crest but I'm not positive).

I get the feeling that getting anything nice will cost lots of cr.

Thanks for letting me know about the description. I knew about the box that lists skills granted showing what can be made, but I didn't know how to get a description of it.

So, clothes I have at least some ideas now. What about getting tips? Is there any trick, or do I get to just dance for the fun of it?

I don't have any ideas for getting more tips, sorry. I think much of the problem for male entertainers is that many of the females that come into the cantinas are actually guys behind the screen. You could try to cater to female patrons, /smile, chat them up etc, but IMO you will have less impact because I think most guys don't really try to *roleplay* a female, they just want a nicer avatar to look at.

I always try to /watch male chars, or entertainers of the same race at least (esp when I play my little bothan char...love seeing bothan entertainers!)

I wish you the best of luck. It's great to see guys playing entertainers

I think guys will try to RP females, until they are faced with the fact that females are attracted to guys.

And I also think that most the females who really are females are the other dancers.

I do try to play to the females. Though sometimes I have trouble telling the females of some races. If I see a female come in and I'm doing a solo formal dance, I'll try to land near her on my knees and hand her a flower or a smile before running off.

I tend toward the more revealing dancing outfits myself, but my favorite 'classy' dancing getup is this:

Trim Lined Shirt (white with black trim)

Dress Slacks (black)

Sturdy Boots (black upper & lower)

There are a few different threads on this forum about dancing clothes for guys... try searching a bit.

As for tips... I find that people with whom you interact & roleplay are more apt to give tips than people with whom you don't interact, regardless of whether they're male or female. Also, partnering up with another dancer and doing /bandflourishes and tech effects (once you get to novice anyway) is always a good way to get some attention from the crowd.

Oh and the Lekku Ys'rak (large elaborate twi'lek headpiece) is wearable by both male and female twi'leks. It's a master tailor item.

The tactical skinsuit is a good idea, and the infiltration suit is what I currently wear when dancing. I'd like to get some skinsuits, but I really have no idea of the color selection available (hard to place an order when you don't know what's available). Anyone know any sites or anything like that with pictures?

I've also found that you normally make a lot more as a male dancer if you go to cities where no one else is entertaining - they're so happy to get healed, they'll even tip a guy!

Cadar Sand - Kauri

I honestly have no idea what draws tips. I've danced for days in "formal2" and never got one tip. Also I've been a master entertainer for 3 days, and playing a mandoviol(guitar) almost non-stop, and I recieved maybe 3 tips at most.. all under 200 credits.

The real slap in the face is that I trained a friend to master Entertainer, he whipped out his own mandoviol, and we stood side by sied playing.. neither of us greeted anyone or said a word, yet in 20 mi nutes he had recieved 6 tips.. while I still had 0. I'm stumped. He was wearing a plain robe. I was wearing a green tight-fitted shirt, with pantaloons and a nice full head of braids.

Maybe I"m just on a bad streak? It is very frustrating, and I'm hesitant to talk about it with the other entertainers because generally they just tip me some pity cash to make me shutup, when I'm looking for help in improving on getting my own tips, not just getting money period.

Seeing as dancer/musician/entertainer is a "profession" I feel it should (and I know the keyword here is should) be able to make a living from it. Which I currently can't do. (and don't know why)