Dancer Archive
Thread: Creative Ideas for Dancing
Now I've been a dancer from the beginning of SWG I made a decision to be a dancer fully 6 months before the game was released when we started a PA website and began to figure out our characters and the reason behind the PA. My out of game persona started out a lot seedier then I became in game. I haven't found a stuffed snake yet to dance with but I'm working on a CH getting me a trained rawl to do tricks so someday I'll get there....
I'm on the Kettemoor server because Starsider filled up so quickly we couldn't join our expected roleplay friends. I'm in a guild with a lot of Europeans who I mostly just get to see passing on the weekend and on our website. I was the only dancer in a guild of 20 or so for the first month, We have since gotten a few more friends, built a cantina (large generic floorplan 2), joined a community designated as a RP Player City, built a PA Hall and been opened and operating for over a month in the wilderness of Naboo. Its hard to get to, its like running a gauntlet. We always seem to get a decent crowd, sometimes a large one. We have posted elaborate rules for the Cantina and we enforce them. It is a roleplaying only cantina, it is not for healing, it is not for gaining experience, it is to allow for plot hooks and a watering hole of roleplay for the community. It is Well advertised. Most of the staff were NOT part of my PA. Most of the staff were also not part of the RP community we serviced. They were brought in because they truly liked the idea of roleplay behind it for their characters.
None of the Dancers were master dancer (we had one, briefly, she couldn't rp so we parted ways), the band members were not master musicians. The cook was not a master cook the bartender couldn't do much above tea. Why do I state this because all the complaints people have mentioned about cantinas, complaining that private ones are for cybering and public ones are for afk, are complaining without do anything really and substantively creative to help it out.
You dont have any cantinas like that on your server? You're a dancer, start one! You don't need a PA to do it. You don't need a PA to staff it and run it and you can probably find people willing to become a venture capitalist and fund the **edit** thing for you. I know we have people like that on our server you just need to ask. You as dancers and master dancers MAKE the entertainment community in your world. So complain or solve problemsall you want on the forums here about afk or lamers or whatever you want (and there are plenty of valid and non valid things to talk about), but in your own game you have a LOT of things you can do. One person at a time, yes one can make a difference.
I'm going to share some of the things I've done, or I've seen others do and some ideas I haven't done yet that can make things more fun or creative to be a dancer/entertainer and also to have a cantina. Because this whole board has become so negative lately and bereft of ways to help me be a better dancer that I'm often less likely to read it.
Kettemoor:
Start a cantina yourself, any house any size. If you don't have the money find some crafters who want to pool vendors or make a Mall, have them build it and you run it. You decorate it, you choose admins and you kick out every person you don't like. Post rules if you want, no afk'ers, no underwear dancing. If you want to put on a cover charge do so, if not, don't. Find dancers and musicians you like and invite them there to play. Advertise it on the server boards so people know who will be entertaining. Encourage your friends to come up with shows and compete agains each other. People WILL come if you put some thought into it. Don't make it 24/7 you'll kill yourself if you do.
We have on Kettemoor The Grind: an imperial/neutral dance club near Kadaara, open maybe only once or twice a weeknight but will be well advertised. Has a house DJ, hires bands and dancers in a uniform to encourage people to get up and dance, and they do. Got a fancy over the top bartender to mix and serve drinks. This is Tiki themed and was well attended, everyone seemed to love it on opening night. My cantina helped with the staffing and entertainment. (Guess what no LAMERS, no AFK, no cybersex, no licking) Dancers and band are paid a fee. Will be soon a club like Gridsteam did in AO, a live DJ streaming individually composed music and rl music for patrons to dance to.
Starsomething Mall: A mall of tons of master vendors near Theed, with an attached bar/coffee house, using entertainers to keep the shoppers entertained. (No LAMERS, no AFK, no cybersex etc) paid a fee maybe tip arrangement [haven't been there yet]
Mocking Bird and other Cantinas I don't know about since I never have time to travel. Popular player city cantinas on other worlds. Good press, haven't heard any complaints about lamers, afk etc.)
Glitter Pit middle of nowhere Naboo. My own club. Only open for 8 hours a week.Runningfor over a month. A fully roleplayed venue with pc bartender, cook, servers, dancers, musicians, managers, bouncers. Private rooms for parties and conference and special entertaining (no cybersex). Often do special events or host special performers. Will cater parties and events. (a couple big ones so far). Uses costumes (never used fleshwraps or hotpants or leotards). No erotic, Lamers, AFK, cybersex etc. BUT a seedy roleplayed cantina with all sorts of storyline fronts going on. Not a good place to take a date unless that date is a trandoshan with false ID and blaster.
A group of entertainers who met in Theed Cantina are putting together a rock band with everyone being able to dance and play for parties and events. Sort of like those 80s dance/pop bands
The Gnort Pack a true band that composes songs with in-game in-character lyrics and stories, use effects, coordinate flourishes and have a unique sound and feel.
Some dancers have gone into poetry and ballad writing and have bands to back them up to perform before audiences.
A few dance schools master dancers put together so people who want to grind experience in dancing do it with them in their school and learn to dance on top of it. Always in dance studios not in the public cantinas with musicians as well.
What to do in Cantinas?
Well teaching those who want to learn from you. Discussing the politics of dancing by calling the Novice Dancing training a "guild license" that the Empire requires you to have. You can completely explain the concept of seeking out a novice Dance/Music trainer in character roleplay terms with that and then refer to more experiences dancers using that concept so there is a guild connection or licensing connection.
If you don't belong to a PA then use your position or friends connections with one to start building up a network of professional grade entertainers that can be called on for gigs. PA's need them, individual roleplayers need them, master artisans and shop keepers need them people with money need them.
The healing side of entertainment can be completely incidental and you can vastly increase your reputation in game by being an active roleplaying entertainer.
When you're at a cantina emote your flourishes don't just do them.../emote Tandaava arches her back seductively then slides her hands down her sides to accentuate the hip movement (popular flourish 6) /emote Tandava straightens her back and tenses her muscles to make the joint pops sharp and clean (poplock /flourish 2) or something
When there are only a few musicians ask them to play particular songs and dance to them for the musicians, for the other dancers, for yourself, and also for the audience.
Make up lyrics and sing to the dances, or open up an entertaining dialogue and talk/sing them
Find the other dancers who are awake and do dances with each other, off each other or play around with bandflourish.
Take a few dancers and musicians and do a cantina crawl dance at each cantina on a world for an hour each and run to the next one using shuttles. Make a game or contest of it. Talk to a master artisan about funding it with advertising their wares in each place.
Form a community of other roleplaying entertainers in your server you can visit, call on for help, parties etc and keep an eye out for genuine new talent so you control how they grow up.
Make a game of picking one or two of the customers who walk in and try to find someway to engage them, even if they dont' respond you learn something about your delivery and what may or may not work.
Be background at someone's housewarming party for a set fee.
Suggest that if someone wants a romantic date they arrange a musician or dancer or both at a romantic spot to play for them.
Anyone getting married? If you want to do some erotic dance with dignity and for money or just flirting suggest some bachelor and bachelorette parties.
Arrange some contests by entertainers for entertainers or from a few supporters of the arts you can find. Go to some beautiful outdoor or indoor sites and have the dancers and musicians come up with one or two performances fitting the surroundings.
Take over a hotel for 3 hours and put on some variety/fasion/talent shows for each other then if you want to take it public to a by invitation only or charge tickets.
We had someone put on a play in the Theed theatre for money and everyone loved to go out to the theatre to see it. They were looking for actors and post production party people the whole time.
What have you done as a dancer or seen that you thought creative or fun or something that "made" the right mood of entertainment?
*cheers for Tandava*
Thank you Tandava for this most EXCELLENT post! I have thought of a few of the ideas you mentioned as well, but now I have a MUCH larger pool to choose from!
I am on the Kettmoor server as well, and I work at the recently opened House Of Sinn on Talus. We've talked about some simple ideas for making the "Sinn experience" enjoyable and your ideas will help with that as well. Again, thank you so much for sharing! 
*Iwen goes back to making her list of other dancers to ask to form a permanent troupe for The House Of Sinn*
Iwen
Thanks Iwen I always follow your posts and have been reading of the House of Sinn and Talus for some time. I plan on making the effort to send people or go there myself for business on a few different levels.
I'll add some more secret ideas I've had for cantinas that I haven't done yet but have wanted to try and I'd love to hear from others:
Now my cantina doesn't allow droids, pets or large caliber weapons inside but one of things I've thought about are some stage shows:
We've done some large scale band and dance synchronized shows, with Tiaga's excellent advice but I've had other things I've wanted to do:
We're seedy we can't always get good acts so lets hire some BAD acts to play too. Find a group of people that are willing to play and dance terribly, perhaps in tawdry outfits with bad makeup, terrible lyrics and music that keeps out of synch. hehehe makes the house band look better and will probably keep the tips up for them but it could let a group of people roleplay something really unusual for a few hours. So lets here it for people who can roleplay well obnoxious entertainers!
Get a creature handler with a few interesting pets, a rawl, a gualama, a few durni's and dress the dancers in pink and yellow outfits with cute pigtails and frolic a bit, dance with the animals in some pseudo sensual/ feigned innocent romps. Think Moody Blues Days of Future Past the 2nd song.
Do an erotic show, one time only huge cover charge, weapons check and extra security. Have the dancers do an act of pole dancing with costumes, have a dance in infiltrator suits with fake cdef pistols and leather belts slithering along, a dance of fleshwraps and suggestive lyrics where its a floor show but the dancers are agressively strutting and flaunting and putting on a show. I don't really know if any of my dancers are willing to do this yet and the practice alone of it would be highly amusing.
Have a day where everything goes wrong in the cantina. The band breaks instruments the dancers step on each other, cat fights break out over non-returned borrowed clothes. Accusations with patrons are thrown and returned until order is restored.
This one really happened to the Glitter Pit, it was unplanned delightful RP. The Pit doesn't allow off street entertainers during open hours. Its in the rules. And is known in the community. We have a band, we have dancers. I've had to turn away a lot of dancers who didn't understand the concept. But you know in roleplay rules are there only when they add to the right feel so of course they can be bent for the right type of situation.
A group of purely roleplaying pirates came in and forced me at gunpoint to allow their dancer to dance. She was drunk (roleplayed it beautifully she's a great woman) the other dancers stormed off with invectives under their breath, the pirates cheered her on, I had to demand the band play for her and got into a fight with one of the band members until I browbeat him into it, and the pirates pinched, abused and enjoyed the heck out of the place as did all the patrons and staff. It was truly well done. I sold a lot of... rum and beer.
Doing a native ritual wild performance. Dress in something exotic and no not the leotard we have some outfits in mind. Have male dancers with swords or all dancers with swords and do face off dances to the faster or slower music like we sometimes have dueling mandeviols.
It is so great to see someone like-minded I have to commend you for taking the time to write it all out for everyone - a wonderful contribution to the community and hopefully it will kickstart some people
On Eclipse myself and my ultimate dream is putting on a full musical in the theatre. One day
Tandava,
On behalf of the staff of The House Of Sinn, you would be most welcome to visit us at any time. As you may know we are not currently open full time, in fact, at the moment we are only officially open during announced parties. (ooc: see the weekly announcement sticky on the kettemoor server page) If you are able to attend one of our parties be sure you introduce yourself to the owner of the establishment, Aurora Sinn.
I am so glad that you have shared youe ideas here, you seem to be one of the leaders of the entertainment industry. I hope one day to be able to meet you, and to see the Glitter Pit for myself.
Iwen
*looks at Iwen, remembers her from some visits to Coronet in the first month of the game, thinks of her trying to get to Temenos Island being mauled and then finding the run down cantina*
Oh Iwen...I think the Glitter Pit would be a bit low class for you. You're such a nice girl.
We have this strange dual image thing going. For parties we're professional and classy and do what they want and roleplay with it. I really am blessed with people like Tiaga and Beth who are fantastic dancers with great roleplay personalities. I have Ewa who I don't see as much because of rl and she also is a great dancer and dedicated roleplayer. I have fabulous people who play the band some of which are entertainers in real life too Eon' Blue, I have Pasiphae and Sy'kirra (upcoming dancer and all around doll whom you know) but the Pit is well, a dive. And that's the way we kind of like it.
bugs, food poisoning, bar fights, strange entertainment, problems, thefts, pirates, shake downs and all. I figure other places will be very posh or high class but we need a bit of low class too for variety.
We're going to try to put in more low class gambling (bug races and the like) and try to work on the "dive" image more since we let the good service thing get away with us. Its really really hard not to run a place well, when you take pride in what you do. But its important for roleplay to "appear" not to.
However, we also get to support the nice entertainment going on. We would be happy to advertise the House of Sinn services on the Glitter Pit site or reference you guys for parties if we're booked, and the Grind with Eon' will be doing a live radio show (like Gridstream in AO) with news and adverts that we should get you some air time on, maybe more. Its fantastic we have groups like the House of Sinn out there I just need to get to know you all so we can plan things together!
We're always looking for other people's ideas because its only really when other people come out and tell me the cool things they've seen or have done that some thoughts I might never have had get stimulated.
And wouldn't it be grand to do a couple things like this:
Let us say a large PA is having a large party. I recommended this to House Maelstrom for their party which must have had at least 50 people there. Have a band and dancers on the roof performing with a servant with drinks or food, have another group downstairs with entertainment doing something more sedate, have a large group in the main room doing synchronized routines.
That way you need a lot of enertainers to cover a lot of ground so eveyrone is entertained, they can do their own thing and it all seems impressive. That wasn't possible because we were the only entertainers they contacted that were ready and willing to go. I referenced others but they weren't around and I only had a few I trusted as good entertainers. If I had known others we could have gotten more involved.
Now lets say you have another party at an outdoor event or PA Hall or something, hire several entertainment groups to play together. If I can only field 4 people and you can only field 4 people and another group can only field 4 people that's 12 people who can all work together. I think it would be marvelous with a bit of planning and a willingness to appoint a leader or 3 leaders that would share the responsibility for coordinating things.
Its very different to coordinate multiple people esp band and dancers for an event then it is for a few friends to dance with each other without any crowd expectations.
I posted on Kettemoor about entertainer exchanges but I'll work the idea out some more and be more assiduous in keeping tabs on all the "good live roleplaying entertainers on the server so we can have some more fun!
I like the sound of that, don't you? "Yes, Master Bounty Hunter, you are an entertainment support character, here's your pay for the night." Might take me a few days to do this.Message Edited by Tandava on 09-23-2004 04:38 PM
*cut to a screaming rift on a mandeviol and a chorus of Burn Baby Burn, Eat My Dust! comes over the grid*
"Have you got what it takes? This ain't no cake walk, no safe starship around you from the elements, nothing but that volatile unshielded engine between your legs tight up against the family jewels. Pity if it blew up, eh? Accidents happen, did you check your fuel before the race?"
*face of a scarred, ugly one-eyed grizzeled Human, covered with grime except where his goggles must have been, heavy reinforced leather and a blaster at the hip*
'Any old bothan granny can ride a swoop, but only those with a spine can race one! Its you against the track, you against the environment, you against your fellow racers and don't let the doctors here fool you. Some is going home in a body bag before the trials are over, some will lose limbs and some..."
*moves his swoop helm protectively to cover his groin*
Camera pans to track behind him crystal dust kicked up so thick its hard to see. Flames shoot out of a cloud and the crowd shouts.
"You want to seriously test yourself? You ride against me and anyone whose done the "circuit" the old fashioned way. There's glory to be had here, and a test of wills. Maybe you have the guts to prove it!"
*grizzled veteran turns away to have two attractive human females fawn on him in leather jackets and swoop chick gear as they hand him a drink.
NAMASOONS!
BRINGING YOU LIVE ACTION!!! XTREME SPORTS!!!
SWOOP BIKE RACES! CIRCUIT TRIALS! NO RULZ COMPETITION!
Prove to yourself that legends still live!
Bring the Family for a discount.
This was a mockup advertising for an event using rangers, chefs for bartenders, musicians and entertainers for punk and biker bands, females as swoop chicks to hang all over the contestants and band members, security, creature handlers to have duels set up with all the bikers starting out in the trial runs 5 at a time starting ever 5 to 10 minutes, You can have a creature attack someone on a swoop and knock them off that was the xtreme fun of it. Plenty of opportunity for a ton of roleplay and a few cities can sponsor the prizes and races with certificates to bring in business to the towns.
Art gallery openings with interior designers discussing their works, wine and canapes served, formal attire and tasteful quartets and songs? And couldn't everyone have fun with a few of the paintings and the deep meaningfulness of the works especially the SAME looking workside by side with two completely different origin and meaning stories.
Poetry and rhyming slams where everyone goes beatnik with black and berets (padded armor helms) accompanied by creative band riffs and solos and serving fondu and coffe drinks?
Teras Kasi and melee dueling displays, polearm, swords, axes, bare hands accompanied by saki and plum wine, haiku served with acolyte looking entertainers? Entertainers can wear robes and modest skirts and ubese shirts or vests for the monk look, set it by a temple or shrine or monastary and have doctors on hand to buff tk artists but no food or armor.
Community picnic, a few picked gorgeous spots, everyone on mounts, no vehicles, cooks with food, entertainers and rangers/scouts to set up camps and spend a few hours just relaxing, talking, planning and hand sampling or exploring with local guides telling the history of the place geologically, botanically, biologically, historically, etc.
Message Edited by Tandava on 09-24-2004 11:36 AM
Message Edited by Tandava on 09-24-2004 08:40 PM
Message Edited by PoetDancer on 09-24-2004 04:20 PM