Dancer names
clubdude
The Greater Detroit Area
When a dancer gives me her stage name, I give her back a fake one in return. If she comes up and says I'm called "such and such" but my real name is, "what ever", then I give her my real name. I have to say it gets tiring when some dancer comes up with a straight face and says my name is "Ambrosia", what's yours.
26 comments
What can get confusing is when you know a dancer by both her real & stage name. When to use which? Not all dancers know the real names of their co workers.
Now when I do meet a Lexus or Mercedes than I do introduce myself as Ford.
Incidentally, when I was 19, I dated an Antoinette Ambrosia. She was a dancer. Ballet & chorus line. Her stage name was Toni.
Not confusing for me. When I know the REAL name of a Dancer, I use it all the time in any communication I have with her. I ALWAYS give my REAL 1st name. ONLY very solid ATFs get my last name.
I always give my real name, I don't care what they call themselves. I once asked a dancer to remind me what her name was though to see if she gave me a different name second time around and sure enough she did.
The one exception was when I was seeing co-worker/roommates OTC (but not "OTC", dammit) and they'd each refer to the other one by real names. Even then, I stuck to stage names, since each girl had never told me *her own* real name.
There was one dancer who went by A at Club 1, then changed to day shift at Club 2 (where she went by B), then switched to night shift at that club (where she went by C). Thankfully, she was pretty distinctive, so I'd just look for her rather than remember all those damn names.
I have always been careful about giving my real name and urged customers not to be too trustful either. Most people are nice, but you never know.
After retiring, a customer tracked me down through a search service because I had referenced a family event. He searched the papers and internet for coordinating details and learned my name, address, and phone number. He then started calling me and sent a love letter to my EXACT address. Scary! Please don't be to hard on dancers who give stage names. (btw, guys give me bar names too).
shadow & alucard: I used her real name almost all of the time, but sometimes have to use her stage name ITC. Some in management (and other dancers) would fip if they knew I know more than I'm supposed to. (Uptight club) So, yes it can be a bit of work to keep things straight at times.
I have a very common 1st name, so I just use my real 1st name ITC. Less overhead. Only 1 dancer (xATF) every got more info than that.
I'd NEVER give a Dancer grief over using a Stage Moniker. That's part of the business.
I consider it to be somewhat of an act of trust if a Dancer lets me know her REAL First and Last name. I would not betray that trust.
When I was at PP, I didn't use Avalon's name, other than when just the three of us were there. As for me, I use my real name now, but in the past, I didn't. Only my ATF know my surname, but then she knows my entire family.
If you routinely get dances from a dancer and can't remember her club name, she might not be happy with you. Just say you're bad with remembering club names or ask a waitress what someone's name is. I merely joked about not remembering a favorite dancer's name and she was not amused. If you only see her a few minutes a month, no problem not remembering.
When I've known a dancer's last name, I believe it is common courtesy to never say that in a club where she is working due to the possibility of a stalker overhearing it.
Very good advice! If a stalker overhears, then that completely eliminates your ability to sell that information. :)
I agree with DG though, a dancer telling me her stage and given name in the same sentence doesn't seem to serve any point. I typically assume I'm being given two fake names and won't believe anything that comes out of her mouth from that point - even a basic harmless fact, like what she'd like to drink is suspect.
And I don't use the real names of any dancers inside the club, or stage names outside of it. Exactly one dancer knows my last name, and all of them who've asked know my first name or nickname.
As far as canny's point - around here some of the latin and particularly the island girls have unique first names, I know a few that are possibly unique statewide and more than a few that are enough to locate a dancer in Miami, which isn't exactly Mayberry. A fair number of them do part time modeling work and have a presence with an agency online or a website of their own.