Beautiful dancers in a crowded club with cramped lap-dance spaces

Chez Paree is one of several clubs in downtown Montreal. It's easy to walk to, and only a few blocks from a subway stop. Cover was $15 (CAD), with $10 paid at the counter and $5 a required "tip" to a demanding and surly host that then pointlessly shows you in to a seat. I don't know why they don't just charge $15 and give the door guy a cut, but all of the Montreal clubs seem to have this fake/required tip thing for some reason.

The club is dominated by the stage in the center, with seats around, a bar next to it, and other tables and chairs further away. There's a second bar to the side with some high-top tables, and another bar with a few stools up in the area with the lap dance booths. The ceiling is low. Most non-stage seating is too far from the stage to see very well. This was exacerbated by terrible lighting on the stage the night I was there. Some lights in the booths were out, and a dancer said there was some problem, so maybe the stage was similarly afflicted. It meant watching the stage was basically a no-go (even the stage-side seats, should you want one, were filled).

What little I saw of the stage performances were pretty good. Dancing, floor work, and a modicum of pole work. Instead of just doing three songs in a row, the dancers get off the stage and then come back after a different dancer goes up. I don't know why they split the shifts like that; it's another Montreal-wide oddity.