My Journey into Exotic Dancing

I never once thought that I would become an Exotic Dancer. I was raised thinking that it was taboo, something that nice young girls who were intelligent did not do. Fast forward about sixteen years, and here I am, taking off my clothes for a living.

The motion picture industry can glamorize the stripping industry. It is not so glamorous at all. It is a lot of hard work, and the wages are inconsistent. The way a dancer gets paid depends on a lot of factors: day of the week, number of customers, times worked, and how well she performed that day. One day I can make only $45.00 and the next day over $1,500.00; it's not very stable at all.

Yet, living in an area where unemployment rates can sometimes reach 25%, I took what I could get. I spent countless months looking for a job, and with no luck and bills that needed to be paid I decided to give stripping a try.

I grew up dancing. Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Flamenco, Belly dance, Modern, you name it and I have danced it. I even competed in the nationals and won a few times. But it never crossed my mind that the genre of Exotic would be added to this list.

I saw an ad in the classifieds section of the local paper advertising for exotic dancers, no experience necessary. I spent a day and a half thinking about it and decided to the give the number a call. A nice gentleman answered and I told him of my interest and of my previous dancing experience. We set up an interview for later that afternoon. I drove the hour drive to the club's office, nervous as hell.

I took a deep breath and got out of my car and walked into the entrance of the club. I was greeted by the bouncer and gave him my name and he escorted me to the office where the gentleman I had spoke to earlier was waiting (I later learned his name was Ethan).

We had our introductions and then got to business at hand. He explained to me what they were looking for, and told me by looks alone he would offer me the job. But, he wanted to see me dance first. I went into the next room and changed, and began to dance on the pole in his office. I was hired on the spot, to start later that night. I was also given a $1,500.00 sign on bonus.