Progress of our dancers in India

Thought this might be a good time to update the progress of our Dancers in India. Our two 3-girl dance troupes have been out there now since October last year, and still have 5 months of their contract still to run.

One of the troupe's is based in Goa, and the other in Bangalore. From a company point of view the least we hear from them the better, as it means that there are no problems, life is good and everyone is happy in what they are doing. Naturally though, this isn't always the case. In the past we have had various problems to contend with which isn't easy when the girls are so far away.

The biggest problem of course is rarely caused by our contact in India, and is normally more to do with events back home, a family problem, or the most common a boyfriend problem. At the moment we are very lucky, and apart from a few minor blips our two troupes have caused us very little work, and what little blips there have been have been very easy to sort. With such varying personalities it is difficult to predict what will happen when 3 dancers have to spend 8 months together working in a country with such different approaches to life. Our girls in Goa are experienced dancers, all of whom have spent a lot of their working life abroad or away from home and are used to different cultures. The Bangalore girls on the other hand are quite inexperienced in comparison, however seem to have coped extremely well. If we had any doubts about the girls, it would have been whether the Bangalore girls had the ability to adapt to such a different world.

The work situation in India is not great at the moment, and instead of working the expected 26 nights per month, the girls are averaging way less than this figure. Not good for Neil our contact out there, but great for the girls as they spend most of the time on the beach or doing tourist things while still getting paid. OK, so the salaries in India are way below what we would expect in the UK, but one of the great things about being in the entertainment industry is that occasionally you get a chance to work in some fantastic countries. The girls in Bangalore are staying in a complex that has a pool, and no doubt will come back with the greatest of suntans.

Myself and Marie have been very lucky to have worked on Cruise Ships all over the world. Marie in particular spent around 12 years at sea, and we were extra lucky that our final contract and final cruise was a world cruise on the Saga Rose.

One of our goals for this year is to get our four part harmony group 'Deja Vu' doing 'Fly ons'. A term used where a cabaret act will fly out to meet a ship, do a 7 day contract, then fly home again. A bit of a tiresome task but the benefits are fantastic. If we do get such a contract then Marie and I will perform in the show for the first couple of contracts, and then bow out and let someone else take our places.

Thankfully our marketing push is paying off and we are now getting the enquiries from Event Organisers and Agents from around the world. Now we need to convert those into contracts and keep our singers and dancers working all year round. Fingers crossed !!!!!!!!