Dancing, in its professional form, is said to be the only trade where the practitioner’s only tool is his or her body. And it is the use to which the body is put in harmony with the rhythm at play which determines the quality of dance.

The reverse also holds that the quality of music has come to be closely linked to its rhythm for dancing and, in its video form, the bodies of the dancers in action.

In Ghana these days, many music videos and stage performances are all hip shaking and bumping festivals. They feature young women especially, with great bodies stripped down to almost nothing, shaking their booties like no one is watching.

As they move in sync with the rhythms, most of these dancers do tasteless dance moves by running their hands over their breasts, backsides and sometimes groins.

It is not rare to see a full clad male musician grab a skimpily dressed female dancer’s waist from behind as she bends forward and they thrust their hips in unison to the beat.

One would think with all these skin flashing, in fact sometimes almost baring it all, suggestive moves and gyrating seductively, these dancers are well remunerated. Wrong! Some of them receive next to nothing.

Speaking with the Graphic Showbiz, Naa Morkor Korley who used to be with the Dance Factory of the National Theatre, said she gets between ¢200,000 and ¢350,000 as payment for dancing for musicians in video clips and on stage.

“This amount is better than when I started about seven years ago. Back then it was between ¢30,000 and ¢50,000. The most recent video clip I did was for Adolf Tagoe and I was paid ¢300,000 in addition to ¢20,000 for transportation each time we went for rehearsals. I live at Achimota and the venue for rehearsals was North Kaneshie and we rehearsed on three occasions before the actual day.
He also provided the costume.

“In fact it even depends on the musician. Some do not even pay anything and do not provide costumes. They tell you they will see you later but they never do. Others do not even discuss the fee at all and only give you peanuts after all is done”, she added.

Asked how the musicians engage her services, Naa said “ because I have been dancing for some time now, they have my number so they call me. They tell me what to wear as well as the dance styles to do. Sometimes, I am given a copy of the song to listen to and dance according to the lyrics.”

Touching on why she still dances, sometimes provocatively and in skimpy clothes when what she earns is nothing to write home about, Naa said “ I love dancing and right now it is my only source of livelihood. There are no jobs in the system so I have no option but to do what they want.

The money is bad but it is better than not doing anything at all. I believe things will get better with time.”

Naa says she has danced for stars such as Daddy Lumba, Kojo Antwi, Sydney, Rex Omar and Obour.

Prince Mante, 24, a JSS graduate who has been dancing for the past 10 years, corroborated Naa’s story. “I guess we still keep on dancing knowing we are being cheated because we are scared that if we complain, the artistes may not engage our services anymore and that will be a big blow to us. I know they are taking advantage of us but there is nothing we can do about it. It is in fact better than sitting at home doing nothing. It is the only job I have. I must say I love dancing too.”

Prince, who does freestyle and will not agree to any Mapuka moves, is paid between ¢350,000 and ¢500,000 depending on the artiste. “ It also depends on the number of people I perform alongside with. For example if there are six of us and ¢2million has been catered for dancers, that means we have to share it among us and that isn’t much.”

On how often his services are engaged, Prince said “ Sometimes, I don’t do anything for a whole month. Other times, I do about two video clips in a month and when lucky, do stage performances in addition. That keeps me going but I must admit it is woefully inadequate. I think it is high time I got a manager to negotiate on my behalf to end these meagre earnings.”

For the SLAP Dancers, a group made up of four young ladies, they are paid ¢1million each for a 20-minute appearance on stage and about ¢4million for video clips.

Speaking on their behalf, Sandra Franklin, a member of the dance group, said this has not always been so.

“Before we engaged the services of a manager early this year, the situation was bad moneywise. We just did shows when we were called. We usually worked with OM Studio and Phamous People Production. They tried to pay us well which was between ¢500,000 and a million cedis. Although it wasn’t adequate, we counted ourselves lucky because I think we were the highest paid in the business. There are others who get nothing at all. Some are paid between ¢50,000 and ¢300,000. Others are just given food during the period they perform and that is it. They got no money.”

“Until we had a manager, we had always known we were being cheated but there was nothing we could do. Dancing is our passion so although we did not earn much, we still indulged in it. What we earned did not cover our expenses but we prayed things would get better and God answered our prayers by providing us with a manager who now handles our affairs. Right now it is good but it could be better.

“I know a time is coming when we will determine how much we should be paid, what to wear and what dance moves to make. This time around, the studio or artistes will not be calling the shots. We are not there yet. We started from somewhere and gradually we will get there.”

The girls, who have been dancing for the past six years, came together to form SLAP in 2005 when they performed for Wutah, the hiplife duo. Currently, they dance on stage solely for Obrafuor but appear in video clips for other artistes.

Rex Omar, one of Ghana’s finest musicians who sometimes engages the services of dancers in his line of work, said he hardly dealt directly with the dancers. “ Most times, someone is contracted to handle them and I think same goes for my other colleagues in the business. It is, therefore, difficult for the artiste to know exactly how much is given the dancers.

“I know what they receive is not much but I doubt if it is the fault of the musician. I know the fee starts from ¢300,000. Sometimes, the person shooting the video will charge ¢30million for a clip and the dancers’ fee is inclusive so they decide what to pay them. I remember about six years ago, I was made to believe the girls I used in a particular clip were to be paid ¢500,000 each but I later found out they were given just ¢50,000.

“There are times the dancers will ask the artiste to deal directly with them like in the case of the last clip I shot in which I used three girls. They were paid ¢1.5 million each and were provided with costumes.”

Story by Adwoa Serwaa Bonsu