People always ask me “Is there any specific skills I need in order to become a male stripper?”. When I hear this question, I tell them, it’s not so much about your skill set, because skills can be taught and learnt quickly.
It’s more about your personality, and how you present yourself on stage, that makes the huge difference between mediocre strippers, and the world’s best strippers.
So I’ve decided to put together a list of the top 5 personality traits I think every great male stripper needs to have. These traits will help you get more work both on and off the stage.
Lets begin!
- Courage
Not many man can confidently dance, entertain, seduce and get naked in front of a room full of women – and in some cases, a theatre packed with thousands of women, all looking at you.
It’s a job that requires a level of courage, to be able to own the stage, your routine, be comfortable being naked and soak all the attention up effortlessly.
This is one of the reason’s why male strippers get paid so dam well, because honestly, lot’s of men simply lack the basic confidence. But don’t worry! If you don’t think you have the confidence, it’s perfectly normal! Most male strippers (when starting out) never had the confidence either.
It was something we all built up and made stronger over the years of performing.
Very rarely does someone new come into this industry and has 100% confidence stepping on stage the first night.
You just need the courage to be able to say, ‘yes I can do this’. Put yourself out of your comfort zone and you will reap the rewards
2. Adaptability
A male stripper has to demonstrate improvisational skills and be adaptable to different situations.
When taking members of the audience up on stage to get a lap dance, things can shift in a matter of seconds.
A routine you may have organised to the second will need to completely changed if the girl isn’t listening to your instructions. Sometimes they do this because they have their own agenda, and sometimes you’re just unlucky and happen to pick the 1 wasted girl in the crowd.
Being able to think on the spot, and improvise a new routine is really important. So much of male stripping is heavy influenced by audience interaction, and for that reason, you must be adaptable to dealing with all kinds of reactions with women.
Male strippers who are working in the ‘private booking’ (home visit) industry, will experience the most dramatic form of transient environments. This basically means; every single show you do will be different.
Why? Because it will be a different home/hotel room, a different layout with different spacing and lighting. Some rooms may have carpet, some have tiles and some people will want you to strip on the backyard porch.
Some hotel rooms will have low ceiling fans and some hotel’s will have security stopping your shows half way in.
Not only that, the girl you will be stripping for will react differently every time. Some girls will be drunk, some will be sober. I’ve experienced girls to be overly enthusiastic, and others who are shy and conservative.
Be adaptable in your performing, have the ability to improvise and you will go far as a stripper.
3. Charm
To entertain and seduce is basically the job description of a male stripper. Those who have a charming personality that can be easily noticed on stage, will achieve both effects.
I have specifically chosen the word ‘charming’ because it resonates well with the core principals of confidence, courage, charisma and heroism – without being seen as arrogant and vain.
It’s important to show off your sexiest attributes, whilst keeping your ego in check.
Due to the nature of what we do, It can be very easy for a male stripper to look ‘stuck up’ on stage. For this reason I always tell my students to focus on charming to audience.
You can do this by being more light hearted with your performance, and not taking yourself to seriously.
Try adding some cheekiness to your dancing and also the way you interact with the audience.
It shows that you don’t think your any better than the girls, and your willing to come down to their level to simply ‘have some fun’, which is what it’s all about!
4. Reliability
In addition to being a great performer, it’s crucial to keep your employer happy. At the end of the day, we all want as much work as possible, and to get this you need to be as reliable as the clock in Times Square.
If your late to a booking, or god forbid, you don’t even show up, you probably not going to get anymore work from that employer. I run a male stripping agency here in Gold Coast – Australia, and the number 1 thing I hate the most is unreliable strippers. I would much rather an average stripper, over an unreliable one. Why? Because that performer is putting all my hard work and reputation at risk.
For this reason, your time management skills must be perfected. Write all your jobs down (don’t just rely on your smart phone, thats stupid) because anything can happen to your electronics, such as malfunctions or accidental deleting of data.
If anything should happen to you on the night, always give your clients and employer as much notice as possible. Don’t leave it to the last minute.
5. Imagination
To be considered a great male stripper, I believe you should be constantly innovating, not just copying.
Following in someone else’s footsteps is perfectly fine, and is recommended for beginners. However if you want to be in the spot light, you need to step out of someone else’s shadow.
Push the boundaries of your creativity, think about unique ways your routine can demonstrate a personal touch. If you doing something new that cannot be seen anywhere else, you will have a huge competitive advantage.
Draw inspiration from music you are listening to, films your watching or people you know. The more interesting your routine is, the better response you will get.
Just remember, the age old classic routines of ‘Firefighter’, ‘Police officer’ and ‘Army’ have been done to death – wouldn’t it be nice if you could add something fresh and new?
I hope these tips were helpful to you, as I have spent many years learning about the most important things in trial and error. If you have any questions regarding this article you can reach out to me on my social media platforms or you can leave a comment below!
