Talk:Table dance

Why is there a picture of a cash register in this article?

There's a photo in this article which shows a cash register illuminated by a lamp, behind a bar, with some peripheral objects including a headless figure in soiled jeans atop the bar. The headless figure could be a mannequin for all we know. Of what possible value is such a photo to an article on Table dance? -72.76.98.44 (talk) 01:59, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Not a fan of that picture.

Next time I find myself in such an establishment of fine repute, I shall document one better. -Earthpig (talk) 06:22, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Celebrity table dancing

On 9 August 2018 Mr. Guye marked as dubious the end of the second paragraph of the "Establishments" section concerning the alleged table dancing of several celebrities. He added the edit summary "Claim not mentioned in any of their articles. All are living people. Dubious". The source provided in this article is the New York Times and it appears to confirm the article's claims in this respect. Does anyone know if this is enough to satisfy the requirements of WP:BLP or not? - Polly Tunnel (talk) 18:15, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

I notice the dubious tag has now been removed. --John B123 (talk) 11:25, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

@Polly Tunnel and John B123: Yeah, before it just seemed suspicious to me. It read too much like Wikipedia content that turns out to be a hoax. — Mr. Guye (talk) (contribs)  17:50, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

Sex work

I'm not sure that the lead really summarises this article correctly. Specifically, the definition and the rest of the lead are about table dancing as a form of sex work. However, a significant part of the article discusses table dancing as a form of social recreation. I suggest that we move all but the first-sentence definition of the lead to a new section called (say) "Sex work". The definition could then be cut down to read:

Table dance, or bartop dancing, is a dance performed at (or on) a table, as opposed to on a stage.

This could be followed by:

It may be an erotic dance performed by a sex worker or it may be done as a leisure activity.

The "Other forms" section could be retitled "Carnivals and festivals".

The second paragraph of the "Establishments" section clearly has nothing to do with sex work, but I'm not sure about that section's unsourced first paragraph. The WP article about the Coyote Ugly film isn't very clear – it refers to "hundreds of dollars in tips" but doesn't mention table dancing, just "a raunchy move with water pouring on her". The Coyote Ugly Saloon and Hogs and Heifers articles make some reference to table dancing but don't say if this is a form of sex work or just the punters enjoying themselves.

Any thoughts? - Polly Tunnel (talk) 17:35, 3 October 2018 (UTC)

@Polly Tunnel: Although my first thought is of sex work when table dancing is mentioned, there are of course other forms. Your suggestions are a logical way of improving the article. As you touched on, the article needs more references. From what I can gather, in the Coyote Ugly Saloons, the table/bar dancing was similar to Go-go dancing, ie staff dancing to entertain the customers, but in Hogs and Heifers, it was more of a themed venue and customers would be the main people dancing. (Similar to a Karaoke bar, but dancing rather than singing). --John B123 (talk) 19:49, 3 October 2018 (UTC)

@John B123: Thanks for the explanation. I've made the changes (with a small grammatical tweak I missed the first time). - Polly Tunnel (talk) 14:38, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

@Polly Tunnel: Well done. I did try to find some more references but table dancing seems to be lumped in with lap dancing in most articles, with lap dancing dominating the articles. --John B123 (talk) 17:53, 6 October 2018 (UTC)