Boycotting Avril

A very un-pregnant Avril Lavigne shows off her slim tummy in Miami last week.

There’s some ill will against Avril Lavigne these days, and it’s not coming from our direction.

Dancers in the Hollywood community are circulating an email amongst themselves, urging each other to boycott auditions for the singer and “songwriter”‘s upcoming tour.

Why?

Because Avril is paying below industry standards!

Shady. Shady. Shady.

This is the email making the rounds:

“There will be an Avril Lavigne audition happening on Tuesday, February 5th that we are very concerned about. The tour’s weekly rate is $1,250.00 inclusive of agency fee…after agency commission that would be $1,125.00 to you before taxes. Management has offered no additional perdiem and no plus agency fee, which is standard in our industry. We have expressed our concerns to Avril’s management but they have decided to move forward regardless.

Our recommendation is that our clients and all dancers in the city spread the word to friends, fellow dancers, dance schools, etc. emphasizing how inappropriate these rates are. Hopefully your actions can send a message to management that the rates are unacceptable for an artist of this calibre and that they cannot hire professional dancers for these fees.”

Update:

Lavinge’s publicist tells us, “We have been told that the rates for the dancers are within the industry standard.

Avril prides herself in treating everyone on the tour with the utmost respect & consideration and pays them well within the industry standard.”

Update #2:

A dance industry insider is denying Avril’s claims.

They tell us, “There is an affiliation called Dancer’s Alliance which is an organization of dancer’s who promote the standardization of rates and working conditions for dancers. These standards are then promoted and fought for by the respective dance talent agencies. Although there are not Dancer’s Alliance minimums for tours, here is a breakdown of the MINIMUMS for dancer’s dancing with an artist for any given show. Tour weekly rates are negotiated based on several factors but this clearly outlines how low their rates are.

Rehearsals:
$175 + agency fees / 4 hours
$250 + agency fees / 8 hours

Shows:
$500 + agency fees / show

Travel:
$150 + agency fees / travel day

Per Diem:
$35 / day domestic

Keep in mind these are minimum rates that pretty much all major artists support. Avril’s tour will average approximately 4 shows a week. At the current proposed rate that would be about $281/show after the 10% agency fees. The fact that her publicist is stating they are within industry standards is highly uninformed.”

[Image via Mavrix Online.]