Three years ago when I was working in Cala Ratjada, in Mallorca, I published a post called “Entertainer = ninja“. Since then, I have worked two seasons in Menorca where I became the “Kids’ ninja” as well. Then I went “From miniclub superhero back to adults animation” and now I’m working in the hotel Protur Sa Coma Playa, in Mallorca. Today I would like to talk about the job of the hotel entertainer according to my current animation season. It’s definitely much different from my first season in Mallorca. There is one phrase that defines my job extremely well: “it’s called entertainer only because full time multi tasking ninja is not an actual job title”. Now let me tell you more about that.
Entertainer’s job
A job in hotel entertainment is different to all the other jobs out there. Some people don’t consider it as a “normal” job, I wrote a post about it, you can have a look here. For me it’s a great job, I just love doing it and I wouldn’t change it for anything else! Every day is full of emotions, happiness, laughs, energy and people’s stories. The days are never the same, even though the activities are nearly the same every week, it’s always with new people so there are always different vibes.
Chief ninja
During my entertainment seasons my role has changed from allround ninja to chief ninja. Every year I have learnt something new and thanks to my experience I have been able to start to lead a team. This year I have three more people in my team – two girls in the miniclub and one allround girl. The role of chief ninja is not just about doing the activities and guest relation. I organize my team, prepare the programmes, send reports and have meeting with my coordinator and the hotel director. I am responsible for the quality of the entertainment in the hotel.
Adults ninja
In the hotel Protur Sa Coma Playa I organise and host the activities for adults. You probably know that I prefer doing the adults animation, I feel more confident with the adults and I like doing the fitness and sports activities with them. This year I do some activities in the hotel and some are in the Club House (common sports house for all five Protur hotels in Sa Coma). In the hotel every morning I do either stretching, pilates, body balance or morning gym. Other activities that I do are table tennis, sjoelbak, pool, shuffleboard or darts.
The absolute favourite activity is the aqua gym which is a great workout and always finishes with our two club dances – Koukou move and Juicy wiggle. It’s really good fun and the guests usually enjoy it a lot! Like I mentioned, I also do the activities in the Club House. There is the archery, rifle shooting and pistol shooting.
Minidisco ninja
I believe an entertainer that doesn’t do the minidisco for the kids is not a real ninja. I used to do the minidisco with kids in a circle so I had closer contact with them. This season we started a different concept of the minidisco because it wasn’t possible to manage so many kids in the circle and nobody had space for anything. We started to do the minidisco on the stage with the kids under the stage. Because of that we use the microphone a lot more in order to connect with the kids and sometimes with parents as well. Between the songs we take short breaks to ask the kids some questions, to practice the movements of upcoming song or to do some funny moves.
At the beginning we felt a bit stressed about changing to the new ninja minidisco but in the end we have realised that it’s much easier for us to organize it this way. The minidisco doesn’t require any special skills, there is no space for being shy. It’s all about energy, enthusiasm, easy dancing moves and some confidence on the microphone. With all the energy it becomes some kind of minidisco show for the parents, we make jokes and we try to make them participate in it at least with some clapping or singing. At the end we make them dance with us for the two final songs – Baby shark and Koukou move. It’s always good fun for everyone!
DJ ninja
This year DJ Lucie had to learn some more things about how to manage the music as well as the lights. In the hotel, next to the stage we have a DJ box full of different electronic devices with hundreds of buttons. In April I was a bit lost trying to manage all the devices. Step by step I have learnt how everything works and now I’m able to manage everything by myself, we only call the technician exceptionally when we have some problems.
When we have professional performances in the evening, we always manage the music and the lights ourselves for the artists. After the shows sometimes DJ Lucie plays what the guests wish but that’s the easiest part of it. Youtube has everything.
Ninja’s daily schedule
Every hotel has a similar daily schedule for the ninjas. We work 40 hours per week as we have 1,5 days off. Let me present to you what my usual day looks like:
9:00 – Get up
9:45 – Breakfast in the hotel
10:15 – Making a round of the pool before the first activity
10:30 – First morning activity (Stretching, Pilates etc.)
11:15 – Second morning activity (Sjoelbak, Table tennis etc.)
12:15 – Aqua gym + Club dances
13:00 – 15:15 – Lunch break
15:15 – Making a round of the pool before the afternoon activity
15:30 – Afternoon activity (Shuffleboard, Archery, Shooting etc.)
16:30 – Finish, break
19:30 – Dinner in the hotel
20:00 – Preparing the minidisco
20:30 – Minidisco
21:30 – Professional show
22:30/23:00 – DJ Lucie (or Karaoke), guest relation
0:00 – Finish
A ninja’s job can be very exhausting but it’s also fullfilling. When you give good vibes and positive energy, you also get it back, sometimes even more. I love the job. Find out why I love animation. It’s just the best job ever!
Glad to see you are busy enjoying yourself in the sun and making holidays memorable for guests at the same time.
Thank you, Margaret! Miss you x