I agree with Erica, your pictures do look tribal fusion. From the POV of a tribal fusion dancer, I know just how hard it is to get work in a restaurant or any other venue for that matter. When you say, "I'm a belly dancer" to the person you're attempting to be hired by, their first thought is glitz. They think sparkles, dazzle, lots of glass beads and glowingly metallic coins. They think someone who's going to come out and completely wow their audience with the sheer glamor of it all!

Another thing to think about is music selection and dance style. If you're working with music that's slow and slinky and you don't really jazz it up, that's not going to sell nearly as well. Many cabaret dancers use props when they dance, offering variety to their shows. Very few tribal dancers do, and when they do it's most commonly balancing sword or basket. While that looks impressive, you've really got to work your tail off with it to get good at it. Restaurants also don't tend to go for highly technical dancing and moves. They're more interested in someone who can work a crowd and get the audience into it. They're paying you to keep customers in their seats, continuing to buy drinks and the like. They're paying you to draw a crowd.

Having recently gotten a job at a local hookah bar, I've found as a tribal dancer, I've really got to change my performance style. I used to favor gothic belly dance, tribal fusion, and ATS. While ATS would probably sell decently well if I had a troupe with me, or even a dance partner (because it's exotic), it's really not what the owner was looking for when she hired us. She was looking for performers who danced to lively music that really got the crowd going. I've learned that it helps to play to the crowd and go for audience interaction. I've had to learn to deal with women getting up to dance with me when a nice, lively song comes on. I've had to learn how to deal with men getting up and asking me to teach them a few moves after being goaded on by their friends. THAT sells. THAT is part of what keeps me in my job. I've learned to cater my performances to the crowd by selecting high energy music and really playing off the crowd. I've kind of gone more tribaret than tribal these days. Having a little bit of sass helps. I've noticed I get more tips with sassy pieces with lots of shimmies. I'm expanding into doing veil again, or perhaps looking at other props that may suit my style of dance. I've got to respond to the audience's needs and desires, otherwise they just don't pay attention.

I'm not saying you should change your style. However, it may help to get your foot in the door at these places looking for cabaret dancers if you were able to...well...adapt your style to be a little more something that would appeal. Stake out the restaurant on nights they hold belly dance. See what the other dancers are doing. Take notes if you have to. What works? What sells? What gets the crowd going? How can you integrate some of these aspects into your own performances for restaurants?

And if you're not comfortable with that, look for venues that would be more open and interested in having a tribal dancer. Coffee houses are a good place to look. Goth clubs always seem to like tribal dancers. For that matter, you may find you've got luck at some of the more trendy local clubs depending on your music selection. The idea is to find a place where your style will sell, or adapt to the environments you have available to you. Yes, it would be great if every restaurant, hookah bar, and coffee house were willing and receptive to having dancers of all styles, but to them, you're just business. You're a marketing tool to get the crowd in the door. If you don't appeal to the kind of customer they want to have, you're not going to get very far. So it's all a matter of finding the right market, or adapting to the market you're hoping to get into.

Good luck!