This article was written by Sarah Gittins of ‘The Dance Den’. Sarah is an award-winning dance business coach with 24 years of experience as a dance school owner. After successfully running her multi-venue school in Wales, she transitioned to mentoring and coaching other dance, theatre, and music school owners to empower them to gain more time, money, and life balance. She specialises in helping them create efficient, financially solid schools that align with their personal definition of success.
As a seasoned professional for producing dance shows, over 40 in my 24 years, I am often asked:
“How soon should I start show prep?”
The first answer is as early as possible. The second answer will be as soon as the current one is finished with the theatre booked 2 years in advance. Before you shout at your screen and say “are you crazy!?” the answer is no, but I hear you when you say the last thing you want to think about when you have just finished a show is the next one. Having run anything from 1 to 3 shows in a day, selling out 1300 seating venues, big and small shows, themed/no theme, you name it; I have the t-shirt. The thing is regardless of the size of the dance show, the organisation is the same. You still need the venue, the staff, the budget, the marketing, the management, the licences and so on.
So what is the difference between a calm or crazy show? What is the difference between losing or making money? What is the difference between struggling to sell tickets or a sell out show? What is the difference between gaining additional students or none?
The difference comes down to planning.
Really Sarah, is that all it is? It’s not all that it is, it’s EVERYTHING!
When you think about the basic list:
- Budget - Additional Income
- Theatre
- Extra Rehearsals
- Staff
- Chaperones
- Tickets
- Creative - Set / Props / DVD / Music / Photos
- Technical
- Costumes
- Backstage Management
- Marketing
You need to always be thinking; Who, What, Why, Where, When, How, Cost, and Strategy.
If A leads to B then how does this affect C or even Z?
I will say however, that a dance show does not end with the final performance. Yes there are the days of tidying up after, but there is one very important part that not everyone does and I urge you to do it. The post show debrief. This is where I meet with my team, we talk through the show and ask some of the following questions:
That is the post show debrief. This is where I meet with my admin and the team, we talk through the show and this is some of the questions we ask:
- Pre prep: All the bookings. Did anything not get said or missed? Did the venue throw any curve balls that we were not prepared for? Any changes we will make to the rehearsals for the next show?
- Prep: This should be done in the show year after the team meeting where the show is finalised. (e.g. January, for a July show) Could any of the letters be tweaked? Is there an easier way to communicate with parents? Did teachers stick to deadlines? Is there an easier way to communicate with them?
- Lead Up to The Show: Did the rehearsals run smoothly? Do we need to make any changes? Are we missing any supplies? Can we improve our systems?
- Show: Did everything go to plan? Did we miss anything? Were there things we could have done to make things easier? Did we have feedback from chaperones and staff? Did other people have suggestions?
All of these questions are asked in the show debrief. One way or another and it’s sometimes over a coffee, call or a zoom, I meet with everyone and debrief. That way I am armed and ready for the next show. I can make improvements, make it easier and be even more prepared.
Another question I ask is, How do other people do it?
If you want to bounce ideas off other like-minded theatre or dance school owners who also want to create their next show-stopping profitable production, then check out ENCORE, my two day immersive experience.
