Recital Photo Day

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Recital Photo Day

Recital photo day is the day in which students come to the dance studio, or another location, to have a professional photograph taken in their dance recital costume. Usually each student is photographed alone in each of their costumes and then each group is photographed all together. These recital photos turn out to be cherished memories for both students and parents. The pictures, especially the group photos, also turn out to be great for the teachers memories, along with great shots to use in advertising. Recital photo day is also a great opportunity for the teacher to do a final check of all the costumes on the dancers' bodies and for all the students to practice hair and makeup techniques.

Through the years, I have learned much about creating a peaceful recital photo day experience for all involved. It is important to make the day as stress free for everyone. You do not want photo day to be an annual dreaded event. First of all, do your research when choosing a photographer. The quality of pictures that this person takes is important, but you need a photographer that is patient, kind, and will listen to your thoughts and ideas. Make sure the photographer likes children and that they are organized, timely, and prompt. Do not choose a photographer that is too expensive. Make sure the prices of the photos are reasonable and affordable. If prices are expensive, parents will not show up for picture day, will not purchase pictures, or worse yet- go somewhere like Sears to get their kids picture taken. Parents have already spent lots of money throughout the year on dance lessons, dance wear, costumes, and recital tickets. Don't break their bank anymore than you have to. Also, have parents purchase pre-paid packages of pictures. Do not deal with proofs and having parents choose what pictures they want after the pictures are developed. This is too much work for you and not worth it. It is hard to track parents down to sit and look at pages of pictures, wait for them to decide, collect payment, and take their final order. With pre-paid packages, the pictures come in and you hand them out. It's much easier.

I used to be strict about making the students change into their costume once they arrived at the picture taking location. I now believe it is okay to let students arrive in their costume. Make sure you stress a zillion times to parents that they have to be extremely careful with their costumes. No eating or drinking in the costumes and no playing in them. Please, please, please, announce the schedule of photo day well in advance. People do have lives and commitments. Teachers who announce the schedule a week before drive me nuts. I believe in announcing the entire schedule for the year at registration time. Then people can plan ahead and plan around the dance school's calendar. If people are given notice in advance, you will have less problems later on. When making the photo day schedule, leave plenty of time for each group. If you schedule not enough time for each group, you will quickly be "running late," which makes people angry. Have the photographer snap one pose for each individual dancer and one pose for each group. If you do multiple poses, the day drags on forever. If dancers are in several dances, give them enough time in the photography schedule to have time to change costumes. Also, try to schedule families with sibling in different dances to coincide on the schedule. Families will appreciate you if you take time to make their number of travel times to picture day as minimal as possible. The dance teacher for each group should be in the room posing the dancers. Do not let the photographer do it. They are usually not trained in dance and the poses will end up looking like a sports team. Have all the poses figured out ahead of time. Then there is no time wasted standing around trying to come up with the best pose. You can have each group practice their group pose and individual poses the week before in class. That way everyone knows exactly what to do. I believe that parents should be able to see their child get their picture taken. Make it clear to parents that they are not to step on your toes of the photographers toes. They can watch, but need to stay back and be quiet so the dancer looks at the photographer and not mommy or daddy. They are not to take their own pictures either. Now that I have my own kids, I know how much parents yearn to just watch their child get their picture taken. I know I like to stand by my child as long as I can and make sure that the hair stays in place, the skirt hasn't shifted and the ties on the shoes are tucked in. I think it's okay for parents to be there, but it has to be in a controlled manner. Only let one group at a time in the room and put a tape line on the floor that the parents have to stand behind. Send out a note beforehand stating the rules of picture day. It is usaully only the parents of young children that are interested in seeing their child get their picture taken.

When the photos are finished and ready to be delivered, hand them in the easiest way possible. It is by far the best to hand out recital pictures before the end of the year. Hand them out in class or at dress rehearsal. You can also hand them out before, after, or during intermission of the recital. Although, in class or dress rehearsal is much easier. If anyone has an issue with their photos, have them call the photographer and deal with the photographer themselves. It is too hard to be the middle man. Avoid it when you can.

When choosing your photographer, make sure you work out your deal with the photographer ahead of time. The most common agreements between photographers and dance studio owners is that the dance school owners makes a commission in money or photographers. Go for both if you can. Try to get an agreement where you can make at least a few hundred dollars in commission and get a copy of each group picture. If you can get that, that's a good deal. I have had photographers that have only wanted to give me a small stack of group photos. How much does that really cost them. Basically nothing. Another option is to get the photographers prices ahead of time, add $1.00-$5.00 onto each package, collect the orders yourself ahead of time with the checks made out to you, and write the photographer one big check. That way you can set your own commission. You shouldn't feel bad about making a little money for yourself on this day. On recital photo day you work hard and spend a lot of time on this additional day.

You should treat the photographer with respect. He or she will respect you and want your business in the future, if you are friendly and respectful. Help the photographer if he or she needs help with setting up equipment and have drinks snacks or lunch on hand.

Recital photo day should be quick, stress free, and happy. It should be easy on you, the students, the parents, and the photographer. Beautiful pictures should be the result. The photographer should walk away with a happy profit for his time as well as you.

Photographing & Videotaping

Photographing & Videotaping Dance Recitals

Taking photographs and videotaping dance recitals is a touchy subject with parents that one can talk about in continuous circles. If you are a dance studio owner or dance teacher, you know that it is impossible to make everyone happy. Hear are some thoughts about capturing those special moments in dance recitals.

How do you explain to parents why they cannot take pictures or video their child's dance during the performance? One issue is safety. In today's times, you do not necessarily know that every person videotaping in the audience is a loving parent. You never know exactly who is sitting in the audience and what their purpose of being there is. Another safety issue is that a flash going off in dancers' eyes can be dangerous. A flash can be disorientating, distracting, and could cause a serious accident. There is also the occasional safety issue of the audience. There have been stories told how parents got into fist fights in the audience over rude behavior. It is amazing how some people can be so distracting and inconsiderate, such as blocking other people's views, walking up to the edge of the stage during a show, making distracting motions to get their child's attention, or standing up in the row, aisle, or on a seat. If an out of control situation happens, due to people in the audience taking pictures or videotaping, it is appropriate to ban the privilege from future recitals. Many times after experiencing that kind of craziness, parents will thank you for taking efforts to make their viewing experience of the recital more pleasurable.

Other reasons to prohibit photography and videography is to prevent stealing of choreography. Sometimes it does happen that someone will buy a ticket at the door and come into your show to video your choreography and then later use it as their own. I have had this happen to me. One of my pieces I choreographed was performed by another dance school. This also happened to a friend of mine. I was judging a dance competition and happened to view her choreography being performed by another dance studio. You can also remind the parents of your studio that when you buy a ticket to go see any theatre performance, you almost always are not allowed to record the performance. This is teaching proper theatre etiquette. Parents will quickly point out that you are not putting on a Broadway production of The Lion King, but don't be afraid to let them know how hard you have worked on every year's show.

A fair solution to offer parents is to allow them to only take pictures or videotape during dress rehearsal. Most of the time this satisfies everyone involved. Parents will actually get better views of the dance to record, since the audience is not filled with as many people. It will also get rid of all those annoying distractions for the actual show night. Parents can then sit back and enjoy the actual day of the show without being consumed with cameras and camcorders. You can also remind parents that they miss a lot of the show when they watch it through a viewfinder of a recording device. Even if you allow picture taking and videotaping during dress rehearsal, you should still offer a DVD of the performance. Often there are parents that later realize that their movie making abilities aren't as good as a professional. I know from personal experience with my camcorder, that when taping a dance recital, the stage lights interfere greatly with the picture. A professional has the knowledge of working with the bright lights and other problems of videotaping in a theatre setting. If you decide to allow videotaping during your show, you may suggest that people only videotape from the balcony.

When hiring or choosing a videographer, there is a few things to remember. View samples of their previous work and get recommendations. Instruct the videographer to capture all the students in each dance. Make sure he or she tapes in a wide angel and does a couple pans of quick close ups. Make sure to warn parents that the produced videos are not recordings of "their child," but of everyone. Parents do forget this sometimes. Ask the videographer to use multiple cameras. You may also ask the videographer to have an option on the DVD to watch the dances all in widescreen. You can also ask for the dances to be filmed in widescreen and then in the corner of the screen have pop up windows of close ups of each child's face. Finally, make sure your videographer attends the dress rehearsal, so he or she knows the course of the show and can note entrances and exits. You may also request that the person also tapes the dress rehearsal, so that if there is footage accidentally missed or equipment malfunctions, you have a backup. One year during one of the dance recitals I produced, the first dance after intermission was left off the video, because the guy went outside for a smoke. It is ok to videotape the recital yourself, if you have the capabilities and knowledge. It is also easy to burn copies of the DVD's yourself. Just make sure you do a really good job and provide a superior end product.

Don't feel bad about telling your customers about how most of the money goes towards paying the videographer for their time and production work afterwards. Parents must understand that it takes lots of money to produce a recital. Often dance studio owners hardly make a profit, if not at all, on recital DVD's and/or the entire show.

A word about professional rectial photographs. Almost all dance studios arrange a picture day before their recital, where students can have a professional photograph of themself and their class taken. Choose a good photgrapher that delivers quality products, but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Make the picture process quick and painless for families and offer preordered packages to make the process on your end easier once the photos are finished. Make sure students receive their pictures before the end of your recital season. As far as videos, there is no choice but for students to receive their DVD's after the recital is well over. Announce a pick up day and time when families can pick up their videos at the dance studio.

Lastly, the recital videos and professional photographs should be remembered as a lasting memory. Parents often comment that students watch the DVD all summer. I know I like to go back and watch myself as a child on my old VHS recital tapes. My own children enjoy my old dance recital videos as well as their own. As children grow into adults, they will appreciate the photos and movies of their younger dance years to look back on.