Make Dance Fun

In Episode 22, we are back with our final installment of the Recital Fun Series! If you haven't listened to Parts 1, 2 and 3 yet, make sure to listen! 

Today we are sharing 3 recital-related accommodations we made for Covid that we plan to continue in the future

1. Bundling Costs and Pre-Orders: Instead of selling things individually like t-shirts, videos, etc., we bundled them together and this allowed us to make a larger profit each item to help us afford the venue we are in, but ultimately we were able to cut some of those costs for our clients. 

Our fun bundle - “FUNdle” - includes 2 tickets, 1 download, recital fee, t-shirt, face mask, lanyard, year-end show goodie bag and luggage tag. 

We created a google form for t-shirt selection (size, color) and 98% of our 900 plus families filled it out on time! We gave a unique code to each family to claim their 2 pre-paid tickets in the FUNdle. This guaranteed all families would get their 2 tickets.  

2. Dress Rehearsal & Tech Week: We held Dress Rehearsal in our studio this instead of the theater.  We always have our tech week in the studio about 3 weeks prior to show week, so we are thinking we will combine the two and make tech week a little bit bigger and more elaborate. Some of the benefits for us were:

• Since the kids were coming in costume, parents were coming, and group photos were being taken, it forced us to get ALL of the props and sets completed in a much more timely manner. In the past, tech week was just for us to make our lighting and backdrop notes, so we weren’t overly concerned with every detail being complete. This year, everything was 100% done and ready to load in the truck 2 full weeks prior to showtime.
• It forced us and our teachers to get choreography done earlier, which is a win for everyone involved.
• We had fun photo ops for everyone set up in different areas of the studio which triggered lots of social media posts, which again is a win for everyone.
• Many of you may already do this, but we had everyone pre-order their t-shirts and they’ve already received them. Such a benefit as they are already wearing them, which is advertising for the studio and the show. And, we don’t have to take hundreds of t-shirts to the show in hopes of selling them.

3. Character organization and rehearsals: We include characters in our routines to tie the story together (we create a big production number for our preschool classes that include the characters to make it more magical), and we usually just make it happen at dress rehearsal. This year, we had Emily (our Summer Camp Director) organize and manage it instead of us figuring it out last minute. It's a lot of improv vs. choreo. We held rehearsals and have organized spreadsheet ready to go! We are way more prepped for the show now than we normally have!

PODCAST UPDATE: We will on hiatus for the month of June to have some much needed rest and relaxation! We will be back in July!

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In Episode 21, we have Shelley Marshall, our go-to for Confetti on the Dance Floor and much more! She covers all the things she does for Rhythm and Confetti and also shares some upcoming summer events. 

Shelley is Becca's sister and was hired in 2016 to be the COO of Rhythm and to help launch Confetti. Confetti took off a lot faster than we thought so her role is way more Confetti than Rhythm.  She runs all the day to day - customer service, website and shipping, emails, writes the blog, podcast notes, all the camp confettis and more.  For Rhythm, she handles HR, communications, payroll, a lot of year-end show duties including the Master Spreadsheet (FYI, there are 56 columns...Shelley overshot that a little in the episode haha!), and much more. 

Top 3 questions Shelley gets from customers!
1. What's included in Camp Confetti & how long are the camps? You can adapt Camp Confetti to fit any time length. Ours are 3-day or 5-day for 3 hrs/day, but our customers use them in lots of different formats. Camp Confetti includes a super fun theme with a detailed description and social post/image for promoting, Preschool camps includes a storyline to help engage the dancers in the them, Videos of center floor combos approx four 8-counts each, At least 3 super detailed dance activities, Music suggestions, a fun dance game, At least 4 fun craft ideas, including supply lists, coloring pages, certificates, and lots of extras like studio decor and bonus fun! 

We have 26 different Camp Confetti Summer Dance FunPack themes! 

2. How can I use this image/logo? We provide logos and social images with some of our products, and while we provide guidelines, there is definitely some gray area, so we get a lot of questions making sure that a logo or image is being used correctly or asking permission to use them in a certain way.  We really appreciate these questions because part of maintaining a trademark and copyright is that we have to police them. So if you are ever unsure, just ask! 

We provide the logo for you to use in conjunction with our products. Our Twirl studios can use the logo in the same year they purchase the Twirl Packs, but if they decide to not purchase Twirl Packs for the next season, then the name Twirl and the Twirl logo cannot be used in their class names, marketing materials, etc. 

Camp Confetti you can use forever once you have bought a camp, but only in conjunction with our themes, not tagged in any other camps you might hold at your studio that are not Camp Confetti. 

3. Honestly the other most popular question is “How did you do that/make that/create that”? We design everything ourselves and work with our long standing graphic designer and local printer to produce them. We craft on the fly and make it happen! 

Camp Confetti Summer:
Dance Teacher Web = July 23-26 Las Vegas
Dance Life Teacher Conference = July 27-30 Connecticut
Energize = Oct 1-3 Chicago 

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In Episode 20, we are sharing how we structure our performing companies at Rhythm! It's Important to us that we can offer many opportunities to the  dancers at Rhythm. We've grown into 11 Performing Companies and 5 Spotlight Programs.

Mini Stars: Youngest group, approx age 6-7, required to be at the studio 2 days/wk for jazz, tap, ballet & hip hop. Most also take an optional contemporary class. They have a few weekend rehearsals, attend conventions and compete jazz, HH and tap at 3 competitions.

Connection: Intermediate, entry level company. It’s extremely desirable because the commitment isn’t overwhelming from a time or financial standpoint and they can still do other activities while remaining a big part of our studio culture. 4 different age groups: Minis, Juniors, Teens and Seniors all required to take weekly classes in jazz, hip hop and ballet; plus we have a tap company they can audition for. They compete at 3 non workshop, intermediate level competitions, with no solos or nationals, and attend one convention per year.

Fusion: Intermediate/advanced company with two levels: Teen and Senior. This is a higher commitment company for dancers who have the ability and talent to compete/perform at an advanced level, but are not ready for or not interested in the full Edge commitment. They take one class each in jazz, tap, hip hop, contemporary & body awareness + 2 weekly ballet classes. They compete in jazz, tap, hip hop and contemporary and have an opportunity to audition for an extra group that varies in style from year to year. They attend 3 conventions and compete at 2, and also attend 3 competitions without workshops. 

Edge: Our highest level performing company and requires the highest commitment time-wise and financially for the 4 levels: minis, juniors, teens and seniors. This group attends 5 conventions throughout the season, competes at all 5 of those, and then also attends nationals over the summer. Beyond nationals and national rehearsals, they have a required summer intensive at the end of the summer. Each group competes in all styles as a company, but also audition for extra pieces: small groups, productions and/or guest artists and solos. 

Spotlight: Not part of our actual company, it’s an invitation only group that is a stepping stone should the dancers eventually want to audition for company. We have 5 different age levels. It's for the dancers who aren’t quite ready for company or love doing a little more, but don’t want the commitment of company. They are required to take 1 jazz class and 1 ballet class, scheduled back-to-back for convenience. Many of them take optional additional classes. At the end of the season, they compete jazz at one competition and they love it! It just gives them a little taste of what the companies do and sometimes it sparks more interest. 

Each company has a director who takes ownership of all the responsibilities! We have an amazing team that understands our vision and culture and can foster that within each company or invitation only group! 

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May is the craziest time of year for dance studios! So we are sharing a few things that are motivating us to push through and make it to the finish line.

1. Vacation! It's so important to take time off and do nothing dance related, even if it is a staycation! Inspiring destinations can sometimes spark creativity for your studio. Our plan is to take most of June off since we took no time off this past year+ due to Covid! 

We always find inspiration when traveling - whether for work or personally! For example, we spent our working Spring Break in Nashville and loved it! You may even see a fun Nashville-inspired Camp Confetti next year! It also inspired us to come up with a name for our little covered picnic area we created this season: Rhythm Ranch! Palm Springs is a favorite destination for us and it  inspired our Boho Desert Bash Camp Confetti, a few mini jazz themes and tons of decor! 

2. The possibility of getting together with other teachers and studio owners again, whether it’s at a conference or doing it on our own. 

• More Than Just Great Dancing - July 19-20 (Member Rally) and Teacher Training July 23-34
• Dance Teacher Web - Vegas July 23-26 (Confetti will be there)
• Dance Life Teacher Conference -  Connecticut - July 27- 30 (Confetti will be there)
• Energize - Revolution - Oct 1-3 in Chicago 

3. Podcasts! Summer is a great time to catch up on podcast episodes we didn't have time to listen to throughout the season. We are currently the loving:

•  Transform My Dance Studio podcast takeover with Kim McSwain! There are so many great ones - read through all the titles to find the one you need to hear! 
•  Stacy Tuschle
•  Second Life (non-dance)
• Amy Porterfield (non-dance)

We know you guys are in the same boat we are right now and feel like you’re never going to get everything done. But, you will (and we will), and hopefully this has helped inspire you to think about the fun stuff you have coming up once the crazy is over.  Obviously, we are looking forward to seeing all our hard work come together for our shows, but you have to have something beyond that to look forward to when the crazy calms down. Put something on your calendar now and look at it every day for motivation!

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In Episode 18, we're diving back into summer with our Summer Camp Director (and Rhythm alum and Connection Performing Company Director), Emily Salerno.

Pre-Emily,  we would launch summer enrollment in Jan/Feb and then we would not plan anything else until right before camps started - staffing, planning, shopping, etc.  Now with Emily and Camp Confetti we are in a much better position!

General timeline for the year: Nov: set preliminary dates (factor in key staff summer availability); Jan: assign main themes to each camp, create collateral (summer camp brochure, website) and launch registration, plan launch week theme with special discount, April: finalize teachers; May: confirm assistants, send out Camp Confetti packets for staff to review/plan; June: order/purchase supplies. 

Organizational Tools: Google Docs. Forms, Calendar & Sheets; Dropbox to hold all Camp Confetti in one place for all the teachers, Twirl to Go!

Canva - advertising/marketing/graphics - summer packet (5-6 page packet with dates, cost, times, etc.) and smaller 1-page flyer. Tip: Added a QR code linked to our packet so parents could scan it from our door and access out packet. 

Camp Prep Process: May: reminders, plan and shop for the camps that start early summer; send themes to the camp leads so they can shop for their own items; 2 weeks before camp: create day to day camp breakdown - schedule for each day, activities, crafts; One week prior: craft shopping for next week's camp, staff reminders, hours required- assistants required to stay to help set up crafts for next day craft prep. Friday before camp starts, breakdown decor and set up for next week camp.

Camp Confetti Invitation Printing Hack: Avery Shipping Labels - 4 to a page. The stickers make it easier for preschoolers to stick instead of glue.  

Parent Communications: Wed-Fri week before camp begins - schedule, what to wear, location, showcase time; additional reminders daily for what to wear/bring.

Tip: Keep summer camp fun - dancers don't have to be perfect - they are coming off their recital, keep it fun and look at it as marketing for your studio. 

If you are not in a position to hire a director, take a few of these tips and delegate some of the tasks to open up time for you to focus on other things or maybe even take a little time off. Start somewhere, start small and build on that position as you can!

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In Episode 17,  we're sharing 5 ways to add FUN to the last several weeks of your dance season.

Share the Love! Get your dancers sharing their love for your studio as the season comes to an end.  Create a fun coloring page with your studio logo and email it to every dancer to color/decorate as the wish. Have them take a photo in their recital costume holding the sign and post/tag you on social media. You can then share it and share studio love! NOTE: Canva Font referenced in this section: RIG SOLID BOLD HALFTO.

WOW your dancers with our WOW Cards! Dancers of all ages love to be  rewarded for their hard work! A perfect way to do that is to give each of them a WOW Card - our colorful and fun tiny compliment cards that come in a box of 500 (we have 2 versions)! They are appropriate for all ages and include 25 each of 20 different designs! You can attach them to candy, stickers or certificates (Twirl customers!) or goodie bags to hand out in short ceremony at the end of your last class, leaving everyone feeling proud and happy! Check out #wowcarded to see how studios are using them!

Camp Confetti! While these fun downloads are designed for a 3-5 day camp session, you can use them so many ways: A short, free summer camp demonstration using one of the activities/games; a mini-mester, extra sessions during breaks and more!

Themed Registration Launch Week! Plan a launch for when your schedule and registration go live. Offer discounts/incentives to those who sign up during this week, give away a branded gift to the first X# students, hold drawings for free costumes, one month tuition credits, and even offer one grand prize of a free year of dance.  Another fun prize is to select a few students at random to be used in a photo shoot over the summer to promote your fall classes! Kids love a photo shoot and obviously would love to be featured in photos! Use these photos to promote your fall classes in flyers, on your website and on social media! It’s a win win!

You could hold a themed event (outside if you aren’t back in the studio) using one of our Twirl to Go downloads to hold short preview classes on a Saturday! The point is to offer something that is fun and engaging as a short preview on your registration week to get dancers in the studio!

Company Awards/Party! We host a big party for our company dancers to celebrate their accomplishments for the year. Each dancer receives a specific award tied to a fun t-shirt. We create custom laminated bag tags with their name and award. The award names are always in the theme of the show! Ex: Everlasting Gobstopper for our Wonka themed show for the dancer who has non-stop energy, Fizzy Lifting Leaps for the dancer who has great jumps.   

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In Episode 16, we're back with Part 3 of our Recital Fun series talking about how we finalize our year-end show plans and communicate to our customers. 

Spring Break Planning Week: We've use Spring Break to finish up major show planning because we don’t have our usual day to day to deal with. We go somewhere fun and are very productive! Our typical solid "formula" doesn't quite work under covid, so this year takes a lot of extra planning. We bring one or two staff members along and focus on our packet, graphics, decor and more.

Year-End Show Packet: This 15-20 page packet holds ALL the details of our year-end show for our families in an easy to digest Q& A format, filled with colorful images and graphics to draw the reader in. We create a chart that includes each class, day & time, routine title, date and time of show, day and time of dress rehearsal, hairstyle, and shoes/tights/ leggings/accessories or any other accessories. We also include the running order of each show. We also hold several meetings to review all the details with parents in person or virtually and create short videos they can watch on our IGTV. 

Designing Final Graphics for the Show: We create logos and artwork that we use in all our materials. We start by sketching out our ideas and sending to our graphic designer to execute along with a project list and due dates. Check out #rhythmfrozen to see how we've started branding the show, building excitement and keeping our clients updated!

Orders/Renaming Routines: This big task creates a flow that tells the story.  We create fun names for each of the dances (including company dances) in line with the theme, like Elsa’s Fancy Ice Capades, Olaf’s Snowy Shuffle, Ice Ice Rhythm, and Let it Glow! 

Character Involvement: Our characters are members of our Senior performing company and they play a large role in several of our pieces! They will be coming into the classes over the next few weeks to learn their parts. This is always something that adds a ton of fun to the routines, and the little ones are beyond excited to have Elsa, Anna, Olaf and Sven in their dances! 

Finalizing Sets/Props: Our next big task is figuring out props and set building.  We use makeshift props in most classes until the real props are ready. Our creative and talented staff get super crafty and help us create all our sets. 

Tech Week: We usually hold a “tech week” at the studio and rent pipe and drape, cover the mirrors and have each class come into our big studio and run their dance for us. We take notes, determine lighting, review character involvement and props and just confirm we understand what is going on in each dance.  This year, our tech week will actually be our dress rehearsal so we will go full out and have a backdrop and photo ops and more for dancers. 

We hope you’ll be able to use some of these ideas to help you in the final stages of your show planning and they will hopefully make things easier for you and your customers.  

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In Episode 15, our Studio Owner BFF Christy Curtis, owner of CC&Co Dance Complex in Raleigh, NC, is with us, and we're sharing a little about her, our friendship and how she inspires and motivates us! 

Christy has trained some of the most incredible dancers and choreographers: Martha Nichols, Ariana Dubose, Kirsten Russell, Sarah Pippin and Jake Tribus to name a few! She is so well respected in our industry for her energetic and outgoing personality as well as her passion, grit and true love of dance! We met on a Break The Floor teacher retreat in Hawaii and quickly our studios were similar size and mindsets with many of the same issues and goals for studio growth! 

Over the years, our friendships and our businesses have grown, changed and leveled up! We leaned on each other greatly during covid. We are always learning, educating ourselves and wanting to make all aspects of our businesses stronger! We continually motivate and inspire each other! 

We discuss the Darren Hardy podcast and how Christy starts her day with the Darren Daily. Christy discussed how she motivates her team, especially the past year during covid.  

• ID staff strengths and lean into their high achieving abilities 
• Vulnerability - there is a lot I don’t know and I share that often
• Trust staff and let them co create and own their project 
• Lots of Instagram shares, staff weekly update through MailChimp, live resources document, SLACK channel, gratitude channel, teacher training and get togethers

We love how quickly and efficiently Christy makes decisions and takes action. She shares that it goes along with trust and that she will move quickly if she believes in the person, product or idea.  She also gets bored easily so loves to try new things, is OK if something doesn't work out, and always thinking ahead. She discusses using assistants to keep her organized so she can stay on task, even though it is hard!

To stay motivated, she loves talking with her dance friends, learning new ways to operate, joining like-minded, high level achiever groups: MTJGD, DH Hero Journey, The Locality (locally in Raleigh), podcasts on every morning, finding time to get away, travel, music, clothes, art scene.  She has had an executive coach for 7 years, always working on weaknesses. 

We talk about our get togethers/trips/zoom calls and phone check ins. 

To learn more about Christy, check out the Confetti Conversation we had with her a couple years ago on our blog. 

Christy is such a great friend and inspiring human, and she motivates and inspires us daily! So, take our advice (and Darren Hardy’s) and FIND AND HANG OUT WITH AWESOME PEOPLE! 

Remember….Dance Friends are the Best Friends!

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In episode 14, we are back with Part 2 of our Recital Fun podcast and discuss ordering costumes, announcing our  characters, props, production value, and our opening number! 

Ordering Costumes: We review catalogs and decide on all costumes at recital retreat with our key staff. Once a costume is confirmed, we add the details such as catalog, wholesale cost, color and accessories into our master spreadsheet so it’s easily accessible when it’s time to actually place the order. If we can't find the perfect costume, we improvise by creating some of our own things and mixing with pieces from a catalog. 

Announcing Characters: We use our Edge Performing Company dancers for characters as they already perform in every show! We usually choose graduating seniors as main characters and then they are also included in many of the preschool productions. We announce the characters on Instagram just like our show, and the kids start asking us about who the characters are right after we post the show! It creates lots of fun anticipation about the show! Once announced, we use them to promote the show. We also have a fun tradition of creating big posters of the characters that we use as decor at the show. Then, these posters hang in the studio as fun memory for everyone! 

Props & Production Value: We call all our preschool class dances preschool productions. We create an experience for the kids and audience that feels like a 3-4 minute show within itself. This creates a memorable WOW factor and prompts many to register for next season right after the show. 

• Take basic props a step further. EX: We bought a small electric kids' toy Ford F150 a few years ago and covered it in colorful duct tape to coordinate with our theme and had an older dancer drive it onto the stage in the middle of one of the preschool productions hauling giant piece of wrapped "candy" for kids to grab.  
• Create fun background sets with a cut-out for dancers to walk through. EX: giant gum ball machine with a slide in the middle. When the kids slid down onto the stage, it looked like they were little gum balls coming out of the machine. 
• Incorporate characters into the dance! 

Creating the Opening Number: This is a "combo" routine of all 4 of our Edge companies and is one of our favorite things! We are the producers and create the idea, music, costuming and direct it all, but we have the Rhythm faculty and sometimes a guest contribute to the process! It's an amazing way to open our show as it is big, fun and VERY entertaining! We also compete it. The main characters have different costumes and then an separate costume for each company. This is the first year that we have divided up our companies due to covid. We did a Teen/Senior one that will open our show anda mini/junior one the teen senior one that will close act 1. 

Episode 15 will include a special fun guest, and then for Episode 16 we will be back with part 3 of Recital Fun where we will dive deeper into our spring break planning week and all the final to-dos on our list. 

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You are officially invited to subscribe to our podcast, and we would love you to leave us a 5 star rating and review! We'll share one review each week and send that person a special Confetti prize! We'd also love for you to share our podcast on social media! Tag us and we'll repost! 

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In Episode 13, we are talking all things recital! In Part 1 of 3,  we cover choosing a location and a theme, announcing your show and our recital retreat!

Location of show: In normal years, our is theater booked a year in advance. In pandemic times, we have to flex! Due to restrictions at our theater, we had to find a new space for this year: a large convention space at a cool hotel near our studio! We are excited but overwhelmed with the work and creativity required since it is not a theater. We will build out a full stage, wings, dressing space and bring in a production company for lighting and sound.

Choosing a Theme: We start this process early in the season and announce in the Fall. We create a brand around the theme and use it all year to build anticipation! Story driven themes work best for us...if preschoolers AND dads know the storyline and characters, it's much easier!

Once the theme is confirmed, the brainstorming and research begins BEFORE we announce the show: watch the movie, take notes, discuss what parts/characters/concepts would be best for specific classes, purchase books, scour Pinterest and more BEFORE we announce the show. We take this process very seriously and continues throughout season until we make it to the stage! 

Announcing the Show: We make this a really big deal! Our entire studio family gets VERY invested in the theme and announcement day. We reveal on Instagram and drop hints for a few days leading up to it in our stories and posts. These are some of our most engaging posts of the year! We have a show logo and fun announcement ready to go as soon as we announce!

Recital Retreat: This planning retreat with key staff is one of our favorite and most productive things we do all year! We rent a cabin, work around the clock for 3-4 days and plan our entire show. We also work hard to make the weekend fun! As the studio owners, we arrive a day early to set up, buy food (and drinks!), decorate in our theme and assemble goodie bags for everyone! We all watch the movie together and shout out ideas (both good and bad)! You can recreate this concept on a smaller budget, too!

Our task list is crazy, but the most important part: We outline every major task on a poster hanging prominently in our cabin, and we don't leave until it’s all completed! Our most critical tasks include assigning  classes to shows, themes and music for all routines, choosing costumes, editing music, dress rehearsal schedule and identifying props and backdrops. 

We create a master spreadsheet to store all our decisions in Google Sheets, as multiple people can edit at the same time. We will reference this spreadsheet throughout entire season and it becomes our tech sheet, check list, and so much more!

 On next week's episode we will continue this conversation and talk about ordering costumes, announcing our characters, creating our opening number and our props and sets and preschool productions! 

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