Dance recital costumes are in!
If you are a dance parent, this is what you probably heard from your dancer when they came out of dance class in the past few weeks or you will definitely hear in the following weeks.
Your studio ownder and dance teachers are already scheduling for months now, a recital location, music, costume selections and they probably also have scheduled a recital photo session.
The most dancers have tried on their costumes and started practicing for their recital dance.
This blog post will help you with the process of dance recital photos.
Group photos
Whether your studio decided to have individual costume photos or do a combination of group and individual poses, preparation for any type of session is what makes it most successful.
It helps to practice a group pose before the actual photo session. Your studio owner or dance teacher will probably pose them in class to see what the best pose is to make sure everyone looks great in the photo. If everyone knows where their spot is, they can practice how to look their best in the actual pose and can follow instructions when we have the actual session, we will only have to fine tune on photo day.
Most studios have a poser who knows the dancers and dance terminology and makes sure everyone looks amazing!
As a dance mom myself, I know how special it is to have photos of your dancers together, so I offer sibling photo packages as well.
Individuals
Preparation before dance photos will help to make sure your photos will look amazing. I will bring a poster that helps with poses. On your studio page you will find information how to prepare for the session. Most studios will have a poser who knows the correct terminology and dancers and can assist with the posing.
We will avoid poses that are not age appropriate or are too revealing.
To avoid injuries we will only have dancers try a (difficult) jump or leap twice.
Please make sure your dancer arrives in the studio with hair and make up ready. Please make sure they wear the correct undergarments, peeled nailpolish is removed and the costume is fitting correctly. If you want me to do extra retouching in photoshop after the session, there will be an additional fee.
Sign up online
This is only for studios who just have individual photo moments (no groups).
Parents will sign up through the Calendly link that will be provided by your studio owner. The link will also be posted on the private landing page that is created especially for your studio/team.
Parents have to pre purchase a package when they sign up. This is will secure your spot for your scheduled session.
Previous years we had parents sign up and now showing up for the session (on time) while we had a waitlist of people who did not have a spot for their dancer, so hopefully this will help to avoid that.
You will receive a code for that pre paid amount that you can use when you order the photos after the session.
Parents will receive a reminder for their session day and time though email or text one day before the session.
Special page
To make sure you don't have to search for information, passwords, gallery links ect. in all the emails you receive. I will create a special website for your studio. The page will include the link to the sign up page, the private gallery, FAQ, How to's and Posing tips.
If I photograph your showcase or recital, you will also find the link to these photos on that page, so you won't have to search for the links in all your emails. It will be all on that private website.
Ordering process
This recital season I partnered with Photoday who will take care of the ordering process after the shoot.
When your studio selected to photograph only individual dancers, you receive a code to log onto your gallery when the photos are edited and uploaded. You will be able to order the photos and use a code that you can select the pre purchased package. There is the option to order more photos or products.
When your studio is photographing group and individual photos, the studio wonder will send the link for the photos to all the parents. You will find folders divided by dance/class and they include the group and individual photos for each class.
Parents can purchase a la carte individual and/or group photos or select a package.
The photos ship directly from the lab to the parents.
