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.
If you are a studio owner, you are already scheduling for months now, a recital location, music, costume selections and you probably have scheduled a recital photo session.
The most dancers have tried on their costumes and started practicing for their recital dance.
This blogpost is more for studio owners, but there is also a blog that is written towards dancers and dance parents. If you click on one of the buttons below, you will be directed there.
If you are a dance studio owner and would like to hear more about my process and packages, I'd love to chat with you!
Performance team
When your studio has a performance team, it might be interesting to create a special moment during recital sessions for your performance team.
These photos are great to share on social media or for marketing materials to promote your showcase or recital. You can highlight certain cast members if your show has a theme or have fun with smaller groups. It is also possible to schedule a separate day for your performance team and include headshots that can be used for auditions or a playbill. Ask your photographer if they offer these options and you can get a little bit more creative than with the regular recital photos and make it a fun and special experience for your dancers.
Group photos
Whether decide to have just individual costume photos or do a combination of group and individual poses, it is up to you to decide what fits your studio best. But preparation for any type of session is what makes it most successful.
It helps to practice a group pose before the actual photo session. If everyone knows where their spot is, can practice how to look their best in the actual pose and can follow instructions when we have the actual session, we will just have to fine tune on photo day.
Please make sure there is a poser who knows the dancers and dance terminology to make 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
This is a paragraph. Click edit and enter your own text. You can make changes like making the text bold, underline or italic. This is a great place for you to tell your clients more about your story and to describe the type of photographer you are. You can come back at any time to make more changes.
Please let your dancers and parents know that preparation before dance photos will help to make sure your photos will look amazing. I will bring a poster that helps with poses. On the bottom of the page you will find information how to prepare for the session. It helps to 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.
Special page
To make sure parents don't have to search for information, passwords, gallery links ect. in all the emails they will receive. I will create a special website for your studio to share with all the parents. 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 get emails from parents that lost of did not receive the link. It will be all on that private website.
Sign up online
This is only for studios who just have individual photo moments (no groups).
The parents will sign up through the Calendly link that will be provided to you. 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 to make sure dancers show up for their scheduled session.
They will receive a code for that pre paid amount that they can use when they 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.
Ordering process
This recital season I partnered with Photoday who will take care of the ordering process after the shoot.
When you just selected to capture individuals, your dance parents receive a code to log onto their gallery when the photos are edited and uploaded. They will be able to order the photos and use a code that they can select the pre purchased package. There is the option to order more photos or products.
When you selected group and individual photos, you will have the option to send the link for the photos to all your parents. They will be divided by dance/class and include the group and individual photos for each class in a folder.
Parents can purchase just an individual or group photo or select a package.
The photos ship directly from the lab to the parents.