I want to start a dance company.

[danseur]

Two of my friends and I are thinking about starting a dance company. Have any of you done somthing like that? If so, does anyone have any advice? Thanks!

[Victoria Leigh]

What kind of "dance" company? Are you talking about a professional company, a student company, a civic company, or what??? Where will you rehearse? Who will direct? Where will you get your repertoire? Where will you perform? Where will you get costumes and sets? Where will the money come from? Who will teach the company class every day? Just a few things to think about

[SFB2b]

actually two of my friends started a company, i'm pretty involved in it and will be taking over when they graduate from high school (they are 2 years older than me).

 

first of all, it is A LOT OF WORK. to make this idea work you have to really want it. our company prides itself in being completely run by teens. we do the choreography, dancing, our [classical] musician friends compose and perform music, we do all the fundraiser, set designing, costume making, and business-y type stuff (like renting theaters), and PR work. LOTS of work.

 

we lucked out as far as rehearsal space, as we have ties with a private school that lets us rehearse in their gym (haha, a gym... but hey its free!) all day on sunday in exchange for us doing an outreach performance there.

 

the first year we did shows other than the ones at schools (spring of 2003) it was very hard to find a theater to rent. almost everyone was very skeptical of renting a theater to two 14 year olds, and let me tell you theaters are expensive!! we finally found a theater that would "do business" with us. it is owned by a theater company but we found it to be suitable for dance as well. it seats 1,000+ people, is fairly new, and we love it! we loved it so much that we returned in 2004 and will be returning in 2 weeks to do more performances there. it costs $3,000 for 2 days- like a friday and a saturday, but tickets usually pay for it. we also get companies to give us stuff we can use in raffles, do "ballerina birthday parties" for little girls (these are fun, and you make lots of money!), bunches of other stuff.

 

this august, after all of us dancers (there are about 20 of us) return from our intensives we are doing a 2 week dancing culture exchange thingy in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. we are doing around 4 or 5 performances in Guadalajara- which is a town very rich in art and culture- the local dance company (not ballet) will also be performing during this time. we will give some ballet classes and they will give us tango classes. in addition, we will be taking spanish classes. it sounds like a great trip, and lots of fun! we are all very excited about going "on tour" as this idea has been around for 2 years and its taken lots of work to get it organised and to make it happen.

 

here is a Newspaper Article that was printed in the san francisco chronicle about us last spring. some people from University of San Francisco also made a documentary about us. they did the filming in the fall, i have heard it was just finished. in summer of 2003 there was also a 2 page article about us in dance magazine.

 

its insane how much work it is to build a youth company from the ground up, but the rewards are just amazing . i am so grateful that i am part of this company.

[dancemaven]

Dear SFB2b,

 

I am SO impressed!

[danseur]

SFB2b, Thats wonderful! Thank you. That's very helpful!

Well, last year, my friends and I choreographed a dance to some music from the movie "The Pirates of the Caribbean". And this last sunday we performed the dance with two other dancers, at a student choreography competition. We got an honorable mention for best interpretive expression! This april we are going to perform at a student choreography benifit concert for charity. We made the costumes our selves, and an organization let us have rehearsal space for free. We want to make a company as a show case for our dances.We still have lots of stuff to work out.

Edited March 2, 2005 by danseur

[Dance_Scholar_London]

That is impressive. I know that my university in London runs seminars how to start a dance company and provides help with any possible issue around the dance business. The department itself is called "Artist Development".

[balareena]

Hi-

i am one of dansuers friends,

and i really want to start one, i have been thinking about what to call it do any of you have any ideas

[Victoria Leigh]

Hello balareena, welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers, and the Young Dancers' forum!

 

I really think that the name should be decided by people who are starting this company, based on your ideas of what the company is about, or what it intends to present. Is it mainly ballet, or is it a mix of several dance forms? Get your dancers together and brainstorm ideas!

[Guest cheeriodancer10]

Wow, starting a company! I can only imagine all the work that goes into that. My friends and I are thinking of starting a studio when we are older. We even have the levels, dress codes, and schedules worked out. Now money and space are a totally different story!

[Guest balletluver13]

This isn't really related to what you were talking about, but I am in a theater group completly run by teens. It is a lot of work, you have to have a lot of people and the money doesn't just grow on trees either.

[Guest cocoapuffdancer]

Hello! I am one of Cheerio's friends! I think starting a company is exactly what I want to do!! Of course it will be hard work and it won't be very profitable, but it is possible! We need to work out the details, like others who want to start a studio. I think I would like to start the studio for children. Is that a good idea?

[danseur]

Thats a great idea. If you do make a childrens studio, I think it would be nice to run it based on your experiences with dance from when you were little.