When do companies update dancer list

[Tiffany]

I've noticed that two companies that I have been checking still have not updated their list of whom will be dancing with them this season, 2007-2008. One company I saw perform this weekend and had a different list of dancers in the program than on their website, and another company an acquaintance of mine will be dancing with for her first season there this season, and she is not on their website.

 

So, have any companies updated their list of dancers for the current season? Isn't the season starting for most companies this month; well, depending on how season is defined...at least contracts should start this month for most companies, right, even if the first performance isn't until next month?

[Mel Johnson]

Unless you're talking about companies that have enough staff to be able to coordinate website information with the latest information fulltime, coverage is generally haphazard.

[e'smom]

Most of the companies whose websites I am familiar with will update the performance schedule and ticket information first, and follow with the dancer information later. Some companies do not start rehearsal until September, and it takes some time to update the photos and bios, etc. A couple of websites I have checked recently are in a state of flux, with new dancers listed by name but no bios or photos posted. Apprentices, company II members and trainees are sometimes listed with the main company, sometimes on a separate area of the webiste (search in outreach or with the school) and some don't list them at all.... In most cases, the websites are complete sometime before Nutcracker.

[Mel Johnson]

Just in time to begin resetting the list starting March 25, when the union companies have to notify the dancers whether they're going to be in the company next season.

[Marga]

So, have any companies updated their list of dancers for the current season?

Festival Ballet Providence updated their list quite promptly last month.

Orlando Ballet's list is updated.

Estonian National Ballet is updated.

Vanemuine Theatre (Estonia) is updated.

Birmingham Royal Ballet is updated.

StaatsBallett Berlin is updated.

Colorado Ballet is updated (finally!)

Stuttgart Ballet is updated.

The companies above are some that I follow because of knowing dancers at each.

Obviously, this is a random sample of the hundreds of companies out there.

The updating of each is dependent on the efficiency of the webmaster of each company, the productiveness of its PR department, and/or the whims of the artistic director, even, if his/her approval is needed first.

[Memo]

ABT's is really a mess. The studio company still had dancers up there who were already listed with other companies and had contracts. As of about a week ago they have finally taken them off but no newly contracted dancers are up. Its frustrating when you know people who were accepted who are still not up there.

A big company like that should be able to do a better job.

[beckyb]

Texas Ballet Theater is current.

[vrsfanatic]

Houston Ballet is current.

[mom2]

National Ballet of Canada is not current. There is a new site which does have brief bios of the new apprentices, but to make matters confusing if you go on the main company website and click on apprentices the information is quite outdated.

 

I have heard that there are other new company members, a reasonable assumption at any rate as quite a few left after this past season, but nothing has been posted.

 

I guess I'll have to wait for the first Toronto performance, which is in November. The company is currently touring, so maybe I should just ask folks in other parts of the country to write down the company names from the program.

 

I guess if I had to choose I'd rather they spend the money on dancers than I/T people to work on the website, but I have to say my feelings are similar to the ones Memo described about the ABT Studio Company. Recently NBOC sent out a questionnaire to subscribers, and I commented on this issue...probably the only subscriber to do so, ah well. I think the reality is that the company's publicity timelines aren't really in tune with the consumer's timeline: contracts offered in March, perhaps April; signed by July; photos in August; to website by..........?

 

Too bad.

[Momof3darlings]

Colorado Ballet's company site is updated but the Studio Company page is not.

 

I agree that it depends on how the website is handled and who handles it. And whether headshots are a hodgepodge of one's the dancers have or new ones are taken so there is continuity, etc.

[mom2]

I see tonight that ABT Studio Company has updated - but only by one dancer.

 

This was actually one that I had heard about a while ago, so it's nice to see the good news in print

 

Surely there are other dancers new to Studio Company?

 

Here is the link:

 

http://www.abt.org/dancers/default.asp?pag...n=studiocompany

[lovemydancers]

Surely there are other dancers new to Studio Company?

We know of one other ABT Studio Company acceptance that does not appear yet.

[citibob]

Different companies update their websites at different (haphazard) times, there is no industry standard. The website is there to help market to the general public, not to families of dancers who wish to see their friends and relatives appear as soon as a contractual committment is made. Since young (corps) dancers rarely have much marketing clout for a company, updating them on the website would normally be a low priority.

 

However, the squeaky wheel DOES get the grease. I saw one case in which a former dancer requested to be removed, she did not want to be seen on the company's website. Since the company didn't have the resources to edit the dancer list at that time, they just took down all the dancers. C'est la vie.

 

In a similar vein, I've seen plenty of examples of marketing pictures in which the dancers are mis-identified. It's almost intentional. Typically, a marketing photo will be sent out, and the names supplied will be the principles of the upcoming production. If the dancers in the photo are not the principles --- well, they won't get credit for it. Show business is so much about image anyway, sometimes the distinction between image and reality starts to blur.

 

Finally, the extent to which a company updates its website depends so much on what level of skill is required to do the upates. If an IT person is required to do the updates, then they will be infrequent; most companies do not even have IT staff, and if they outsource it, it costs them $100/hr and up. But if marketing staff can do the updates, then the website will always be up to date.

 

I've seen this with two companies side-by-side --- in one company, the office staff can do updates, and in the other probably IT folks are required. In the first company, open class schedules are always up to date, week by week. And current events are always posted on the front of the website. In the second, open classes are posted once a year, and cancellations or changes are NEVER posted, nor are current events.

 

Moral of the story, use a content management system for your company's website (eg. Drupal, Mambo, etc). If you're a tech person, avoid the webmaster job like the plague. Make sure you set things up to work yourself out of a web "job"!!

[Tiffany]

I just wondered what was average, since I haven't paid much attention to this in the past. Interesting information from everyone, thanks.

 

***Colorado Ballet has now updated their studio company as well!

[vrsfanatic]

Yes, there are other new dancers to ABT Studio Company! I guess when the website is updated, that will make it official!