• Question: Hi Nichelle, I've studied dance and theatre for quite some time now, however have had a break for the last two years due to some injury - during this time (besides missing my passion immensly) I have alot of ideas for choreography and really want to get a team togetehr to put on a show. I just dont know how to go about it. Cheers Vickie - Anonymous
  • Answer:

    Hi Vickie,

    There are a lot of elements to consider when mounting a production. Off the top of my head:

    • Where/how will I find dancers?
    • Will they be paid or unpaid?
    • Where would we perform? What are the costs of venues?
    • Who will light, costume, or provide production value?
    • Who will underwrite costs? (where will the money to put on a show come from?)
    • Where will we rehearse? For how long and how often?

    I don’t want to discourage you but these are really only a few, and even if you are able to find ways to cover costs of producing the show, then there are the questions,

    • Who will come?
    • How much will their tickets cost?
    • How will they find out about it?
    • How do we get enough butts in seats to cover production costs?

    Perhaps you’ve thought or wondered about all of these. The bottom line is that there is no one way to go about answering these questions, and many professionally produced shows have stalled or don’t happen because no one really stopped to ask the money questions.

    First, I’d ask you, is there a way to get your choreography fix without mounting the show yourself? Community theater, talent competitions - with this sort of thing you’d just be responsible for the stuff you’re passionate about (creating and rehearsing) but not the stuff like venue, marketing, etc.

    If you’re really serious about mounting your own show, you might start looking into grants, foundations, or residencies. Or perhaps finding a corporation or charity that might want to partner with you.

    Dance: The Art of Production is a really basic guide specifically for dance and gives an overview of every element of production, including where to look to raise funds. It is NOT a step-by-step but it may be a jumping off point.