Thread: Student Troupe Guidelines - Feedback, please!

I am finally biting the bullet and starting my own student troupe! I have avoided it up until know because I know it's like trying to herd cats ..c::. But some of my long-term students have been working hard, and I feel I the time has come to provide them them with performance opportunities. They go to haflas and shows and see other teacher's student troupes, and I have been told they would enjoy the same kind of opportunities.

I typed up the following troupe gudelines, trying to cover everything I've heard horror stories about. I'd really appreciate any feedback that Bhuzzers might have, especially those teachers who have their own student troupes.


STUDENT TROUPE – THE DESERT WIND DANCERS

TROUPE DIRECTOR: GALATEA (insert my real name)



1. Joining Criteria

Troupe members must be current students of a) Level 2 Group class or b) Private/Semi-Private students at Level 2 equivalent.

2. Troupe Purpose

The purpose of the Troupe is to provide students with performance opportunities in appropriate and safe venues. While members are not required to perform, the sole focus of the rehearsals will be to learn choreographies (and their associated techniques) for performances.

3. Rehearsals

Rehearsals will be held in Galatea’s home studio on xxxxxx Drive in Menomonee Falls. Rehearsals are weekly, except for scheduled breaks, on Sundays from 4:00pm to 5:00pm.

4. Cost

Rehearsals are at no cost to the student, as long as the troupe size allows rehearsals to be held in the home studio (approx. 6-8 dancers). If the troupe size increases to where studio space must be rented, minimal troupe dues will be charged for each member to offset the cost.

5. Attendance

Rehearsal attendance is required on a regular basis, without excessive absences, in order to learn and polish the choreographies. If the Troupe Director feels that a member has not memorized the choreography well enough for a performance, that member will be asked to sit out of performances until it has been sufficiently learned.

6. Costuming

Costuming guidelines for performances have been designed to allow each member the freedom to choose a flattering ensemble, and at a minimal cost. For performances, each member will wear a floor-length skirt of any style, a close fitting top of any midriff or sleeve length, and a coined hip scarf. Costuming must be family friendly and appropriate for audiences of all ages. Underwear must be worn for all performances.

TBC

7. Entering the Troupe

Potential troupe members may be asked to delay entrance to the group if the current choreography is too far along for a new member to catch up. In this case, the potential member will be notified when a new choreography is to be started.

If the potential member wishes for additional instruction to catch up for a current choreography, they must either a) arrange for paid private instruction with the director, subject to availability or b) make separate arrangements with a troupe member to learn the routine. As previously stated, any member who has not adequately learned the choreography for a particular performance will not be allowed to take part.

8. Performances

Most performance opportunities will be at Belly Dance specific events like haflas or shows, although some general public opportunities may arise such as community festivals or fairs. Troupe members must commit at least 3 weeks prior to a performance, to insure that tweaks to groups formation and traveling steps can be planned out. Except for emergency situations, any member who commits to a performance but does not show up on the day of will be asked to leave the troupe.

Troupe members are responsible for providing their own transportation to performances. The Troupe Director will attempt to arrange for car pooling to events when possible.

If the Director receives monetary compensation for any Troupe performance, it will be put into a troupe fund to purchase props or specific costume pieces for future choreographies. All items purchased via this fund are the property of Galatea Middle Eastern Dance.

9. Respect

Troupe members are expected to treat fellow members and the Director with courtesy and respect at all times. Within the troupe, open discussion and varying opinions is welcome, as long as the discussion remains respectful and civil. The Troupe Director, however, will be the final decision maker on all troupe-related matters.

Non-member dancers and audience members are also to be treated respectfully at performances and other events. Criticism of performers or audience members, should be limited to private troupe discussions, if discussion is necessary.

10. Agreement

I have read and understand the Student Troupe guidelines above.


_______________________ _____________________________ __________
Print Name Signature Date

Wow, this is really good. You've certainly put a lot of thought into this and I think you have covered most of the major issues.

A couple issues that I have run into which may or may not be relevant for your students are:
1. Membership in multiple troupes - Is it allowed? How would potential scheduling conflicts be resolved? (I guess the same issues might arise with soloists who are also members of your troupe.)
2. Joining the troupe - Will you hold auditions? Invite each student to join? This may not be an issue if all your level 2 students are pretty equally skilled.
3. Professional gigs - If offered, will you accept paid gigs for your troupe? If yes, how will the money be handled? Even though it seems like your intention is to have your student troupe perform primarily at haflas and student shows, it might be wise to have a plan in mind just in case this comes up.

Having a troupe can also be a lot of fun. I'm excited for you!

I think you will be much happier with the overall look if you are more specific with costuming. A little uniformity will make the group look better as a whole and will shocase their dancing more effectively.

My girls just ordered from L. Rose. I picked the styles; they picked the colors from a range that I selected. We went with the half top in 3/4 sleeve, slit trumpet skirt, rounded edge chiffon veils. The style is flattering on everyone. They will use their own coordinating hip scarf with coins. The price per dancer was about $120.

Good for you for spelling out all the details in the beginning.... I should probably do that too, at some point.
B

Originally Posted by jaded

Wow, this is really good. You've certainly put a lot of thought into this and I think you have covered most of the major issues.

A couple issues that I have run into which may or may not be relevant for your students are:
1. Membership in multiple troupes - Is it allowed? How would potential scheduling conflicts be resolved? (I guess the same issues might arise with soloists who are also members of your troupe.)
2. Joining the troupe - Will you hold auditions? Invite each student to join? This may not be an issue if all your level 2 students are pretty equally skilled.
3. Professional gigs - If offered, will you accept paid gigs for your troupe? If yes, how will the money be handled? Even though it seems like your intention is to have your student troupe perform primarily at haflas and student shows, it might be wise to have a plan in mind just in case this comes up.

Having a troupe can also be a lot of fun. I'm excited for you!

Thanks so much!

For your first point, pretty much all of the troupes around here are just the student troupes of various teachers. So in order for them to even be in multiple troupes, they'd have to be taking from another teacher besides me, which hasn't been the case with any of my students so far. If that did happen, though, and there was a schedule conflict, they would just have to choose which one they wanted to do.

Everyone in my Level 2 class should be able to do the type of simple choreographies I'm planning. So if they are able to do my Level 2 material (I only have 2 levels), they should be fine.

I did actually cover your last point in #8: If the Director receives monetary compensation for any Troupe performance, it will be put into a troupe fund to purchase props or specific costume pieces for future choreographies. All items purchased via this fund are the property of Galatea Middle Eastern Dance.
But don't worry about missing it - this is a long freakin' manifesto I've got going!

Originally Posted by bahaia

I think you will be much happier with the overall look if you are more specific with costuming. A little uniformity will make the group look better as a whole and will shocase their dancing more effectively.

My girls just ordered from L. Rose. I picked the styles; they picked the colors from a range that I selected. We went with the half top in 3/4 sleeve, slit trumpet skirt, rounded edge chiffon veils. The style is flattering on everyone. They will use their own coordinating hip scarf with coins. The price per dancer was about $120.

Good for you for spelling out all the details in the beginning.... I should probably do that too, at some point.
B

I have several older and/or overweight students, who would die before they would show their midriff in a half-top, or wear something as clingy as a trumpet skirt. But if I made everyone cover up so they wouldn't feel uncomfortable, the more fit/glam students would have a cow. I really just want everyone to have fun and feel good about themselves, and keep it casual.

Believe me, esthetically, I totally agree with you. If this was going to be a pro or semi pro troupe, I'd insist that they make an investment in costuming, and suck up any personal preference for the overall polished look of a troupe.

Looks awesome to me. My only question is this -- you're going to open your home and donate your time every week? Plus the time you'll spend choreographing, and coordinating activities for the group? For months/years/eternity?

I won't have a 'troupe' but I do offer a 'repertory class.' The way mine works, you have to be concurrently enrolled in my level 4 choreography class, in the repertory class we mostly rehearse/polish, we don't break down the steps.

The students pay for the class -- but I offer a discount. I wind up getting excited about performances and have invested most of what that class brings in into props and things (we have matching silk veils and Isis wings that the studio owns, etc). I don't really make money on the class, and most weeks I wind up donating an hour or two of my time to extra rehearsals anyway -- but by having my students pay for the extra time, they respect it more and I'm certain I've only got the more committed students in that group. I also really like the structure of them prepaying for 6 weeks at a time like my regular sessions, so we always know what's going on.

I don't know anything about troupes apart from what I've seen here on bhuz. Are you going to put anything in about accepting private gigs - i.e. a troupe member dances somewhere, and howabout if she asked 2 or 3 of her compadres to join her? Is that OK? I agree with Lauren, I would suggest running it as a class, because you may resent giving your time for free in the end, by which time it will be too difficult to charge anything. I also suggest putting 50% of the income for costumes, and 50% of the income into your dance account, to do with as you see fit - flyers, publicity, admin, carry-out dinner for all the girls after a gig etc. I know a local circus perfomers place around here, and they do just this kind of split (they are up front with the performers about it). They use the money for ongoing business costs.

Caroline.

The reason I'm not charging for the rehersals is because it's been my experience that if people are paying for something, they want to have a say in how it's run. For example, they may feel that because they are paying for a performance class, they are *owed* the performance spot - even if they don't hardly know the routine. Or, they want flexibility on when the class is offered - "I can't make 4pm, can't you make it 5pm?"

We've discussed on Bhuz before about how, with students, you can only be so tough on them because they're paying customers. I just don't want to go there with this troupe, because I think there's going to be headaches a plenty as it is. ..c::

A few thoughts:
I charge for the initial session in which troupe members learn any new choreo (fast and furious two- to three-hour session), but then do not charge for subsequent rehearsals.
Rather than just having ongoing rehearsals, once we have a scheduled event, I structure the rehearsal schedule to prep for it because there are many variables - who's going to dance, who knows what choreos, how much time do we have to prepare, do we want to introduce new choreos, etc. Each gig is its own project. We probably perform about 5-7 times a year.

I'd remove 7 b, you don't want them to start learning technique from troupe mates who may or may not have them down themselves, or be able to correct technique, imo.

And I'd like to cough**steal**cough borrow these when I start up my own, please?

Laura, is there a certain amount of rehearsals they must attend to be able to perform the choreo? You might want to specify a number so there is no argument later on.

I'd personally be firm on all of these rules, too. Once you sign the contract, no iffs ands or buts, since you are doing this for free for them, they can likewise make the same commitment to you and the troupe. I imagine the idea of fairness and what is or isnt causes a lot of strife in troupes.

Shudders at the thought of this...

I haven't read all your guidelines, but I just wanted to say that I think it is an *excellent* idea to spell out your expectations in writing to present and potential troupe members. I think a lot of our collective "bad troupe experiences" come about precisely because these expectations/rules are not made clear from the beginning. So kudos!

Originally Posted by laura 2

While members are not required to perform, the sole focus of the rehearsals will be to learn choreographies (and their associated techniques) for performances.

Good job on the guidelines.

I am curious about the about the above statement. I understand that not everyone is going to be able to participate every time, so the choregraphies have to be tweak anyway, but you might have a number of people who are there for the "free class" with no intention of performing, which can mess up the synergy.

Your guidelines look really good.

Regarding guidelines for how new members can join, I"d suggest that for the first year your troupe is together, you be very cautious about bringing others in after the fact. My experience has been that it takes time for the initial group to sort out its relationships, and for you to bring them along to a place of skill and discipline. You'll want the initial relationship-building to reach a point of stability before you add more people, and it could take a year to get to that point. Adding a new person before the group stabilizes could really disrupt things.

Wow, so many great responses to reply to! You guys are the bestest!

Kina, I totally agree with you about 7b. I read what you wrote, and immediately thought, "man, did I really put that duma$$ idea in there?". It's o-u-t out. And as a thank you, you can steal the whole thing, less that dippy 7b.

Sumaya, I was purposefully vague about attendance, because when it comes to choreos, I find some students catch on a lot faster or slower than others. Some of my students have a real knack for remembering choreography, and others have a really hard time retaining it. I'd hate to say, "well, you can only miss 3 rehearsals", because for some people I think they're going to need to come every single week to learn a full choreography in 8 weeks or so. The bottom line is, you have to know the choreo to perform it - none of this hiding in the back row and following along as best you can crap. And according to the rules, *I* get to decide who knows it and who doesn't.

Taj, I can only thank the Bhuz contributors for the creation of these guidelines. I think every item was brought up in a Bhuz thread at one time or another over the past couple of years. My hubby thinks I'm a bit anal retentive, but he doesn't Bhuz!

Khaalidah, it does sound a bit wonky, but this was my thought. I don't teach full choreos in my classes - I'm a techinique/combinations kinda gal. So I thought that I could open the troupe up to students who were interested in learning an entire dance, but would possibly not want to perform in public. You've really given me food for thought, though...

Shira, I totally understand your point about the troupe gelling - or not, as the case may be. But at the same time, I really do want to offer performance opportunities to any student of mine who has the skills and desire to do so. I really don't want the troupe to become a sub-clique within the Level 2 classes. Ai yi yi...even more to chew on. But that's a good thing, really!

Thnak you all so much, and keep it coming. I don't plan to hand out the guidelines and announce the troupe until next week's classes.

Originally Posted by laura 2

Sumaya, I was purposefully vague about attendance, because when it comes to choreos, I find some students catch on a lot faster or slower than others. Some of my students have a real knack for remembering choreography, and others have a really hard time retaining it. I'd hate to say, "well, you can only miss 3 rehearsals", because for some people I think they're going to need to come every single week to learn a full choreography in 8 weeks or so. The bottom line is, you have to know the choreo to perform it - none of this hiding in the back row and following along as best you can crap. And according to the rules, *I* get to decide who knows it and who doesn't.

Laura, your comments suggest that you believe the only reason people need to show up for rehearsals is to learn/drill the choreography. While that is certainly one reason to expect them to show up, it's definitely not the only one!

It's a common misconception. There are many, many other reasons to insist that people attend rehearsal, beyond ensuring they have memorized the moves used in the choreography:

• How will someone learn how to ensure that she is doing her part to keep the line straight if she skips rehearsals once she has memorized the choreo?
• How will people learn to express the feeling of the song if you don't drill them on changing their blank expressions of concentration into facial expressions appropriate to the mood of the song?
• How will people learn what it feels like to have 10 people doing the choreo together within the tight confines of a small stage if some people skip rehearsal and there are only 5 there to practice it on any given night?
• How will people learn the entrance, transitions between songs, and exit if they skip rehearsals?
• How will students who don't know each other very well yet start to develop relationship and trust so that their bond is apparent while performing if they don't consistently spend time with each other at rehearsals?
• How will you be able to polish the technique of your dancers so that they are all doing each move the same way and look as though they all actually did study with the same teacher?

Most of the above things require that you have a quorum present. You need enough people there at once to work through these things as a group.

Good point, Shira. I've made the mistake of allowing a great student/quick study to be in a performance even though they had to miss the last rehearsal or two and ALWAYS been sorry. Because missing that person means you can't tweak ANYTHING!

Invariably, at the last practice or two, you notice some mistake you've all been making, or some question about a detail comes up, or some cool idea for a tweak happens (what if we all keep our eyes down until the third measure and slowly look up at once?). But you can't incorporate any ideas or fix anything, because Suzy isn't there to learn it.

My rule is if you'll miss more than one of the six weeks prior to a show you need to make arrangements with me. I've made exceptions, and I've always been sorry so far. I think I won't make any exceptions any more for the final 2-3 rehearsals, at least. No matter how good a dancer is or how much I just love her -- there's always another show!

1. Membership in multiple troupes - Is it allowed? How would potential scheduling conflicts be resolved?

How is that any different from any other kind of scheduling conflict? Your students are free to accept jobs, register for academic classes, develop intimate relationships, raise kids; these too can cut into their available time and attention.

It's entirely reasonable to expect a certain time commitment from your students. I don't think it's reasonable to dictate what they can do otherwise.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

My rule is if you'll miss more than one of the six weeks prior to a show you need to make arrangements with me. I've made exceptions, and I've always been sorry so far. I think I won't make any exceptions any more for the final 2-3 rehearsals, at least. No matter how good a dancer is or how much I just love her -- there's always another show!

I think this is a good compromise for me, especially since I already have in the rules that you have to commit 3 weeks in advance. So I think I will make a change to the above to say that once the 3 week commitment is in effect, you are also commiting to make those last 3 rehearsals, without exception.

I just had a student recital where anyone who wanted to perform could! After that amazing experience they asked about performing at Desert Dance festival. I told them if they wanted to and can commit to my guidelines, we can do it! i got us into the festival and made very clear at our meeting about rehersals. I set up dates that they needed to be. A few dates people couldnt make so that was up front! anyone who misses practice after that meeting will not be in the show! plain and simple. its too hard to have someone missing when there are transitions being made without someone being in their correct spot.

as far as costuming went, i gave the option of dress or 2 piece. I had to have the glam so i had them made with glitter slinky material!! they also got to choose gold or silver accents! Its always nice to look uniform but its also nice to have what everyone likes. There were a few arguements on who was going to get purple so i basically have 3 people in purple but different shades...lavender, bluish purple, fushia/purple....

here is a photo of us taken outside the theater.

oh you all look lovely!

I'm speaking as someone who is always a bit slower than others at learning sequences. In these sort of situation, I've asked if it's OK to video tape the rehersal and I've done my own rehearsals at home alone in front of my TV (as well as attending group rehearsals). I bring other things to my performance, such as the ability to improvise and deal with the unexpected, that some folk who find it easy with sequences find impossible. Just wanted to mention that with regard to 'quick study' type people.

Originally Posted by Annie

How is that any different from any other kind of scheduling conflict? Your students are free to accept jobs, register for academic classes, develop intimate relationships, raise kids; these too can cut into their available time and attention.

It's entirely reasonable to expect a certain time commitment from your students. I don't think it's reasonable to dictate what they can do otherwise.

Oh, I agree. Much to my surprise, not all troupe directors share this opinion. Therefore, I've come to believe that spelling it out clearly is very important. If the director demands exclusivity, that should be made clear from the beginning. If not, then setting a minimum number of rehearsals seems reasonable. The individual dancer can then prioritize his/her activities with that requirement in mind. :Abiggrin:

Originally Posted by laura 2

7. Entering the Troupe

Potential troupe members may be asked to delay entrance to the group if the current choreography is too far along for a new member to catch up.

I've been a member of a student troupe for the last three years. People who are already members of the troupe are allowed to remain until they decide to leave on their own, but new people have to wait until January for auditions. This is a very good thing, because the only time we ever had any real friction was when our director allowed a dancer to join halfway through the year. The members who'd had to audition were annoyed because this girl just showed up, without having to go through the work they all had. And the girl considered herself much more valuable than the rest of us because she was asked to join instead of made to audition. Things came to a head when we had a last-minute two-hour Saturday practice to get ready for an upcoming show - the new girl came to practice, ran through the dance one time and walked out the door without a word. The director called her to find out why she left, and her answer was that she knew the dance, so she didn't need to stay. She and the director decided it would be a good thing if she didn't come back at all.

The point is, I'd recommend naming an annual audition period each year, and no one joins at any other time unless it's unavoidable. That way your troupe isn't rattled by new people coming in randomly.

Good luck with your new troupe!