Thread: more troupe stuff -troupe dues

i'll be cluttering the boards with troupe questions!

do any of you who have troupes (both pro or student) have troupe dues? how much? per term, per year? what do these cover? do you also pay yourself from this or is this just to cover costs ?

i sort of feel that if i'm going to have weekly rehearsals, well, that will basically mean me teaching yet another class (or even more!) on top of my already busy shedule, and i'm not sure yet how to handle that, and whether or not i should pay myself for this.

thanks

I hear ya. You should definitely be paid for your time teaching/leading the troupe, IMO.

I run mine as a 'repertory class' and students pay for the class. My rep students are required to be concurrently enrolled in my advanced choreo class if they're in the rep group. They pay for the class, but I do offer a discounted rate for the second class. This way, all my rep students are practicing together twice a week, they've proven a level of committment, and I don't have to use the rep class time to break down choreos, so we can truly be keeping our repertoire polished.

In truth, I still wind up donating a LOT of my time to the rep group. There's no class after theirs in the studio, so we usually wind up staying much longer than the hour they've paid for, and if there's a show coming up that group will often stay after the advanced choreo class to work on things. Not to mention the time spent coordinating with clients, etc.

But that's OK, I get a lot of publicity out of their dancing as well, and that group is fun for me most of the time.

I re-invest most of the profits from that class into props like matching veils & wings, too.

When I was part of a troupe, we did it differently. We each chipped in toward the space rental and that was all. But our troupe director eventually burned out, too, and I think that's a risk if you set yourself up as a volunteer for who knows how many years.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I hear ya. You should definitely be paid for your time teaching/leading the troupe, IMO.

When I was part of a troupe, we did it differently. We each chipped in toward the space rental and that was all. But our troupe director eventually burned out, too, and I think that's a risk if you set yourself up as a volunteer for who knows how many years.

I agree with Lauren.

Deborah

ps: of course, when don't I agree with Lauren?!

I'm not sure I've ever disagreed with you, either, Deborah. You're like my bellydance-teaching mental doppelganger.

My troupe has dues. It helps pay for the studio space, as well as put some money in the kitty for various incidentals. We're fund raising right now for costumes and promo materials, etc. Eventually, depending on how the troupe develops and grows, I would like to be paid for my time and work. My troupe is a professional troupe, but we're still in the beginning stage of our development -- still learning choreography and repertoire. I'm not sure I would take my "payment" out of troupe fees, but would probably pay myself a bit higher per gig than what I would pay the other troupe dancers.

I'm a member of a student troupe, and we pay $12/month in dues. This year, the director began holding a portion of the dues money aside in a costume fund that we can access if necessary.

Oh, this is really interesting (Artemisia you can start as many troupe threads as you like, just as long as you don't mind me feeding off them and maybe even hijacking them occasionally!..g.: )

I was thinking that when I started my pro troupe I wouldn't ask them to pay for my time, but that I would take any fees the troupe earned from performing.

But I was also thinking that I wouldn't always lead the troupe practice sessions - that sometimes they would practice on their own. This is in an attempt to stop myself from taking on too much and getting knackered (again).

It sounds like the combined Bhuz oracle might suggest otherwise...

ah, that's the what to do with money from performances issue. well, i dont want to attach that to the troupe due question, i think it's a seperate issue. i've decided that if there is a paid performances this is what we will/can do.

- gas money for the drivers
- some pay for the "solo" dancers if there are any (including myself)
- the rest goes in the troupe "bank", and will be used for costuming.

Artemisia, I think you should have dues paid by students.

You have your own studio, is that correct? If so, then the rent is the same whether or not you are rehearsing your group, but that doesn't mean you should be doing all this out of the goodness of your heart. Burn out is a very real problem and, somehow, knowing you are compensated, at least a bit, can help keep that burn out at bay.

I don't know how your rehearsals are scheduled for this big gig, but you might want to have everyone pay at least $5 (obviously in your monetary equivalent) for each rehearsal, paid in a couple of lump sums.

The group I have worked with over the years has annual dues of $100, payable in as many as 4 installments. It covers studio rent and some costuming items.

Deborah