Thread: Program blurbs: WWBD?

People *really* don't want to write their own bios!

I just sent out a big organizational e-mail to all the guest dancers, soloists & groups in my upcoming show & asked them for a few sentences about themselves & their dance.

Immediately about 4 people wrote me back and said 'oh, just say whatever you want.' (yeah, one of you is a Bhuzzer, you know who you are )

This happened last year, too. Of course, I wrote back and said "No, you have to do it, I'm not writing 15 bios and blurbs about dances I haven't seen!"

But last year, some people just ignored my repeated requests & wouldn't submit anything. I wound up making something up -- and in one case it caused a kerfuffle because one dancer in a trio had a very distinctive name, so I knew who she was and could say a bit about her -- but it turned out she was a new dancer by the same name, who I'd never met or heard of -- so I wrote wrong info!!

"Dancer X refused to comment on tonight's performance and prefers to keep her origins shrouded in mystery."

"Dancer X was scheduled to perform but refused to provide info for this program, so she's been cut from the show."

That's absurd.

Unprofessional, disrespectful to organizers, and silly.

It reminds me of when I worked for a few Japanese animation conventions wrangling the American side of the buisness. It was always difficult getting guests to get bios in on time and near the time we had to send stuff to be printed I still didn't have the bios for two guests...two former bosses of mine.

And then I wrote two bios to help me relax. Two bios that were NEVER intended to go into the program guide. I posted these bios to the staff e-mail list and we all had a cute laugh.

We did get those bios on time, but so close to publishing time that it seriously upset the guy putting together the program book and he used my bios instead (without my knowledge or permission) one of which read:

"Kuni Kimura: Some predatory suckers have taken things one step further and specialize on the blood of vertebrates: amphibian, reptiles, birds and mammals. The saliva of these insects - assassin bugs, mosquitoes, midges, tsetse flies - contains anti-coagulant, which, when injected, ensure that the victims blood does not clot for the duration of the meal. Kuni is the translator and producer of Studio Ironcat. You've probably also watched some of his anime translation projects like Neon Genesis Evangelion. If You haven't you've been living in a hole in the ground."

I totally agree with you - and after when you have taken all the pain to write it yourself they come up and say "oh but this is not right, can you take this part of"- for the some sentences that I have created with a lot of searching on the net and asking other people. Last year I had about 90 ladies to perform at the show - I cannot do it for everybody so I tried to do it for groups. In that I feel the situation is a bit better, the group leaders
can normally describe the last activity. I feel bad when I go to their web page and steal the text from there but at least I think they have, at some point, accepted that text for public use.

Other pain is getting picts of dancers and getting and putting the right ones to display on a flyer. Nobody wants the place in the bottom right, every body
wants to be up and right.

..cr.: I can do many thing but you Lauren mentioned something with what I have a lot of trouble, too. But how could we help? As an organizer I would love a performer that gives me also a nice introduction that I can read when I present her at the stage, something other than "and she comes from city of
Oulu"....

oh my! So, writing in humourous filler so I can get the program laid out is a bad idea, then.

Knowing the individuals involved, I'm sure they don't mean to be rude. They're just extremely modest, coupled with busy.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

oh my! So, writing in humourous filler so I can get the program laid out is a bad idea, then.

Knowing the individuals involved, I'm sure they don't mean to be rude. They're just extremely modest, coupled with busy.

It's not a bad idea, but you might want to give everyone a heads up that, if you don't get a blurb by a specified deadline it'll simply be: "Dancer X did not submit information about her performance" in the program. Period.

Mmmm, the inventing of blurb. I hate it. From both sides of the tracks - I hated inventing it for other people, because they ALWAYS take issue with what you write (even when you're being complimentary, because you may have been too much so! ARGH!,m:: ).

I also hate writing my own blurb. ..c:: Because (as I've noticed with writing my CV), I have a real problem selling myself and hate bigging myself up. I prefer to let my dancing speak for itself, so I'm actually perfectly happy to go in a programme as just my name. If there's something particularly relevant about the song, or if I feel the style needs some explaining (Khaleegy, Melaya), then I'll write a little blurb about that.

Lauren, I'd tell everybody that if they don't submit their own blurb I'd be simply putting their name and the name of the piece and that's all. Leave it up to them if they want blurb. Although I know this means you have difficulty announcing them. In that case I'd be saying: "And next we have... Dancer X!" and simply leave it at that.

Yes, out here we'd just leave it blank. We all know why its blank.

Laruen, I know how it is to put on a show and want a great program. I've had problems not only getting bios but decent photos as well. Dancers will tell me, "just take it from my website." Well, the website photo is low res so when you try to reproduce it in print it looks like cr@p.

There's no use fighting it. As an event organizer, your plate is already full -- you don't have time to write bios and chase people down. You need to be firm and say "if you material is not submitted to me by this date, it will not be included in the program."

Once they see how bad they look w/o a bio or decent picture, they'll be more apt to respond to your requests in the future.

ETA: One more thing I've had trouble getting -- CDs of music ahead of time. It's sooo much easier to run a show with a master CD of everyone's music all put together. There's no quick swapping out of CDs between dancers. But try getting someone's music before show day?? So many say "I don't know what I'm going to dance to... I'll see what I feel like that day..." Soooo unprofessional and discourteous to the organizer! Grrrr....

This is a number one pet peeve of mine (not writing my own or those from my troupe's numbers, but having to fill space because other troupes or soloists refuse to write for themselves). This year I'm telling dancers "if you can't tell me something about yourself and your performance, why do I want you in my show?"

Make providing info on dancer and on performance a requisite of performing -- those of us organizing shows (whether big productions, student recitals or informal haflas) have enough to do without playing seer for the dancers participating too!..c::

Just an extra note to those of you who don't like to write these blurbs/bios: most of us agree that part of our responsibility as belly dancers is educating the GP. Just a bit on the dance being performed -- is it a specific ethnic style, is it fusion, is it fantasy, is the music something special, is there something interesting about the prop being used, etc., etc. If you don't provide this information to the organizer for use in intros/programs, you've failed in that responsibility and made the entire show less effective than it could have been if you'd taken 10 minutes to write a few lines. It really doesn't have to be Pulitzer material . . .

Yes, exactly my thoughts, Kat. Most of the audience at this show will be GP, not other dancers, so they'll have no idea why some dancers just have a name in the program.

We talk on Bhuz about how important it is to identify whether what you're doing is traditional or fusion, to let the audience know who's a student and who's a pro, to credit your choreographer, etc. How can I do that if I don't know what dance you're doing or how long you've been dancing?

I think the ones I don't hear back from I'll nudge by telling them that it doesn't have to be about them (beyond maybe how long they've been dancing) but should be about the piece they're dancing.

And yeah, if they don't know or care enough about what they're doing to say two sentences about it, then why do I want it in my show?

I agree with Kat and you, Lauren.

How hard is it to talk about yourself and what your approach is? Even a blanket statement applicable to anything is possible. Maybe you could give people a template? Some people do get verklempt when faced with a blank sheet.


Dancer ABC began her dance career x years ago in xyz, usa. She performs regularly with her troupe, MNO/or as a soloist at LMN. Tonight she will be dancing to [fill in your song & definition if appropriate, e.g., a classic Arabic song, Alf Leyla wa Leyla, aka "1000 Nights."]

or,

Dancer ABC is performing a folkloric dance known as _____. This dance originates in _______________ and represents _____________. It is typically done to ___________ music using _________________ (props).

Hey Lauren! I agree with what someone stated above...if you don't get a blurb, just list their name and the name of their piece (if you even get the latter in advance of the show...HA HA!). But in my heart of hearts, I'd like to see people cut from shows for stuff like this. If we're putting ourselves out there as professionals, we need to act like it. Hang in there...your show will be great!
Nisaa

Thanks, Nisaa! (and thanks for your blurbs).

Dani, that's brilliant! I'll send a template to the ones I don't have blurbs from by the end of the week, read it to them over the phone if I must. I'll bet verklemptitude is the issue exactly.

Good topic to bring up. I just got another one of those dreaded emails "could you please provide your bio". I hate writing them because I don't like to - as someone else here wrote - big myself up. I don't want anyone to say "did you see what she put in her bio - what nerve! she isn't x or that wasn't x." then again, I like to get some background on the dancers I'm watching - what styles they studied, what they like, because it gives me some context for watching them.
well, off to write another bio - thanks for the guilt trip! ;)

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Knowing the individuals involved, I'm sure they don't mean to be rude. They're just extremely modest, coupled with busy.

Dude, like you're not busy?! I'm sorry but that's some gold-plated nerve

Here are my bio-related pet peeves in no particular order:

*when asked for a specific length of bio (say, 3-5 sentences) and a dancer manages to create a full page of text out of that. Just because you elect to eschew punctuation doesn't make you Toni Morrison...I'm just sayin'

*I ask for a program bio and separate show intro and get the same text to be used for both.

*dancers that say, "oh just use whatever you had last time"--yes because it's MY job to store your info for future use

*when my request for phonetic spellings of dance names or songs for the DJ gets ignored, the Arabic names get mangled and then the dancer is pissed at me.

*when obvious things like a website address are left out of a bio...WTH?

*not providing anything then being miffed that I didn't pull text/pics from a website

*bios that aren't proofread--I've received bios where the dancer has misspelled her own dance name/studio/website

~~Kimahri
aka Ms. Organizer Crabbypants

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

Good topic to bring up. I just got another one of those dreaded emails "could you please provide your bio". I hate writing them because I don't like to - as someone else here wrote - big myself up. I don't want anyone to say "did you see what she put in her bio - what nerve! she isn't x or that wasn't x." then again, I like to get some background on the dancers I'm watching - what styles they studied, what they like, because it gives me some context for watching them.
well, off to write another bio - thanks for the guilt trip! ;)

I have been putting off writing my bio for my website for years now. Wow. Years. I just realized, after writing that word, that I'm super lame for waiting this long! I need to get on it. But I procrastinate because I want it to say JUST the right thing, without name dropping who I've studied with, without being too conceited, without too much fluff and not enough facts or too many facts and not enough fluff, I want it to be interesting enough to make people curious about me, etc. It's a maddening task for me!

But a SHORT bio for a blurb...that's another story. I don't see any reason any one of us couldn't come up with 2-3 sentences that describe who they are, where they come from and what dance they are doing or like best. I've whipped those suckers out in 5 minutes flat before. There is no "too busy for that" in my opinion. The dancers may not realize they're being rude by glossing over your request, but I think they are. Why in the world should you have to do it for them? They should be stoked to be in your show and to educate the GP about what they're doing, no?

So, "X and Y are students of Z at Blah Dance Studio. They will be performing a duet to the song Yadda Yadda." would work?

Here's hoping I did none of the above for your challenge...

Originally Posted by Kimahri

Dude, like you're not busy?! I'm sorry but that's some gold-plated nerve


Here are my bio-related pet peeves in no particular order:

*when asked for a specific length of bio (say, 3-5 sentences) and a dancer manages to create a full page of text out of that. Just because you elect to eschew punctuation doesn't make you Toni Morrison...I'm just sayin'

*I ask for a program bio and separate show intro and get the same text to be used for both.

*dancers that say, "oh just use whatever you had last time"--yes because it's MY job to store your info for future use

*when my request for phonetic spellings of dance names or songs for the DJ gets ignored, the Arabic names get mangled and then the dancer is pissed at me.

*when obvious things like a website address are left out of a bio...WTH?

*not providing anything then being miffed that I didn't pull text/pics from a website

*bios that aren't proofread--I've received bios where the dancer has misspelled her own dance name/studio/website

~~Kimahri
aka Ms. Organizer Crabbypants

Originally Posted by danidance

I agree with Kat and you, Lauren.

How hard is it to talk about yourself and what your approach is? Even a blanket statement applicable to anything is possible. Maybe you could give people a template? Some people do get verklempt when faced with a blank sheet.


Dancer ABC began her dance career x years ago in xyz, usa. She performs regularly with her troupe, MNO/or as a soloist at LMN. Tonight she will be dancing to [fill in your song & definition if appropriate, e.g., a classic Arabic song, Alf Leyla wa Leyla, aka "1000 Nights."]

or,

Dancer ABC is performing a folkloric dance known as _____. This dance originates in _______________ and represents _____________. It is typically done to ___________ music using _________________ (props).

I like your format, may I use it for my bio. I have to do one for this competition on Saturday.

Originally Posted by antimony

So, "X and Y are students of Z at Blah Dance Studio. They will be performing a duet to the song Yadda Yadda." would work?

Sure. Make it 'an original choreography in a (traditional/modern/fusion/Egyptian/Turkish/American Cabaret/Tribal) style to the song Yadda Yadda" and it's perfect.

Outed!!

Hello, my name is Andrea and I have Blurbaphobia. Here's why: I am not eloquent or flowery, and writing is not my strong suit. I hate when I hear a bio about how great a dancer is when I know she wrote it herself. Whenever I have to do these, I usually just say my name and my studio name. Some sponsors have decided this is not enough and have added to it. I have been embarrassed by the thought that someone would think I'd write about how entertaining I was. Sometimes if I am dancing out of town I will add a bit, but generally folks in town know me and that I'm not likely to bust out a Spanish/Tribal/Saidi fusion.

I didn't even think about how selfish it was until I got Lauren's e-mail. I realized then the time it would take if she had to do it for everybody, even though I am special and should be the exception . Like Wiggle, self promotion is hard for me. I'm trying to get used to it, but it will definitely take some time.

ha haaaaaaaaaa <points at Andrea> busted!

It wasn't just you. I sent out that e-mail to everyone and immediately got FOUR 'just write mine' messages back, which gave me major flashbacks to last year & I realized I needed to get a handle on it right away.

One of them was from my own daughter -- at least with you & her I felt comfortable writing back and saying "nuh uh."

Me too! I feel just like Wiggle. It is especially hard for me as I have not done much performing aside from haflas and a couple of shows (even though I've been dancing for years) What the heck would I say?

I think it would be a lot easier if all I was asked to do was describe the type of dance I am doing and what song I'm using. That's simple. But when it comes to making myself look good...that's another story!!!

People--if you want to be a professional, you have to have a short bio. All you have to do is write it once and then keep it up-to-date. Then you can tweak id depending on how much info you need to share.

Look at what other people have done for inspirationg. It's not about being pompous at all, it's just business.

I'm a "just the facts ma'am" blurb writer. My name, song title, choreographer, style of dance. If in need of more filler, a bit of translation for song, or a bit more info on style of dance, etc.

I don't describe my own dancing with the adjectives one often sees in blurbs "graceful, entertaining, energetic, whatever" because I figure that's up to the audience to assign those based on my performance.

Christine

Another factual bio lover here. I like writing and hearing straightforward bios...So-and-so has been dancing for this long, is inspired by that, works in this style, teaches here, performs there. Boom. I try to say nothing that can't be verified immediately! :)

I think that if you (the generic you!) are doing shows, you should have a variety of bios saved and ready to send off: The one-liner, the three to five liner, the paragraph, and the whole CV. Give the promoters what they ask for. You should also have a high-quality, print-ready photo on your computer for programs, as well as a web sized one.

I know it can be sucky to write about yourself in the third person. Do it when you have time and are not under pressure so that when the show organizer asks...boom. You are ready!

I swear half this business is getting ready for the unexpected opportunity, gig, or request. :)