Thread: How much to charge to create choreography?

Hi all,

I could use some advice on how to price choreography creation.

Usually, students come to me to help polish up an existing choreography, or to help brainstorm ideas. So for that, I just charge regular private lesson prices.

But in this case, I have been asked to create the choreography from scratch and then teach it to a local troupe director (who will then teach it to her students for a performance).

I do not know what the going rate is, or how one would approach pricing it.

Do you base your price on the number of minutes in the choreography, or do you charge a flat rate regardless of the number of minutes, or some other approach entirely?

I know that for the teaching part, I can charge regular private lesson rates.

But I was interested to know what rate you all charge for the actual creation process. I'm sure everyone has a different perspective and a different rate they charge, and I'm interested in hearing them all! Then I can make an educated decision.

This is a colleague that I respect and I am very excited about this opportunity to create a choreography for her troupe! ..g.:

Thanks in advance for your help.

I would charge time and a half during the private lesson, especially if this person is someone you hope to work with in the future.

also, talk to her about where she thinks this choreography might be performed and if she stands to make a monumental amount of cash on your hard work.

be sure, and i can't stress this enough, to have your name attached to this choreography whenever it is performed with program notes. you don't want to do this anonymously.

I have a flat fee for designing choreography because I know how long it usually takes to design a choreo- $350 covers design of up to 6 minutes of choreography & 2 hours instruction, plus notes from me & they are allowed to video the session as long as I get a contract stating *that* video will never be made public! I don't need video of me teaching the choreo on youtube, thank you! Just to give you an idea of my pricing, my usual private lesson rates are $40/hour for individual, $60/hour for a group up to 5-

But then there's licensing of the creative work. If this is just for her existing group to perform at an upcoming, unpaid or low paying show, I may or may not ask about making it a non-exclusive choreo- as in I reserve the right to teach it to others in the future, even tho she & her group would get first crack at airing the piece to the public- (usually a noncompete clause of at least a year) thus reserving my right to make money off my creative work in the future, say if I want to teach it 3 years from now. Whether or not she wants exclusivity, I would want to know what her plans are for the piece. I wouldn't charge extra for performing it locally, or just a few times, but if she is making a video or planning or teaching it at 20 workshops over the next couple years, additional licensing fees might apply.

Usually, folks only want it for short term use & relatively local events (using it for a year or so in a local troupe repetoire, or a couple competitions, frex) and I often have no real desire to use it again in the future, but these are all things that I think need to be discussed anyway. If I give license for this kind of use & they want to use it at a future date for their world debut music video, I expect them to come back & renegotiate licensing (oh, don't I wish...)

I also make very clear that the client is responsible for obtaining any necessary licensing that may be needed for music. If you ask me to choreograph for a specific piece & later find you you can't use it for your video or event because of licensing, it's not my fault!

relevant discussion on tribe:
Choreographer's fee - The Biz of Belly Dance - tribe.net
& there was another a few months back which I can't find...

Thanks ladies for the very helpful advice.

I never thought about making the licensing non-exclusive so that I am able to teach it to my own students in the future - good tip!

The performance is unpaid, but a nice one: a gala showcase for a traveling big-name instructor. So they want to make sure they have their best dancing feet forward :)

I know they have already contacted the organizer to let her know that I will be doing the choreography, and it should be no problem to have a choreography credit added to the program.

I'm really looking forward to this challenge - while I've created choreographies to teach to my own students, this will be the first time creating for another group.

Plus this particular troupe is special, because they're all kids. There's going to be about 20 of them on the stage!!!

Thanks again, and looking forward to hearing what others have to say.

Just to follow up - I ended up charging 1 1/2 times my regular private lesson rate per minute of choreography as my fee to create the choreography.

And then I will be charging regular private lesson rates to teach it to the troupe director, who will then teach it to her students.

It was a short 2 minute piece (since these are kids I didn't want to make it too long).

I'm figuring it will take about 2 private lessons - one to work on technique and learn the choreography, and the other to polish it up.

The nice thing is that the Troupe Director is also considering taking more private lessons with me in the future!

They are going to credit me in the program, and I still have the creative license to teach this to others in the future.

And I've given them permission to perform this whenever and wherever they like, as long as proper choreography credit is given.

Thanks again y'all for your helpful advice!

Originally Posted by Haaladances

Just to follow up - I ended up charging 1 1/2 times my regular private lesson rate per minute of choreography as my fee to create the choreography.

And then I will be charging regular private lesson rates to teach it to the troupe director, who will then teach it to her students.

It was a short 2 minute piece (since these are kids I didn't want to make it too long).

I'm figuring it will take about 2 private lessons - one to work on technique and learn the choreography, and the other to polish it up.

The nice thing is that the Troupe Director is also considering taking more private lessons with me in the future!

They are going to credit me in the program, and I still have the creative license to teach this to others in the future.

And I've given them permission to perform this whenever and wherever they like, as long as proper choreography credit is given.

Thanks again y'all for your helpful advice!

Oooh that does sound like a fun project! Hope it all goes well!