Thread: Does anyone have a portfolio?

After recent events, I'm considering putting together a little portfolio. My accomplishments are few, but are accomplishments nonetheless. I am planning on have professional photo's done soon as well ( I keep putting it off until I lose 10llbs, lol, I guess I gotta jump start that.) And maybe a couple of quotes of what folks have said about my dancing, and a comprehensive list of places I've danced before. Also maybe a list of teachers I've taken workshops from and studied with....
But what do you have in your portfolio's? Do you feel they are nessecary. I know I could have all of this up on a webpage, and I plan to. But should one have something physical to carry around, or bring to proposed gigs?
Your opinions are greatly appreciated!
Michelle

I generally think it is a good idea to have something for prospective clients.

I have a press kit I use. It includes my dance resume (experience, teachers, references), a photo page and description for each style I perform, 2 business cards, an introduction letter/bullet list with my specialties, a standard pricing list, and (at my discretion) I sometimes include a 5 minute sample dvd of performances or instruction. I also have a separate insert for my teaching style and workshop information that I include for event promoters.

I have a press kit, and a portfolio.
Do some research on the internet on what to include, but my main advice is to keep it slick, simple and professional.
I am a terrible speller/grammar, and have a little dyslexia issue around numbers, so I had someone look over it and proofread it other than myself -
good luck!

some more advice. When I am meeting in person for a big gig or any job, I make sure to dress and present myself professionally.....not dress super sexy nor super conservative -
good luck....

Awesome ideas ladies. Any chance anyone would share good business card making websites for dummies like me?

I started putting together a portfolio and never finished.

I think if I find that venue I want to approach to open a new gig, I'll be sure to arrive with portfolio in hand. As it is, I found it fairly easy for me to get hired at most of the already established venues in my area so I don't bother with a portfolio.

I have a portfolio of sorts--it's more a notebook, actually. I use it for personal use and history rather than to present to potential gigs, but I suppose it could be used for that as well. I have seperate promo materials for that, though. In the "portfolio" I have press clippings, flyers of shows and events I've produced, thank you cards and notes that say nice things about me and my dancing/teaching (to cheer me up when I'm down), etc. My mom actually was the one who suggested that I start keeping it and I"m really glad I got around to pulling it together -- now everything's in one place rather than scattered all over. It really helps when working on your promo materials too.

Originally Posted by midnight_star56

Awesome ideas ladies. Any chance anyone would share good business card making websites for dummies like me?

www.overnightprints.com and www.vistaprint.com have good options. I do all of my card designing in photoshop and then upload the designs to overnight prints, but I think both have basic online design tools.
..g.:

I still have a rather large book of photos, most of which were taken at specific events and venues along with dates. Specifics on places I've danced and training I've had I kept in the pockets, but most of the time people just flicked through the photos. Promo' photos are great to have in the mix, too, but people seemed much more impressed to see evidence of me dancing at actual events. Don't know why that is, I guess it's proof that you've done it and then there's that old cliche "a picture's worth a thousand words". It's a great thing to have now that I'm retired, too, and it enabled me to write about my own personal dance history, along with dates.

I'd also send out videos if the client seemed serious, but don't plan on getting any back!

does anyone have their's online to share? This is a really good topic and I' be interested as I'm sure Midnight Star is, to see what they could look like.
Thanks!

Originally Posted by Melinda77

does anyone have their's online to share? This is a really good topic and I' be interested as I'm sure Midnight Star is, to see what they could look like.
Thanks!

I don't have the full packet online, but I do have an intro with rate sheet here: http://www.mahsati-janan.com/files/M...-Promo2007.pdf

Might not be a bad idea to put the whole thing online - I'll see about that later this evening after class.

My promo kits are a glossy black folder conaining the following:

- full color performance and instruction flyer with several pictures
- b&w performance brochure
- b&w classes brochure
- CD-ROM containing a video clip montage in .wmv format, with instructions on how to play it on a computer
- business card
- letter of introduction, tweaked specifically for the person/venue the kit is going to

Originally Posted by mahsati

I don't have the full packet online, but I do have an intro with rate sheet here: http://www.mahsati-janan.com/files/M...-Promo2007.pdf

Might not be a bad idea to put the whole thing online - I'll see about that later this evening after class.

Thanks Mahsati, for sharing that.

besides a portfolio to show clients, i also have a giant scrap book collection of snap shots given by friends, family, customers, etc., fliers from all types of gigs, mentions in print, my pic in restaurant ads etc. all in chronological order. [and yes, those were packed to go in the recent evacuation scare :) ]

a little ot:
please don't think this is purely a narcissistic endeavor. i come from a family of majorettes and old school pagent girls [these pagent girls are now grandmas]. as a child, i loved to lay on the floor and flip through their giant scrap books and oogle the costumes and all the retro gowns, opera gloves and hair-dos at ribbon cuttings, etc. it made me believe i might be able to do something "fancy" too.

i think it is nice to collect these memories so the future generations of women in our families can can see that they can also go be talented, beautiful, adventurous, sexy, extroverted women in a spot light. it gives them a kind of permission to pursue more extroverted, limelight activities.

Wow, this is such a great thread! I have my first restaurant performance in November & I'm thinking now is the time to start putting all of this together for the future. Thanks everybody!!!!

I got sick over the weekend and decided to start putting together my 2008 Press Kit since I couldn't go anywhere. *sniffles* I ended up writing a really awesome article about myself and I got to wondering how many other dancers have prepared sample articles about their work that they can submit to press agencies when you get news and tv reporters who want to do a feature on you? So far I've been pretty lucky with how the media has protrayed my stuff but I've heard that others are not so lucky. Did the people with bad experiences in the media light have pre-written articles that they submitted? I know that sometimes they'll just print your stuff verbatum with maybe a few changes (if any). I would definately include something like that in a Press Kit if you plan on working with the media at all. ;-)

Full Sized Glossy Photos are great too.
Never forget business cards.
And from a marketing perspective I've heard that a personalized letter of intent goes a long way. I've never used a generic one so I don't have anything to compare it to. ;-) Every bit helps!

(Great info from everybody else too! This is a very productive thread.)

~*Gen*~