Performing Company Q&A

In this episode of RhythmPod, we share all the questions we received after you listened to our other episodes! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Rhythm Pod, the podcast from Rhythm Dance Center for Rhythm Dance Center. We're here to bring you studio updates, tips from our teachers, and fun chats about everything happening in our rhythm community.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

RhythmPod will be your go-to source to stay inspired and connected. We can't wait to share all the rhythm fun.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Hi everyone, welcome to the company audition and spotlight QA episode. First of all, we want to thank you all for listening and sharing your questions with us. So in this episode, we're just going to go through the questions and answer them and hope that doing so will make your decision easier about performing company. So here we go. Let's get started. All right.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Question number one: where will conventions take place? Are they all local? And when do they take place? Ultimately, Mini Star and Connection and Fusion Competitions and Conventions are all local. They're going to be local to the Atlanta area. That doesn't mean they're in Marietta. There none of them are in Marietta. Mostly in the downtown region. We do seem to travel to Clayton County Performing Arts Center every year for something, which is not too far, just south of Atlanta. We've been to Athens, but very rarely. That's probably the farthest we've ever been. So pretty, pretty local for Mini Stars, Connection, and Fusion. We can't promise they're going to be January through March. I know somebody had that specific question. Mini Stars this year that have one had one the end of January, they had one mid-March, and they have one mid-April. I believe Connection just finished their last one in March. So they were February and two in March. So it's a little different every year. It depends. There are so many events that we have to coordinate schedules around. So you can plan on January, February.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

I was gonna say there's usually at least one or two companies are doing something in April. And we also have companies that do something in May. Usually if it's May, it's early May. But like we said in all the previous podcasts, we have to wait until we get all of those dates uh together. And then we lay it out and we we have a giant crazy puzzle of figuring out how we make all of our performing companies, you know, work in the schedule based on the options that we're presented with. So definitely they're usually past March. But this year, like Danny said, connection is finished. But all the other companies still have one more to go.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Yes. Um, but Edge is the only company that does have to travel regionally every now and then, and then for a national as far. But that's it.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Okay, the next question is for dancers with working parents. It says, Do you find that most company parents coordinate shared transportation, or are there specific strategies you've seen work well for families balancing demanding careers with the company's weekday rehearsal needs? I think that we see a little of everything depending on where the dancer lives and or the schedules of their family. I will say that there are a lot of carpools happening. And I do think that the dancer families always within each company, they always get connected pretty early on and they work out carpools on their own. And this is something that we see all of the dancers doing successfully. And I think in general, the dance families are always willing to help out. I do think that, you know, with any high-level activity that you are a part of, that there are going to be requirements. I think that, you know, it's always you having to work with your family, make some compromises. Maybe it's a carpool. You know, I do think that we see, I mean, we've been doing this a long time and have seen it successfully happen and happen on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

All different scenarios, yes. All right. Next question. How many classes per week do the mini stars take in what styles? Um, the mini stars take a ballet class, a tap class, a jazz class, a hip-hop class, an acrobatics and technique class. Those are their required classes. There is a contemporary class that is an option for them. Most of them do take it every year, but those are their required classes. These are on two days a week. We know for a fact they will be on Mondays and Wednesdays. They generally start around 3:30 and they're pretty much back-to-back classes. They may have a 15-minute break somewhere in there, um, usually finishing around 5 30, 6 30 on those two days.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

If you look at the schedule online right now, you will see what it is, and it's gonna be very similar. Very similar. Probably if it's different, it would be by 15 minutes somewhere, like Danny said. Okay, the next question. If my daughter doesn't make many stars, what's the next option? So if a dancer does not make many stars or any other company that we have at rhythm, you are going to get an email that will give suggestions on classes that may help them achieve their goals. Some dancers may be extended a spotlight invitation, but we do, if you listen to our podcast, we do always look at our recommendation list first for Spotlight. We're always going to go first to the people that all of our teachers have recommended. That's the way we choose our spotlight dancers. But a lot of times, maybe the person who's auditioning for many stars, they may have already been on that list. So you may already have been extended an invitation, or if not, and we see you in the audition and we think that that is a good fit and the space is available, then we would extend the spotlight invitation. We're always going to encourage any dancer auditioning for anything to get back in technique classes and keep working towards their dance goals. We're always gonna encourage ballet, jazz, and hip-hop as an absolute minimum because that is what our minimum requirement is for connection. All the other companies are gonna require tap. And connection has a connection tap company, so that is a possibility as well. But the the tap classes help so much with musicality and rhythm and coordination. So, you know, if you can take the four classes, we would say ballet, jazz, hip hop, tap are the four classes they need to be in. And we can always help guide you to that. There's also the option of maybe some private lessons here or there. So um that's gonna be what we're going to encourage you to do. Yes. All right.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Next question is a financial question specific to connection. Um, as we mentioned, the the fees that we talked about for connection range anywhere from 1800 to 2,900 for the season. Um so the question was, what exactly does that cover? And it's obviously a very wide range. So I just want to explain that a little bit in a little bit more detail. So the 1800 is the low side of the of the approximate number, the range, because that is the minimum requirement for connection. So those are dancers that are taking their ballet, their mini, their their connection ballet class, their connection jazz class, um, their connection hip hop class, those are their weekly classes and their class with Vera. Those are their required classes. They're competing a jazz routine, a hip-hop routine, and the production. That's the minimum requirement. That's where you're leaning into that 1800. If you add, if your dancer auditions for the tap company and is accepted into that, that add that goes closer to that 2900. And then if they add contemporary on top of that, if they're older, that pushes you more towards the 2900. So I'll let I touch on what exactly that 1800 covers. Um, it covers all of the costumes, all of the company costumes. So, not your recital costumes. It covers competition costumes, that jazz costume, that hip-hop costume, and that production costume. It covers the competition entry fees for those three routines at three competitions, it covers the choreography fees for those three routines, and it covers one convention fee for the for that, those minimum required routines. It also covers a miscellaneous fee where we do headshots for all of the kids. We do things throughout the season. Um, there's a miscellaneous fee of approximately$50. Um, there's usually a media fee from one of the competitions where they require you're gonna get all the pictures and videos, uh, a few things like that. But the grand total, I believe it even included the um one masterclass with Kevin Maher, which I think we talked about in our first uh first podcast. But all of that comes to about$1,800. And I went back and looked at this year's accounts, and for a mini connection dancer this season that did the minimum requirements, it was exactly$1,804. Um, junior teen and senior are probably very similar to that. I did not look at all of those accounts, but they're it's gonna be in close to that range. Um what it does not include, that$1,800, does not include your year-end show fee, the fundle fee. It does not include your monthly tuition, your year-end show costumes. And if your dancer is only doing the minimum, the only bat, the only costume is gonna be ballet for that ballet, one ballet dance they're gonna do in the recital. It does not cover recital tickets, um, any of their dance wear, their shoes, and you know, the day-to-day things. Um, and then one other question was just about a holiday show fee. If your dancer is in company, they would be part of our holiday show. And we actually do not have a holiday show fee, um, just the tickets. So hopefully that helps. It is pretty close to$1,800 for the minimum. Obviously, the more you add, the more it adds everywhere else.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Okay, the next question. Well, we actually received a couple of questions, which I do feel like this is always a little confusing for people, but it's been the same forever. But about which company to audition for based on their age. So just a reminder that you don't decide beyond deciding that you want to audition for our connection, our fusion, mini stars, or edge. Besides that, you don't say what they would like to be considered for. Well, there's only one mini star, so there's that. But for connection, there's four mini, junior, teen, senior. For edge, there's four, many, junior, teen, senior, and for fusion, there's two teens, senior. So they come to that first audition, the jazz audition, with their age group. You have indicated what their highest level that they um would be like to be considered for. And then from there, we invite them to a callback um for a specific company. And this is going to vary based on a lot of things. It's gonna vary based on the ages, on the levels, on the numbers, all the things. So you don't have to worry about that. All you have to do is make sure you've indicated what company you would like to audition for, Connection, Fusion, Edge, Mini Stars, and come to their appropriate age. From there, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna put you, you know, where they fit best.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

And when it comes to the end, there are always 13-year-olds, for example, in a junior group. There might be a 12-year-old in a teen group based on their skill level, their maturity, their all those things that come together at those callbacks. That's why it gets a little confusing. Just because you're a 13-year-old doesn't mean you're in a teen group. Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

And every year is different depending on who's auditioning, what they're auditioning for, and their ages. So that's why we just do it and and it works out great every year. And we do start the process by age, but then the dancers get shifted and moved around appropriately based on their skill, their skill level, on performance quality, and more. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

All right. Um, moving on, we actually had a few questions after um some families listened to our spotlight uh podcast. So we wanted to just touch on a few of the questions that came in um regarding spotlight. One was what is the cost of spotlight versus a typical regular class at rhythm? And if it's one long class or multiple classes and then the approximate class times. So the cost for spotlight is exactly the same as a typical class. Your tuition is no different. The difference is that they are required to take all three classes that are all back to back. They take a jazz class, a hip-hop class, and a ballet class. The little teenies, the pre-petites, only do jazz and ballet, so that's just two classes. But whatever the tuition, regular tuition cost is for two classes for the pre-petites or three for the olders, that's what your tuition is. And there is a fee that we add on there, a spotlight fee, I believe it was$75. That's across the whole year. So we're you're not looking at anything additional for tuition. Um, those classes are all back to back. They're all 45-minute classes. We do it back to back on one day to make it as convenient as possible for everybody. Um, classes for the littles generally start at 3:30 or 345. It varies every year just depending on the rest of the schedule, um, our faculty availability, and that sort of thing. But you're looking at 3:30 or 345 for most of those younger spotlights, and the olders are usually after 5:30 or 6 into the evening. Um, also, when spotlight invitations might be going out, and they will start going out on Wednesday, April 15th via email.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Okay, well, that sums up all the questions that were submitted. If you have any other questions, just feel free to email us at rdcauditions at gmail.com and get those forms submitted if you have not done so yet. Again, thank you guys for listening to all of this important information, and we look forward to seeing you at auditions in a few weeks. Thank you. Bye-bye,