Imagine you’re a parent sitting in the audience of their child’s dance recital. You know your child is in two numbers throughout the three-hour show, but you’re not sure exactly when they’ll perform. Afraid to get out of your seat in case you miss your child’s dances, you stay put and try to guess when your child will be on stage.
After an hour passes, it’s finally time for your child’s first number. The dance is beautiful, and you make a mental note to thank the choreographer for their hard work, but you’re not sure which of your child’s dance teachers was responsible for the number.
Once the recital’s over, you cheer for all the dancers, especially proud of your child. You wish there were some way to commemorate the recital so you could reflect on this special day.
There’s an easy fix for each of these issues—a dance recital program. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to create a comprehensive, engaging recital program for students, staff, and families:
What Is a Dance Recital Program?
A dance recital program is a physical and/or virtual pamphlet summarizing important recital information. Creating and distributing a dance recital program ensures students, staff, families, and other audience members are well-informed about the performance and your studio.
Why Is It Important to Create a Dance Recital Program?
While it may only be a small aspect of your dance community’s big day, a dance recital program can profoundly impact your audience and studio. A well-crafted recital program is beneficial because it:
- Adds a level of professionalism to your event. Having a dance recital program makes your event feel more official and polished. It shows that your studio cares about providing an enriching audience experience and puts thought into the details of its performances.
- Engages the audience. During each performance, audience members can refer to their programs to learn more about the dancers and choreographers involved and appreciate their hard work. Programs also allow the audience to follow along throughout the show so they know what to expect and when they’ll see their loved ones on stage.
- Recognizes dancers and instructors. Your dance recital program is the perfect place to recognize dancers and instructors for their dedication and commitment to your studio and the art of dance. You can also highlight student achievements, such as anniversaries of belonging to your studio or competition awards they’ve won.
- Provides a keepsake for performers and families. After your recital, performers and their families can keep their programs to remember the event. Then, they can look back on the recitals of years past, reminiscing about previous performances and accomplishments.
- Allows you to promote your studio. For any audience members considering joining your studio or recommending it to someone they know, your program presents an opportunity to promote all your studio has to offer and direct those interested to your website to learn more.
- Empowers you to raise more. By selling advertising and shoutout space to sponsors and families, you can use your recital program as a fundraising tool. Then, you can invest these funds back into your studio and future performances.
Overall, your dance recital program enhances the recital experience for all parties involved—including dancers, families, staff, and audience members.
What Should You Include in a Dance Recital Program?
Now that you understand the importance of having a dance recital program, you may be wondering exactly what information to include in yours. Every program should feature these basic elements:
- Event information. First and foremost, your recital program should include information about the event itself, such as the event name, your studio’s name, the date, time, and location. That way, audience members will get a quick introduction to your recital, and families will remember the event in the future.
- Performance schedule. The bulk of your program will be details about the performances themselves in chronological order. Each dance should be numbered based on where it falls in order, include the piece's name, and feature the song title if it differs from the name. If you’re having an intermission, you should also note when this will occur and how long it will last.
- Dancer and instructor names. Under each performance entry, list the instructor’s name at the top, followed by each dancer’s name in alphabetical order. Remember to ask for parent permission before including their children’s names in the program, and double-check your spelling for each name.
- Studio information. Include a brief description of your studio’s background and mission for audience members unfamiliar with your business. You may also add information about any upcoming classes, camps, or workshops you’re offering, a QR code that links to your website, contact information for your studio director, and your social media handles.
- Sponsors and partners. Highlight any sponsors and partners that made your recital possible. Thank them for their support, and encourage your community to patronize their businesses.
- Special mentions or dedications. Give shoutouts to recital volunteers, graduating students, retiring instructors, and all dance families. You should also leave room for families to submit shoutouts for their performers.
By including all of this information, you’ll develop a well-rounded dance recital program that informs the audience about your recital and recognizes key players who made the event possible.
7 Tips for Perfecting Your Dance Recital Program
With the basics down, it’s time to take your dance recital program to the next level. Implement the following tips to craft the perfect program for your event and studio.
1. Use a template.
While you can create your program from scratch, using a template will streamline the process and save your team time. Once you find a template you like, you can reuse it each year and update the content.
To help you get started, we’ve created a dance recital program template your studio can use:
Customize your template to suit the needs of your studio and recital, and add additional pages as necessary.
2. Make it easy to read.
You may include a ton of helpful information in your recital program, but if no one can read it, it won’t be useful! Ensure your program is easy for everyone to read by using:
- Simple, bold fonts. While you may be tempted to use script or decorative fonts, we recommend choosing a simpler font like Arial or Times New Roman to ensure all text is legible.
- Proper spacing. Don’t overcrowd your program by placing elements too close together. Add more pages if necessary to ensure enough space between lines and sections.
- Contrasting colors. Create enough contrast between the background and text to ensure all content is easy to read. Use a color contrast checker to test different background and text colors.
Before you distribute your final copies, consider having a few staff members check the program for readability and make any suggestions they have for improving it.
3. Incorporate visuals.
Make your program more engaging with visual elements. Visuals can also break up text and help hold the audience’s attention. These visuals may include:
- Cover design. Incorporate your branding and recital theme with a compelling cover design. The cover will give attendees a first impression of your program, so grab their attention with strong visuals.
- Logo. Build brand awareness by including your logo within the program. If you haven’t revamped your logo in a while, this may be the perfect opportunity to update your branding.
- Photos. Give audience members a behind-the-scenes look at your recital with photos of dancers and instructors in rehearsals. Ask for parental permission before featuring any photos of young dancers.
To collect photos for your program, consider having an older student visit different classes throughout the week to capture images. You may also use your dance studio management software or app to collect submissions from dancers and families.
4. Sell advertising space.
Raise funds with your recital program by selling advertising space. Identify potential local businesses you could partner with and reach out to them with this sponsorship opportunity. For best results, choose businesses students and parents are likely to frequent, such as restaurants, gyms, and dancewear stores.
Then, present a compelling argument for why they should sponsor your recital. You may use social proof, letting them know how many businesses typically place ads in your program each year, and inform them of your audience size so they know how many potential customers they could acquire.
In addition to selling advertising space to businesses, you should also sell shoutout space to performers’ families and friends. That way, you can further boost revenue while allowing people a unique opportunity to celebrate the dancers in their lives and congratulate them on their performances. Pricing should depend on how much space the shoutout takes up, with higher prices for more space. Give families a hard deadline to fill out and return your recital program dedication form to ensure you have ample time to finalize the program.
5. Add information about recital etiquette.
Create a positive, considerate environment at your recital by including recital etiquette rules in your program. That way, you can keep the focus on the performers and limit any audience distractions.
Consider adding a quick note that reminds audience members to:
- Turn off their phones.
- Avoid engaging in flash photography or videography.
- Wait until the end of each number to applaud.
- Stay in their seats until the end of each number.
You may also announce these rules at the top of the show to ensure all audience members know their roles in making the performance go smoothly.
6. Create a digital version.
While a physical dance recital program serves as a memento that dancers can keep for years to come, it can also be expensive to produce. Consider creating a digital version of your program (or going fully digital) to reduce costs.
Additionally, digital programs are better for the environment and more convenient for users as they can easily access your content on their phones. They are also better from an accessibility standpoint, as those who are visually impaired can use screen readers to navigate your program.
As they enter the performance space, inform audience members how they can download your digital program. Consider creating a QR code that links to your program so ushers can easily direct audience members to access it.
7. Proofread before printing and distributing.
Regardless of your dance recital program’s format, you should ensure all the information is correct. Before finalizing your program and enabling audience access, take the following steps to fully proofread it:
- Check names, performance titles, and dates. Confirm with instructors and students (or their parents) that their names are spelled correctly. You should also check with each instructor that the titles of their numbers are correct. Lastly, if you’re reusing a previous program template, make sure you’ve changed all the dates to reflect the current year and recital day.
- Ensure all sponsors are represented. Double-check that you’ve included all sponsored ads and recognized everyone who has contributed financially to support your recital.
- Look for other spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors. Run your program through a system like Grammarly to catch and correct other mistakes.
Once you’ve proofread your program, print a test copy. Check everything again and make sure the spacing and margins are sufficient.
Organize the Recital of Your Dreams with DanceStudio-Pro
By creating a dance recital program, you can summarize important event information for audience members, strengthen relationships with community partners, promote your studio, and recognize the dancers and instructors whose hard work and dedication made your recital a success.
If you’re looking to organize the recital of your dreams, look no further than DanceStudio-Pro. Our dance recital ticketing and management solutions make it easy to develop your recital schedule, sell tickets, distribute costumes, and communicate with staff, volunteers, and parents. Sign up for a free 30-day trial today to see how DanceStudio-Pro can take your recital to the next level.
For more information on how to upgrade your recital and studio as a whole, check out these additional resources: