If you are a director - whether it be of a marching band, color guard, dance studio, theatre, or any other performing arts organization - there has probably been a point in time where you had the thought "Should I hire a choreographer?" If you've had that thought, the answer is probably yes. But there are some things that you should do in order to have a successful experience with that choreographer.
1. Have a vision in mind.
With a clear vision, you can move forward with your choreographer and achieve the product that you are most desiring. If you don't have a clear vision yet, it's definitely possible that a choreographer can help you get there, but keep in mind that you need to be very open to communication, and some choreographers consider this a part of their design services any may charge extra for it.
2. Have materials to send.
Knowing how many students you have and what level they are on is a great start to having information to send to your choreographer. Unless you are hiring them for design services as well, most choreographers also require you send them some sort of map of the show design before they can write anything. In marching band, this will be your drill. In winter guard, your staging. In theatre, your blocking. This can often be seen via video or pdf file. You should also send all scores and/or recordings to your music.
3. Know what everyone is wearing.
Again, costuming is usually considered a design service and an extra charge for your choreographer to do that as well. If you are simply choosing costumes from a catalog or you already have them designed, make sure that your choreographer can see pictures (or even better videos!) of the costuming. Dresses lend themselves to very different choreography over pants, and things like sequins, loose fabric, sheer panels, and anything else can come into play.
4. Set deadlines.
Make sure that your deadlines are reasonable. If you have ever written a piece of music, a story, or created something else artful before, keep in mind that choreographing is an art form and it does take some time to create quality work, then deliver it. On the other hand, you don't want your deadline to be the first day of your camp or clinic as some choreographers who are overbooked might put off working on your piece until the last minute if it is a later deadline than other clients.
5. Find a quality choreographer.
It's not always easy to trust what a person says about themselves online. Finding a choreographer with the skill, ability, training, and time can be quite a task. That's why Spintronix is seeking to ease the burden of this part through the Instructor Database. In a simple search, you will be able to see verified certifications, experience, and reviews of a large number of instructors, designers, and choreographers.
We can't wait to see what you and your team puts together in their performance this season. If there is any way that we can help, please contact us!
Monday, September 9, 2019
Monday, September 2, 2019
Major website changes!
Good morning, spinthusiasts! Welcome back to our blog and come check out some of the fairly major changes we have made to our website over the long weekend. Here's a little summary of some of the useful items that are here so you don't get lost:
CONTACT MENU
Under Contact you will find a couple of new pages that will help you get more involved with the Spintronix community both online and in real life.
The first is a project we have been working on for a long time and are so pleased to finally open to the public (in beta format) - the INSTRUCTORS DIRECTORY! Here you can browse an entire directory filled with guard instructors, performers, Spintronix staff, and more. This should make life much easier when searching for someone to help with your show, getting your name out then when you are a beginning instructor, and collaborating with other instructors to put color guard content into the world. Some cool features that this will be capable of over time include:
Currently, if you would like to have certification badges show on your personal profile, send your certification documentation in an e-mail to director@spintronixguard.org in order to have them added. Eventually, we will set those up so you can have them verified through our website!
The second page is one we are very excited about - it is an overhaul of our APPLY page. Here you can see what volunteer positions Spintronix is currently seeking to fill. If you are interested in paid positions, definitely fill out an application as those paid positions are more rare and are generally filled from our volunteer pool when they do open.
PROGRAMS
Here you may notice that we have removed some of our pages that are not currently active. We still have those programs, so don't fear! We are simply overhauling the way those pages function so they are easier to access, easier to use, and have all of the information in one place instead of scattered all over social media. Some of these programs include:
These pages will be overhauled and then made available as they are ready for the upcoming events.
STORE
Our store is full of merch that we have been building up all summer! Go check it out (it does lead you to our store on teespring.com, which is a separate website but still totally secure and they will make your awesome items for you to be shipped directly to your house).
SITE SEARCH
Top right hand corner of the website. You can find anything we have on our site!
LOGIN
We finally have site memberships! You can log into yours using Google, Facebook, or your e-mail address. This will help you keep track of your service orders, events, certifications, and so on through our site. Just use the Log-in button on the top right corner (under site search) to create your account and log in to edit your profile.
We hope that all of these new improvements and services will help you along the way to be more involved and informed in the world of performing arts! If you have any feedback please don't hesitate to contact us using our contact form and let us know what you think. We are working hard to constantly improve our site and sources to give you the best experience - and best of all, it's FREE to use!
<3 Jackie
CONTACT MENU
Under Contact you will find a couple of new pages that will help you get more involved with the Spintronix community both online and in real life.
The first is a project we have been working on for a long time and are so pleased to finally open to the public (in beta format) - the INSTRUCTORS DIRECTORY! Here you can browse an entire directory filled with guard instructors, performers, Spintronix staff, and more. This should make life much easier when searching for someone to help with your show, getting your name out then when you are a beginning instructor, and collaborating with other instructors to put color guard content into the world. Some cool features that this will be capable of over time include:
- Certification badges on personal profiles to provide reliable access to certified instructors.
- Ability to list experience and links to work samples like videos of past shows.
- Searchability of profiles.
Currently, if you would like to have certification badges show on your personal profile, send your certification documentation in an e-mail to director@spintronixguard.org in order to have them added. Eventually, we will set those up so you can have them verified through our website!
The second page is one we are very excited about - it is an overhaul of our APPLY page. Here you can see what volunteer positions Spintronix is currently seeking to fill. If you are interested in paid positions, definitely fill out an application as those paid positions are more rare and are generally filled from our volunteer pool when they do open.
PROGRAMS
Here you may notice that we have removed some of our pages that are not currently active. We still have those programs, so don't fear! We are simply overhauling the way those pages function so they are easier to access, easier to use, and have all of the information in one place instead of scattered all over social media. Some of these programs include:
- Summer camp
- Single-day clinics
- Instructor Certification
- Plus more coming soon!
These pages will be overhauled and then made available as they are ready for the upcoming events.
STORE
Our store is full of merch that we have been building up all summer! Go check it out (it does lead you to our store on teespring.com, which is a separate website but still totally secure and they will make your awesome items for you to be shipped directly to your house).
SITE SEARCH
Top right hand corner of the website. You can find anything we have on our site!
LOGIN
We finally have site memberships! You can log into yours using Google, Facebook, or your e-mail address. This will help you keep track of your service orders, events, certifications, and so on through our site. Just use the Log-in button on the top right corner (under site search) to create your account and log in to edit your profile.
We hope that all of these new improvements and services will help you along the way to be more involved and informed in the world of performing arts! If you have any feedback please don't hesitate to contact us using our contact form and let us know what you think. We are working hard to constantly improve our site and sources to give you the best experience - and best of all, it's FREE to use!
<3 Jackie
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