I am thinking a shadow box could work but I was wondering if anyone else has saved a special dress. I would love some ideas and pics for inspiration. Please and thank you!
View all comments
A costume fee could also pay for the services of a costume designer or costume coordinator, seamstress, or it may be charged to everyone but used in part to pay for a few costumes that they didn't have in stock. That way they can pay a bit more per costume and build up a stock of nicer costumes that can be used many times instead of buying cheap costumes for every dance and every show that only last a show or two. Over time that massively lowers the cost of costuming each show.
Right but it’s unethical IMO to charge more than $30 for that per student.
Unethical? When that practice could be saving the parents hundreds of dollars per show?
I was a ballet dancer first, but I'm a professional costume designer now. I believe that your price point is a little short-sighted.
$100s of dollars on costumes for a end of season show is also unethical. I grew up when costumes were our uniform leotard and some skirt or other pulled from the studio’s storage. We weren’t buying brand new costumes for multiple dances. The cost of what people are expected to pay for costumes for a recital or competition is absolutely out of control.
I’m not talking about costumes for professional performances or full on academy produced ballets like the Nutcracker or A Christmas Carol which obviously involves more costuming. Talking about recital.
That kind of discussion is between you and your studio, but a lot of it depends on what kind of clientele the studio is catering to.
Competition families tend to want the high production value of nice looking costumes for every dance. This is partly because they don't teach technique well enough for the students to look good in just a leotard and a skirt, but partly because those people have what I've always thought of as a "glory focused" mindset. They value style over substance, and they tend to be willing to pay for it.
Technique-based studios can get away with simpler costumes, because the dancing will be better. But in my opinion, technique-based studios should also be focusing on putting on full-length ballets, or at least half ballets, to give their students that educational opportunity. This means costumes that help to tell the story rather than just a leotard and tights.
But for a little in-studio recital, I agree that simpler costumes should be fine.
My technique focused studio did both full length ballets (or partnering with a professional company for the kids to do Nutracker) and recitals once a year, plus some other performance opportunities here and there.
Competition dance is just unethical all around. Literally my instagram feed is littered with reels of competition moms complaining about the cost of it and trying to promote the MLMs they’ve joined to keep their families out of bankruptcy. And the little dancers who are carting out giant set pieces to dance around in like a whole ass ice cream stand or a giant oyster — what in the heck is the point🙃
The non-competitive studio I teach at currently does order recital costumes for most younger classes (the older dancers who are in more than one class will usually have one or two costumes that are order , and then their other classes are a combination of stuff pulled from personal closets or a skirt, tunic or tutu from storage) but the students get to keep the costumes that they are charged for. The combo classes typically do an all-in-one (a look for ballet, a look for jazz or tap) to keep costs down. And then the story ballet that’s done every other year pulls from costume stock and it’s very simple using the student’s black leotards as the base. I feel like they do the best they can in a reasonable way.