Create a Dance Team
Being a part of a dance team is an exciting experience. Creating a dance team is just as exciting, but takes a bit more work, coordination and cooperation. There are many aspects to creating the right type of dance team for your group or organization. Use the following steps as a guide in learning create a dance team to suit your dance needs.
Instructions
School-sponsored Dance Teams
1. Go to your school counselor or advisor if you want to create a dance team that will be school sponsored. Often, these are dance teams, drill teams, pep squads or a pom-pom squad. It will have to be determined who will be responsible for directing the dance team and reporting to the staff advisor at the school.
2. Establish practice times, age requirements and the style of dance this team will perform.
3. Decide if the dance team will be trained dancers with tryouts or auditions held, or if it will be an "anyone who wants to dance" type team.
4. Set up a board of directors for the dance team. This board will deal with costume decisions, when and where the dance team performs and issues relating to money needed for various funds. This board may also have to coordinate ideas on fund raising if there will be expenses for costumes, competition fees and travel expenses.
5. Appoint or hire a dance director or choreographer. This person will create the dance routines and teach the routines to the dance team.
Dance Company Dance Teams
6. Decide what age group is included in the dance team to perform under the direction of a dance studio or dance company.
7. Make decisions on what type of dance the dance team will be perform. It might be just one style of dance such as hip-hop or it might include several more types such as jazz, tap or lyrical ballet.
8. Select the performing members of the dance team or dance company. A dance team being created to have 12 performing members may have auditions where there are 12 dancers chosen for the team and possibly four alternates. The alternates would be required to attend all practices and performances in the event a team member is injured or ill. An "invitation only" selection is another option to fill the performing spots. The director selects the dance students to fill the various spots.
9. Have dance team or dance company meetings to go over all the guidelines and rules of the dance team. Have all team members sign commitment agreements stating that they understand that if they don't meet the requirements for practice and performances, they'll be replaced or removed from the dance team.
Just for Fun Dance Teams
10. Gather friends together that enjoy dancing. These dancers could be individuals that have danced together for years or even place ads in a local paper for interested dancers.
11. Determine the style of dance that the dance team will be doing. It might be a theater ballet group or hip-hop dance team.
12. Set the age requirements for the dance team. This dance team may be young women right out of high school wanting to keep up their dancing skills or it might be a group of grandmothers reviving their tap dancing skills.
13. Elect or appoint someone as the director in charge of the dance team. The director may enlist assistance in various areas or handle everything on their own.
14. Decide how the dance team will learn their routines. The director may teach the routines, the dance team might hire a choreographer or the dance team may choreograph their own routines as a group effort.
