On September 10, 2011, Torque Bellydance and Twisted Dance Studios will co-host the 3rd Annual Project Shimmy, a world dance show to benefit Triad Health Project. THP is a local organization that provides practical and emotional support to individuals living with HIV/AIDS, to their loved ones, and to those at risk for HIV/AIDS. Although THP holds several successful fundraisers each year, all it takes is a visit to their home office to see how much they do with so little financial help. We began our benefit show as a way to show our appreciation to this wonderful organization and to use our talents (and the talents of world dance performers statewide) to give back to our local community in a meaningful and entertaining way.
Project Shimmy has been highly successful in terms of both our fundraising and showcasing efforts, but putting it together has never been easy. For us, there’s a difficult balance to maintain between production and performance that many audience members and novice dancers don’t recognize right away. So much has to happen before the show, and there’s always that pesky, real non-belly dance life that intrudes when we least want it to. If we make it look effortless at all, then we have effectively lived up to the title of “performers.”
Since we’re in the thick of preparing for this year’s show, we thought we’d give you a behind the scenes peek into Project Shimmy. There’s actually a lot more to it than could be represented in a blog post, but we hope that other dancers or studios hoping to host a benefit will find this general outline useful and that it will bring a little insight into what local artists, not just bellydancers, can do on a non-existent budget.
Planning and Basic Production
Preparations have to begin much earlier than a couple of months before the show. It’s a good idea to choose a date for the show nearly a year in advance, and spend at least 6 months working on preparations consistently prior to the show date. In order to facilitate the long-term planning, we assign members of Torque with particular responsibilities that they work on leading up to the show (performer liaison, production manager, publicity and donation solicitation, and so on). Although we all lend a hand in each area, it’s helpful to have a point person who knows what’s going on with that particular aspect of the planning at all times.
Usually, the first order of business is to choose and book a venue. We feel our show is best represented in a theatre, and these types of venues often require early booking. Should you choose a theatre, be prepared to be shocked by high booking prices; luckily here in Greensboro, we’ve been able to use the Broach Theatre, a largely non-profit venue that rents the space to us at a reasonable rate. Venue cost is extremely important for a benefit show, where your own costs will likely be deducted from the proceeds. Finding something less expensive but not ideal is an unfortunate reality for many regional bellydance showcases, but it does allow you to give as much money as possible to the organization your show benefits.
Any show requires a good production staff, but staff is really important for stage shows: someone to man the lights and sound, a stage manager to keep things running smoothly behind the scenes. Again, here we are lucky; Mimi’s boyfriend Andrew has professional DJ and AV experience and her friend Brandy has experience as a professional stage manager. Both have been more than willing to donate their expertise to our show, but we recognize that not everyone will have access to such expertise. One option that Andrew has suggested is to approach theatre departments at local colleges and universities and ask if there might be any students who need to build their experience by running lights and sound or working as a stage manager. Usually, the experience is all the payment they need.
Volunteers
Self-produced shows definitely need reliable volunteers to take care of the details, particularly on show day while you’re backstage getting into performance mode as curtain time draws near. Bellydance students are usually ready and willing to help with jobs like checking in performers, cleaning and setting up / breaking down, or manning a raffle table. We know we can’t complete these tasks ourselves so our students have been a tremendous help in this regard (and other performers’ students as well—Cher Burke, a student of Kaitlyn Bellydance, has helped us with our show for two years running). Since we rent the Broach Theatre for a low price, it does not provide individuals to man the box office, so we try to have someone with some show experience to take tickets and keep track of the money. We’re always grateful to Kit Jones, a former bellydancer with years of experience, for serving as an awesome door woman, checking off names, taking money, and keeping track of the amount of seats that are being sold. Even if you don’t have the luck to know someone as bellydance-world experienced as Kit, it’s important to find someone with an ability to work in a systematic way through the chaos of ticketing, someone who is accustomed to high-stress situations and can still keep track of things. We also have a great relationship with Bonnie Stanley, a local photographer who snaps wonderful photos of the performances for us (and the photos we use for our flyers), as well as a local dancer, Robin Ackland, who also happens to be a videographer (and even donates $5 off of every sold DVD to THP). Both volunteer their great services for free—we’d otherwise have to hire and pay media-oriented folk, which would greatly drain our financial resources (of which there are none). So look carefully around your local art and dance communities – there may be artists willing to help of their own accord or other bellydancers who are multi-talented and are generally happy to help out or barter services with you.
Great Performances
When you are putting on a show for profit or benefit, it is important to remember that you need great performances by experienced, professional dancers. You need performers who will entertain a paying audience—this is the case for any show, but especially for benefit shows, where ticket prices are a tad higher than at a regular hafla. With staged benefit performances, student and inexperienced troupes simply won’t do. Our goal with Project Shimmy was to showcase professional, experienced dancers—not just bellydance. Finding dancers who fit the bill is a lot harder than it seems. We know a lot of great bellydancers, but trying to find ballroom, salsa, or hip hop dancers always proves to be a daunting task. Making sure that all performers are at a professional level takes more than just trusting their word. It’s very important to see an example of their work. In a world where most people have access to You Tube, performers should be able to show you a video of a recent performance.
Something else that should be noted is the word professional. This not only means that the dancers should be experienced in their chosen field, but this also means that they understand what it means to be in a professional show. They need to get their music in on time, communicate with the performer liaison, adhere to the performer’s agreement. Of course, it’s inevitable that you will have problems with getting in music and materials previous to the show no matter how hard you try. Keep in mind that dancers usually have day jobs and other responsibilities, but be firm and consistent when asking for music, bios, and so on. Most importantly, they should realize that they not only represent themselves, but they also represent you and your troupe and / or studio.
Audiences and Belly Dance Etiquette
If you are producing a show for the public, you have to always assume that the audience doesn’t know anything about bellydance. For non-belly dance audiences it is a good idea to briefly go over belly dance etiquette at the beginning of the show. We usually have Sashame and Xavier, two instructors from Twisted Dance and Torque alumni who are super entertaining and good with explaining this, go out and do the intro to the show with a quick etiquette lesson. They explain what a zaghareet is so audience members aren’t surprised to hear it—and even walk them through a how to. It’s also a good idea to let the audience know when certain call outs are appropriate and when they aren’t. You want the audience (both men and women) to feel involved and have a great time. You don’t want them to distract the dancers by yelling out zaghareets during an intense or slow song. It may also be a good idea to remind the audience not to use flash photography. Non-dancers generally have no idea how distracting the flash of a camera can be to a performer on stage.
Including the Organization
When things get tough or stressful for us in the planning stages of Project Shimmy, we always try to remember what we’re doing this for: to raise money that will help Triad Health Project continue with their mission of helping those infected with HIV/AIDS and their loved ones receive the support that they need. It’s equally important to remind our audience of this. We want to entertain and ensure that the audience has a great time, but we also want to let them know exactly how their ticket cost supports a great local organization. Each year, we’ve asked a representative of Triad Health Project to speak near the end of the show about their mission and work in the community. It’s worth it to give the organization voice not just in the show itself, but also in your advertising, if possible. Last year, we were able to have Shane Burton, a representative of THP, along with us for a morning news spot that discussed the show, Torque and Twisted Dance Studios, and Triad Health Project’s mission. Including the organization you want your show to benefit not only helps to put a face to the name that your show is associated with, but also helps to create a rewarding partnership with them.
For other dancers and artists hoping to use their talents for a cause, we hope that what we do can help you to plan your own event. And for those of you thinking about attending the show—don’t think about it, do it! Now that you’ve seen a little of what goes into the planning and delivery of Project Shimmy, we hope to see you there! For more information on this year’s show and performers, visit our Project Shimmy page on the Twisted Dance website.
By Mimi and Heather
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