If you are a dancer or director who coordinates dance performances for events and gigs, below is one tip that can potentially save you many headaches in the future.

Always send a conformation email to a client & any dancers you hire a few days before the date of the event.

I’m writing this blog post because I’ve done for every event the last few years and it prevented a bad situation a week ago. I took coordinating a gig from another dancer a few months back and from the email chain with the client everything seemed set for their roaring 20’s themed event which was at the beautiful Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Boston which we were going to do a small Charleston performance and some atmosphere dancing.

I sent my standard conformation email to the client and they discovered that we were provided the wrong date. This meant if I didn’t send my confirmation email me and five other dancers would have shown up to the venue two days before the actual event. I would have had five dancers upset at me traveling to a venue and wasting an hour of the time. Imagine if the situation was reversed where the date was actually earlier than we thought. We would have accidentally been no-shows to the event! Luckily because of the confirmation email the error was caught and while we had to substitute out one dancer who couldn’t make the new date everything was okay in the end.

The confirmation email is insurance to prevent a miscommunication error causing you or any of your staff to show up on the wrong time and date.

In addition, if the client makes last minute changes to the event this is a good reminder for them to convey them to you. Also if you were guaranteed certain things such as a green room to remind the client.

Below is a sample conformation email template, feel free to take and edit it to suit your needs:

Sample Confirmation Email Template

Dear <INSERT_CLIENT_NAME_HERE>,

Thank you again for having us your upcoming <INSERT_NAME_OF_EVENT>! This is a confirmation email to ensure we have all the correct information to make your event go as smoothly as possible. If anything is amiss please contact me as soon as possible at my email or phone number <INSERT_YOUR_PHONE_NUMBER_HERE>

Call Time/Time of Dancers Arrival: <INSERT_CALL_TIME_&_DATE_HERE>
Point of Contact: <INSERT_CONTACT_NAME_HERE>
Phone Number: <INSERT_NUMBER_HERE>
Typically I list other contacts as necessary such as band leader, sound equipment contact, MC, etc.

Services to be Rendered:
4 dancers from <INSERT_TIMEFRAME_HERE> to do 5-7 minutes of performances at <INSERT_TIME_HERE> and background dancing with breaks from <INSERT_TIMEFRAME_HERE>

Client will provide:
Green Room
Four bottles of water

Regards,
– <YOUR_NAME_HERE>

Conclusion

I hope that helps prevent future gig-tastrophes for you and any dancers you work with! If you have any tips for dancers coordinating gigs or just amusing gig stories please share them in the comments below.

This article is by Andrew Selzer, owner of the swing dance school Boston Lindy Hop and a veteran performer of the Roaring 20’s Lawn Party in Ipswich which draws hundreds of people each year.  If you are looking for swing dancers in Boston for your next Gatsby themed corporate party or Roaring 20’s event feel free to reach out to him on his website here or at his school’s website here.