New Media Has Changed The Way to Market Dance Studios.

We had an amazing interview with Suzanne Gerety, owner of DanceStudioOwner.com, an amazing resource for those of you who own a dance studio.

We hope you enjoy! Make sure to read until the end for some useful tips Suzanne shared with us…

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What is DanceStudioOwner.com and how did you come up with this idea?

DanceStudioOwner.com is a comprehensive resource and membership site with information on everything related to starting, running, or growing your dance studio business.  We like to think of it as having your own personal advisory team at your fingertips 24/7.

As for how we came up with the idea… as the daughter of and now the second-generation owner of a large performing arts school in Southern New Hampshire – my entire life has been focused on the dance studio.

The idea for DanceStudioOwner.com came when my son was a newborn; it wasn’t easy – in fact it was nearly impossible, to leave the studio or travel to a big city for a live event to meet face to face with other business owners and dance colleagues.  Determined not have to navigate this business alone if something were to happen to my mom suddenly, we decided to create a place where dance studio owners were able to collaborate no matter where they were in the world.  It was especially important because this is an industry that can be lonely and at times the competition fierce.

Everything we work on with our members is relevant to studio ownership today and it’s based on tried-and-true experience from having over thirty five years of consistent growth in the face of changing trends, personal losses, studio splits, and economic ups and downs. Kathy Blake, my mom and co-founder and I are actively running our own studio of over 900 dancers, 25 faculty and staff, on a day-to-day basis as well so we can relate to and help our members with managing the million details it takes to keep your studio thriving.

Our members often say that they don’t know what they would do without the personal support they receive from us and the other successful studio owners on our discussion forum.  We do everything we can to help our members leverage their unique gifts and talents and expertise.   This is a very personal business – dance studio ownership – one size does not fit all.

Ultimately our focus is in giving our members and readers information that not only saves them time and money but also contributes to growth in their business both financially and artistically.  In a business where it’s easy to burn out, we help people keep their passion for dance alive as they grow their studio.

DanceStudioOwner.com would have never been possible without the use of new media. How do you think new media has changed the dance world and what do you think we should expect in the near future?

I’d say that new media has had a big impact on the ways that dance studios and schools market their classes and programs.  It used to be that you could print a nice looking brochure, send it to your mailing list, wait for the phone to ring and people would call to register. Or you could run an ad in the local paper and people would know you were open for classes. There were a few direct paths for people to follow.

Now we have online registration, automated billing, instant website updates, social media interactions, video sharing/critique from our teachers, email groups for communicating, text messaging, automated messaging, and much more.  Students and parents are taking their good…and at times bad reviews to sites like Google, Yelp, and Merchant Circle.  New media calls us to focus on customer service now both offline and online.  Compound that with mobile check ins on Foursquare or photo and location tagging on Facebook; there are so many places that people can go to get and share information.

Not only do the dance studio owners have many, many more marketing channels to communicate with current and potential students, they have to learn how to compete against the information overload to keep their business running and growing.

Would you like to provide a quick tip for the studio owners reading our blog?

Whether your studio focuses on ballet, Middle Eastern dance, classes for adults, ballroom, musical theatre, Irish step, dance fitness, or general performing arts – we all need students in order to stay in business.  Although the dance disciplines, teaching methods, and personal student concerns can vary widely, I find that each studio owner has a lot in common with one another when it comes to starting, running and growing their studio.

But just like in dance, it’s important to practice the fundamentals consistently over time.  Try not to get overwhelmed by having to do everything all at once or get trapped in feast or famine marketing attempts.  Focus have a professional looking website that is updated regularly with your schedule, make it easy for people to do business with you, use feedback as an opportunity to grow.

William Faulkner said it best “Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”

Do you have a question for Suzanne? Post a comment below this article.

Tags: dance, dance studio, dance studio owner, DanceStudioOwner.com, new media, run a dance studio, Suzanne Gerety

Please Help Us Welcome danseCOUPON. The ONLY Coupon Website Entirely Dedicated To The Dance World.

We are pretty sure almost all of you have used a daily deal site at least once in your life. We definitely have!

Groupon started it all in November 2008 and what began as a simple basic idea has now evolved into a multi-billion company used every day by millions of customers in 43 different countries around the world to get deals on “the best stuff to do, see, eat and buy”.

But Groupon is definitely not the only daily deal site you can use nowadays. Companies such as LivingSocial, Trubates, LifeBooker and many others have been gaining popularity in the last couple of years. Several people are members of more than one of these websites to get daily deals on as many things as possible – even on things they don’t really need…yeah ok, right now you’re trying to convince yourself that you really needed a new customized dog carrier but the reality is that you just got it because it was 50% off! Do you even have a dog?

At Tezoro we are huge fans of daily deal sites! Using several of these services, we noticed that while more and more coupon companies began focusing on specific areas such as travel, spas, pets and so on, none of them were really doing anything for our beloved dance community.

Being dance people ourselves and knowing how expensive it is to be a dancer, dance teacher/studio owner or a parent of a dancer, we felt we needed to do something about it…

That’s how the idea to create danseCOUPON – the online coupon site for dancers – began.

danseCOUPON allows you to easily find special offers from dancewear companies, professional dance studios, workshops, competitions, DVD companies and many more. You have the possibility to redeem monthly coupons by printing them out and following individual coupon instructions, or purchase limited-time only weekly coupons direct from  danseCOUPON.com.

We are working every single day to get more vendors involved with us to offer you the best dance deals possible. And this is where your participation can be extremely important too!  Is there a specific company/brand you’d like see offering deals on danseCOUPON?  Dancewear, dance shoes, costumes, dance floor, dance music, conventions, workshops, dance services, dance magazines…ANYTHING you need and like as a dancer, teacher or studio owner!

Please let’s us know about it! We’d love to hear from you! Send us an email at info@danseCOUPON.com, leave a comment on our Facebook wall or write a comment below this article and we’ll make sure to do our best to get in contact with those companies!

Are you a vendor and you’d like to be part of danseCOUPON? Email us at info@danseCOUPON.com and we’ll provide you with all the information to get you started.

Don’t forget to join our danseCOUPON mailing list by emailing us at info@danseCOUPON.com to receive daily dance discounts!

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter! And if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

“WHERE THE HELL IS MATT?”. See Where a Spontaneous Silly Dance Can Take You…

If you love watching videos on YouTube you may have already heard about Matt and his “Where The Hell Is Matt” project a few years back around 2006.

Matt, a 34-year-old guy from Connecticut (USA) has now become quasi-famous as “that guy who dances on the Internet”. He had never thought to be a world traveler but one day he realized he wanted to do something different in his life. In February of 2003, he quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he’d saved to wander around Asia until it ran out. He made a website to keep his family and friends updated about where he was.

One day while traveling a travel buddy asked Matt to do “that” dance (a particular dance he always did just to have fun) and he would record it. The video was then posted on YouTube.

A couple of years later, people started finding the video on YouTube and sharing it with other people. That’s when the phenomenon started. As the video began spreading, the people at Stride gum (a popular American chewing gum brand) noticed it and decided to contact Matt to ask him if he’d take another trip around the world sponsored by them.

In 2006, Matt took a 6-month trip through 39 countries on all 7 continents and he recorded a video of his dance in every single place he went to. The second video he posted on YouTube acquired even more popularity.

People from all around the world began e-mailing him and this generated a new idea…

Matt realized how dance (even in its silliest form) pushes people to aggregate, and he wanted to create a new project to transform his dance into something more than a “solo performance”.

He contacted the people at Stride and told them he wanted to travel around the world one more time and invite the people who wrote him to join him where he was to dance too. This was the beginning of his new adventure.

It really seems like the power of the universal language of dance can manifest itself in every form, no matter how silly it may be. Give people a chance to have fun with a few simple steps and they’ll find the way to communicate together even without a common culture and language.

That’s the power of dance!

Combine this with the incredible power of the Internet and you’ll get Matt’s unique project.

Matt is currently continuing his amazing journey to work on a new video. For this new video, he’s actually learning how to dance. He’s collecting dance styles from all over the world and teaching them to groups in other parts of the world.

Check out his journal to find out how his adventure is going.

Want to dance with Matt? Visit http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/signup/ and sign up for his alerts to be notified when he’s dancing in your area.

For more info about Matt and his “Where The Hell Is Matt?” project visit his website.

Where Technology Meets Art. “All Is Not Lost”: A Google Project with Pilobolus Dance Theater and OK Go Band

Google is definitely not new to celebrating arts (and more specifically dance) through the use of its technology.  Many of you will probably remember the animated doodle Google and animator Ryan Woodward dedicated to the modern dance choreographer Martha Graham on the 117th anniversary of her birth this year.

At the end of July Google went a few steps further – just to use an euphemism – by launching a new project called “All Is Not Lost”, a Google Chrome browser experiment in collaboration with the Pilobolus Dance Theater and the music band Ok Go.

Using HTML5, a new technology standard for online creation, Google Chrome built an interactive video experience giving people the possibility to embed their message in the video and have the band and dancers dance/spell it out.

For the interactive version of the video visit the “All Is Not Lost” website using the Google Chrome browser (if you don’t have it you can download it here) and type the words you’d like to have Ok Go and the Pilobolus Dance Theater spell for you. Then you can choose if watching your message with their video introduction or just play it by itself.

Have fun creating your video dance messages and makes sure to share them on our Facebook wall. One of you will get the chance to win one of our Tezoro Productions-Live At Broadway Dance Center video downloads!

Check out what we came up with…

http://goo.gl/3TevO

http://goo.gl/1fb9Y

Interested in some behind-the-scenes pictures? Check out this article by The New York Times.

What do you think about the “All Is Not Lost” Google project? Leave a comment below this article to share your opinion with us. We’d love to hear from you!

Tags: All Is Not Lost, Google, Google Chrome, Martha Graham, OK Go band, Pilobolus Dance Theater

Learn how to teach or dance Jazz with Sheila Barker.

Yeah, we don’t want to admit it…summer is almost over… but our new releases are still super HOT!

Today we are here to introduce you to “JAZZ FOR KIDS” WITH SHEILA BARKER! A series of two dance instructional DVDs specifically created for kids and beginners who want to learn the basics of Jazz dance. Teachers can also find these DVDs an extremely useful resource to provide their younger or fledgling students with top-of-the-line choreography and technique.

While at the Dance Teacher Summit a couple of weeks ago, we had the chance to interview Sheila Barker who was teaching at the event. Check out what she had to say!

Tezoro Productions: What makes your “JAZZ FOR KIDS” DVDs unique?

Sheila: In this series of DVDs I made sure to express myself my own way through my energy and my style and to transmit that energy through my steps. Even if some of those steps are similar, it’s the way I put them together, stylize them, execute them and finally ask students to bring them back that is unique.

Tezoro Productions: How are the DVDs structured?

Sheila: I structured my DVDs in a way that kids and anyone that has never danced before can learn while having fun. They start with a nice, basic warm-up, then they continue with isolations – that are fundamental in Jazz dance – and they end with 4 distinct combinations (about eight 8’s each). The entire set of movements is energetic and based on athletic as well as simple steps that any kid and non-dancer can naturally do.

Tezoro Productions: What piece of advice can you give to dance instructors who teach kids?

Sheila: When teaching to kids it is very important not to downgrade how we teach. Children can learn almost anything if you break the information down. Try to give them more visual content with the movement and the technique and keep the class fun. If they feel involved they’ll learn more easily as well as more quickly.

ABOUT SHEILA:

Sheila Barker has been an educator, choreographer and performer for the past 12 years in such places as Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Europe and across the USA. She received a BFA in dance and has extensive training in Jazz, Ballet, Modern, Tap, African/Dunham and Musical Theatre. Her performance background ranges from Broadway and Off-Broadway to industrials, music videos and soap operas. Sheila has choreographed many industrials, music videos and stage shows for recording artists. She is currently a member of the  faculty at Broadway Dance Center and Marymount Manhattan College.

Is there anything you’d like to ask Sheila? Post a comment with your questions below this article!

Please help us welcome our new blog!

Once upon a time when the Internet world was still in its early stages and social media didn’t exist, the only way to consume dance was to watch a live performance in a theater or be in a dance studio. Acquiring knowledge about the dance world was limited to direct word-of-mouth and traditional dance magazines.

Nowadays we often hear talk about how technology and new media have revolutionized our world. But when it comes to performing arts and more specifically dance, there is not much information shared among the community. The dance world is experiencing a rapid evolution; with all these changes seemingly happening overnight how much do we really know about them?

At Tezoro Productions, our mission is to make dance accessible to everyone without the need to physically be in a dance studio. This is possible thanks to the use of technology and new media. For this reason we felt the need to create a blog capable of closing the gap of information about these specific topics. Our goal is to have this blog recognized by the dance community as a way to keep people updated about the happenings of new media and technology as they correlate to the dance world.

We hope you’ll find this blog a resource for interesting as well as valuable information!

The Tezoro Productions Team