Chaos-free Costuming
By Jacqui Gal
With the United Dance Merchants of America's Dance Resource and Costume Show just around the corner--and the dance year already underway--it's time to think costumes! Naturally, the most basic criterion for a great costume is: Will it look good on stage? But with the myriad of great costume companies, all vying for your dance dollar, deciding which to choose can be tricky. Below are some tips to help you navigate the costume chaos. It's never too early to start thinking costumes. Costume companies claim to ship in 9-12 weeks, but you only have to ask a few dance studio owners before you start hearing horror stories about fabric shipments delayed in China, broken promises and other unforeseen delays. Clearly, it pays to begin planning early. As soon as the dance year starts, you should already be closing in on a recital theme and looking at your dancers to see what kind of costumes will suit their bodies. According to Michele Theiler, owner of On the Move Performing Arts Center in Butler, NJ, you can expect better customer service from costume companies when you order ahead of their "rush time." "I try to order costumes by the end of October or beginning of November," she says, "So that I have my costumes by the time everyone else is getting around to ordering theirs." Be conservative with your deadlines If you provide costume companies with a recital date, you'd be well-advised to move it forward a little (or maybe alot). When Grace Machanic, of School for Swans in Alexandria, VA, gave her costume company a fake recital date--two weeks earlier than her real one--she thought she was working smart. To her horror, the date for the pretend recital came and went, with no costumes in sight. Frantic, the company promised costumes as soon as possible, but asked her to consider pushing her recital date back. "They kept pushing me to pick out other costumes from some extras they had on hand," says Machanic. She stood firm. Eventually, her originally chosen costumes arrived--just a hair before curtain up. Machanic now sets a fake date a full month before her recital. Get up close and personal It's almost impossible to tell the true quality of a costume from a catalog picture--everything looks great with proper lighting and the help of photoshop. If you can get to a costume preview like UDMA, you'll be able to judge the quality and feel of the merchandise up close. If you can't, some companies may be willing to send you samples. Ask for several size examples too, so that you can judge true sizes, and avoid relying on sizing charts. Limit your scope It might be tempting to order a range of costumes from different catalogs, but this is best avoided. For one thing, says Theiler, you'll get a bigger discount by spending more in one place. "It's also more convenient to have the costumes come in just a few shipments, rather than a whole bunch," she adds. Similarly, it's worth waiting until you're 100% positive about numbers. If a couple of students are late to the party and you have to add extra costumes to your order, it could spell trouble. Unless you order all costumes at once, you risk receiving fabric from two different dye batches, and colors can vary wildly. Still got a problem?
"It pays to go to the top," says Machanic. During her costume no-show nightmare, Machanic quickly realized, "I was talking with someone who had no authority or ability to change a thing. So, I demanded to talk to the president." After explaining she'd been a continuous customer for 32 years, who'd spent thousands of dollars with that company, she finally saw some results. "Once the curtain closed," says Machanic, "I realized I had taken my first real breath in over two weeks." For more information about the United Dance Merchants of America visit www.udma.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqui Gal is a freelance writer based in New York City. In her childhood and throughout her high school career, she took ballet, jazz and modern dance classes. Back then, Jacqui would gladly leap on any stage that would have her, but eventually she succumbed to the reality that she would never be a prima ballerina because her toes just couldn't point right. Now she lovingly watches from the sidelines and writes about the dance biz. For more information, visit www.jacquigal.com
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