Attendance Solutions for Your Competition Team
by Alyssa Roenigk
The senior dance company of Let’s Dance Studio in Bismarck, ND
Whether you call them contracts, agreements or guidelines, every student and parent at your studio who participates in competition should read and sign a document that outlines your expectations for the season and requires them to follow certain rules.
Jen Bates, owner of 6, 7, 8! Performing Arts Academy in Findlay, Ohio, discovered this the hard way. As the 2003 holiday season approached, Bates realized her competition team, which was supposed to perform for the first time in a few weeks, needed more practice. “I scheduled extra rehearsals during Christmas break, but many parents refused to bring their children to the studio,” she says. “This year, it’s all in the contract. Now, if there is a conflict with a parent or student, I refer to their contract, which is kept in my office. I show them their signature, remind them of the rules, and then there is no room for argument.”
Create your contract at the beginning of the competition season, before your students audition for the team. “This gets everyone on the same page immediately. The dancers and their parents know what is expected of them up front,” says Jenny Samuelson-Jangula, director of Let’s Dance Studio in Bismarck, North Dakota. “If you don’t have it in writing, it’s hard to discipline them down the road.”
Once you hand the contract to prospective team members and their parents, allow them time to read and discuss it and check that the dates don’t interfere with family commitments and school activities. “I watch them read it in front of me, and then give them a deadline to turn it in,” says Lori Sorensen, administrative director of California Dance Theatre in Agoura Hills. She suggests giving separate copies to each student and their parents and keeping a copy in your office, but asking that all three be signed. “I also have one hanging in the studio at all times,” Sorenson adds.
Update your contract regularly, as new problems arise. “Use each year as a learning tool,” Bates says, “and revise, revise, revise.” DT
New York City–based freelance writer Alyssa Roenigk also writes for ESPN The Magazine.
