There are two factors when it comes to deciding if you need to add a show: running length and audience capacity.

1 1/2 hours; 3 shows Though Tori Rogoski of Dance Education Center in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, has a comparatively small studio—175 students—she refuses to breach the hour-and-a-half limit on her three recital shows. “It’s very important that grandma and grandpa and your aunt and uncle get to see you dance—and that they get to spend time with you afterward,” she says. Growing up, Rogoski danced in recitals that lasted three and a half hours, which meant she only got to see her audience guests for a few moments after the show was over.

2 hours; 3–4 shows, depending on enrollment “I’m adamant about this: two hours. That’s the most anybody can stand,” says Carole Royal of Royal Dance Works in Phoenix. Recreational students perform their dances once, in one show. Competition kids have their own show for the numbers they’ve competed all year long. Repeat performances are limited to her opening number, the senior competitive company’s small- and large-group numbers and that year’s “distinguished dancers” (chosen by Royal earlier in the year) routines.

2 1/2 hours; 4 shows Joe Naftal of Dance Connection, Islip, New York, knows his studio’s recital length is a little too long, but because it takes place in a big theater and the shows don’t sell out, he can’t yet justify adding on another one to reduce the overall running time. He does try to get any siblings in the same show, to give parents a break, and one show is entirely composed of 2-year-old class performances. Recreational students are only in one show.