The Performance

We raised £565.26 for Winston's Wish, which I am totally over-the-roof about and very happy that the event went so well. It has been a huge learning curve for me and I have learnt a great deal.

I want to hold a similar event next year but would like to have a stage or use a theatre just because visibility wasn't great for all those who came, and although the relaxed and informal atmosphere of Rubyz worked well for the ethos of our dance society it was a shame that some of the performance was lost due to poor visibility.
Next year I am hoping to hold the fundraiser's for the showcase at Rubyz but will also apply for funding through the arts council and local businesses way in advance of the performance. I have already gained a contact at the local council who has told me they will advise me in the correct way of approaching this.
Furthermore I would like to have the set list finalised much sooner as it made it very difficult to get the correct number of costumes or design for a dance. For this reason I would like to hold auditions for each number and get definite numbers further in advance of the performance.

In addition I have learnt that often the prospect of buying tickets on the door on the night is too tempting an option so potential audience members do not have any reason to attend as they have not parted with their money yet. For this reason I will sell advanced tickets at a cheaper rate than those available on the door in the hope of attracting people to commit to attending. We were hoping for a better attendance than we received with between 35/40 people each night but those that came thoroughly enjoyed the performance almost as much as the dancers and I enjoyed it!

There were some difficulties backstage, especially as the shirts for the James Blake number were not finished and I was not aware of this until we were at the venue, hours before the performance was due to start. When I asked my supervisor about this I was told she had run out of time after spending the evening sewing on labels which was quite disappointing as I had high-hopes for the shirts and felt they had potential as effective costumes.

Furthermore, I discovered that the scarves that I had requested for the lyrical opener were not possible as the amount of fabric required had been underestimated, but this was not raised until the night of the performance due to a lack of communication between my supervisor and I, so we needed to scrap the idea of the scarves completely.

One of the t-shirts for the 'Pop' routine

Lastly, two dancers pulled out a mere 7 hours before the performance so their costumes were never used. These were for the 'Pop' dance and should have been teamed with wet-look leggings