So why am I sleep deprived and living on my laptop? Let me tell you! Last Thursday, at the end of our dance camp, Leslie said to me "hey, wouldn't it be fun to put a group of girls together and do competitions?" Well you know me. Dance competitions? Where do I sign up?!
A few days later I sent her a very long email saying basically "this would be really awesome, and here is why, but if we're gonna do it, we need to make it happen, 'cause we're runnin' out o' time."
Like an awesome person, she totally jumped on board, so on Tuesday I headed out to Party Planet, and we set a date for auditions. From there it has snowballed extraordinarily. I created a Facebook page that has 90 likes already, and we started promoting. Well, Leslie started promoting; I don't know anyone.
Someone that I do now know (or hope to know soon...I don't think FB messages count as knowing), is a guy by the name of Trevor. He runs a company called Not About Dance.
"Using dance as a tool to make a difference in the world."Basically they go around and do workshops and donate 20%-30% of their profits to organizations that do good stuff. You should read the website. Whoever wrote it is much more eloquent than I. Anyway, I found Trevor and his company because I was looking for a hip hop choreographer. I know the kids will want to do hip hop, and I'm not totally comfortable with choreographing for competition. I can throw something together for a dance camp for 7 yr olds, but I don't want to set my team up to fail, so we decided it would be best to hire that one out, at least this first year. We'll see where I am next year. Aaaaand the bunny trail brings us back around....I threw out some questions on the good ol' F.B., and was referred to Trevor. I looked him up on YouTube and decided he looked pretty good. I sent the link to Leslie, and she said he looked pretty good, so I messaged him and was like "here's the sitch, Trevor Parmentierrrrr..." Not really. I was very polite and professional. He said that he would be willing to drive all the way here from Austin to teach my kids (when I get them), and that's a long drive, so I am appreciative. And super excited.
One hurdle jumped, a whole lot more to go!
That same day I started on the team contract and calendar. That took me most of the day. Yesterday I ran (literally, I was quite proud of myself) back to Party Planet, and we continued hashing things out and figuring out our budget.
Side note: while I was there, a lady was talking to us and said "oh, you must be Mrs. Smith!" It kinda made me feel a little famous. End note.Last night I finished (hopefully) the contract, found a couple more competitions for us to go to, started looking at shoes, started a sponsor letter, and wrote out the budget so that everyone can see exactly what they are paying for. And it still is cheaper than cheer! Go us!
And that brings us to 6:00 this morning, when I usually go back to sleep for a couple hours, but I couldn't because I had so many things running around my brain! And so the liability waiver was born. Party Planet recently purchased a van so that we can pick kids up after school for KidFit and other classes, which is totally awesome, and also will be a means of transportation for BYC Dance Company! But if we're going to be driving kids all over the state, we need a good release form. Apparently they don't mean a whole lot in the state of Texas, and there aren't any iron clad laws about what has to be in a release form, but it has to be understandable to the average Joe, state clearly what it is that they are waiving, and it has to have the important parts in all caps, or bold, or something to make it stand out. I took a swim team waiver and a college travel thing waiver and used them as a template to create my own, awesome, hold harmless agreement that I believe is understandable and precise, and has a bunch of capital letters, so it should be good. I'll send it off to some people who know more than I do and see what they have to say about it.
I believe today's major project (after I finish this, do my yoga, do the dishes, sweep the upstairs bathroom, and maybe vacuum) will be going to Party Planet, going over everything with Leslie (again), and then printing it all out and putting it in a binder that I can keep there, so that when people come in and want to know what's going on, anyone who happens to be there can say "here is the application for audition, the calendar, the contract, the liability form..." and should be able to answer any questions.
So yeah. BYC Dance Company is my baby, and I'm really hoping that we will get a good turnout at auditions, the first week of September. Wish me luck!
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