We’ve included a few means here to help you better organize your time with your crew and plan long-term projects. If you read our previous article on creating road maps and outlined your objectives, then your next step is to plan! While hitting play on the next Netflix show might be tempting, let’s get into the details. If you want to reach your goals with your team you’re going to have to set some hard deadlines. Rest assured, we’ve got you covered to smooth the process with this thorough tool kit.

Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash

Here are 4 tools we recommend to create your next agenda and manage your time!

1. Daily Journal

Jumping right into it, create a journal to help remind you of all of the events and work that will take place this year as they happen. Now’s a time to treat yourself and buy a nice journal, but feel free to start it on your smartphone or on another device that suits you best. Next, being as detailed as possible, you can take into account who, what and where each event will take place.

In this daily journal, the could be noted as a period, range of time, or a target month. This will allow you to personally reflect on the fixed dates of all your events, so you can come to terms with your tasks bit by bit. Who knows… maybe becoming directly aware of your needs will help you optimize your plans. *wink wink*

2. A Provisional Schedule

Moving onto your next tool, you might want to create a Google Sheets to create a provisional schedule of the year. Google Sheets is Google’s version of Excel found on your Google Drive, which is very practical for collaborative teamwork if everyone tends to work elsewhere. The difference between the two is that you can have multiple people working on the same document at the same time from different devices. Also, each person can update the shared document as you go, so you only need one note-taker and that way no one will be out of the loop. You should also add the events you noted in your daily journal so that others can catch a glimpse of your timeline. Including detail again, add in major events and tasks that everyone has to get done in the future.

As you can see the button “Share” in the upper right-hand corner, you can easily add all members of your artistic crew to the schedule. Be careful, even if there are a couple doubts regarding certain dates, go ahead and note down the initial date you have in mind so everyone is aware of the events. Not everything has to be exact at this moment, and it is normal to give room for things to change. Just focus on your concrete goals first and see how things develop as you check things off with the help of everyone else’s support.

3. Work-back Schedule

After finishing your agenda and based on your road map’s main ideas, you can start by working backwards from your deadlines. To break it down for you, here is an example. It is March and you want to work with human resources and you had outlined the necessary steps that make up that category (ie. determine responsibilities of each worker, who will be assigned, and what qualities are best suited). You can then start with each subdivision and decide how long they will take in September, August, July and so forth until you get to present day. Same thing goes for your performance and the initial actions you want to plan. So now, thanks to this reverse planning tactic, you can look at the evolution of your project and the tasks associated with each major category.

In this graph above, you can see future tasks that you cannot start until the previous ones are finished. It is extremely important to see the course of your planning, but more so, don’t forget to stick to it!

4. Doodle: An app for scheduling group meetings

To find a date that works for everyone is in itself a challenge. Whether the crew needs to meet to go over details or get to the venue for the show, here are two options to use:
At the end of the night of rehearsal, everyone cracks open their agendas for 30 more minutes to coordinate a date. As you account for everyone’s individual plans, doctor’s appointments, dates, family gatherings etc. this option is sure to make your head spin…
OR
You use a simple online application where everyone can fill in their individual agendas on their own time. That’s much better isn’t it?
After using it ourselves, we can happily say it’s not only reliable, but also free! Doodle is a great way to pick and agree on a date to meet with your ensemble of dancers. You can propose a few different options and then each person individually responds and marks the day(s) that work for them. It works great to help predict the week’s schedule and bring in the dancers you need.

So you just need to offer the dates that have been validated by your crew. For example, before asking the theatre for dates, go ahead and make a doodle to see when the majority of people are available and only propose the dates that work for your group. This way there are less chances of miscommunication and disorganization.
Organization, planning, time management, groups…gives you a headache right? Take a break, dance for an hour and you’ll come back feeling much more at ease now that everything has been settled.

Need help with organizing your next project? Take part in our summer intensive to get some insider tips!

Meet Felicia, a choreographer that participated in our 2019’s edition of Business and Creative Lab for Choreographers! 

Artist: Felicia Dotse – Photographer: Emmanuelle Stäuble

Can you introduce yourself and your work as a choreographer?

Hello, I am Félicia a french dancer and young choreographer living in Paris. I have mainly co-created urban choreographies for contests using a mix of hip hop, jazz/contemporary, salsa and waacking.

You decided to attend the international intensive program of La Fabrique de la Danse last year, what were you expecting?

At the moment, I have the idea of creating my own show and my own company. I did not have any knowledge on the side of how to create a choreography. So I was expecting to get some diverse tools for developing my project.

Can you tell us about your experience there with choreographers from other countries?

It was so great, I loved the multi-cultural part of this program. It made my experience richer from other ways of thinking and creating.

A few months later, what did you retain from it and how did it help your projects abroad?

I am still reflecting on how to realise my project and how it will be formed. A lot of details are taking shape little by little. The tools and information have helped me to get a great insight about what to do, where to start and how to structure my project.

Who would you recommend this summer intensive to?

I would definitively recommend this summer intensive to all the choreographers (with or without experience) because it’s given me such a great understanding about how my work is involved in the process.

Want to see how the Business and Creative Lab for Choreographers can help you? See the details of the program!

An Artist’s portfolio… is like the window display of your choreography. It showcases your work and sense of self. It should resemble a window at Macy’s in the sense that at first glance, it pulls in its viewers and invites them to discover the designer’s style and creative intentions. In this article, you can pick from various layouts and rubrics to use for your portfolio. Obviously, take these suggestions with a grain of salt because your portfolio must reflect your own individuality, art and creation. So keep in mind, one uniform layout does not exist, but these tips may help you refine your collection.

Photo : Vadim Fomenok sur Unsplash

To start, like any professional presentation, your art portfolio should be flawless in terms of grammatical errors. So beware of spelling, syntax, and phrasing. Re-read your statements and paragraphs to catch all of your mistakes and make sure your sentences are in a logical order. Simplify your sentences that are too wordy, complex, or long. Sometimes it helps to read out loud your written work to check the flow of your text. You want a fluid document that makes it easier for the reader to understand your artistic work.

What rubric should I use to construct my portfolio? And why?

To open your art portfolio, you should have a cover page that clearly states the name of your piece, the title of the artistic direction (choreographer, co-director, stage manager) and the name of your company. On this page, it is equally important to put down all of the practical information: number of dancers (solo, duet, small group), length of the piece, year of creation, and date of premiere night. Providing this information on your cover page gives readers context and makes the initial reception much more comprehensive and favorable in relation to the rest of your work.

The second part is your core presentation which should have three main points: artist statement, synopsis of the work, and the project’s goals. Here you can talk about creating your piece. It is important to the reader to understand your opinions and what your intentions were for the piece as a whole. If it helps to clarify, you can link videos, teasers, and other clips featuring your piece at the end.

The third part of your art portfolio concerns the company and team presentation. Take the time to work on describing your company or collective group well. Think about how your spirit flows through your art and what ignited a flame in previous projects that led you to create this piece. What is the common thread woven from your past and present pieces and what themes remained the same? This will help us understand how you came to make your artistic decisions. By retracing your steps and themes in past creations, you can guide us along the spark that ignited your passion. After the company presentation, you should also take the time and give some biographical details about yourself as the choreographer(s). In this biography you should mention specifics of your path: dance education, technical training, company creation, and awards. These parts could be complemented with citations from the choreographer or a member of your team to highlight aspects of your portfolio. These quotes can be a way to cite in first person, but remember that the rest of your portfolio should be in third person to avoid personalization. To end this part of the presentation, you should also present the other artists who worked on the piece – musicians, performers, actors, designers – as well as the technicians of your crew.

The fourth part of your portfolio makes readers aware of your piece’s evolution. This should be clear by attaching a schedule of the planning involved (broadcast if the piece is completed and offered for sale). It is also in your best interests to show completed tasks with the names of your partners of what you have already done on the schedule to keep a record.

You cannot finish this portfolio unless you have mentioned the administrative information of your company (license number, SIRET, etc.) and if you have it available to you, do not forget to attach a technical sheet of your piece to the appendix, specifically if your piece required any installation procedure: video projector, screen, etc.).

How do you clearly state your note of intention? What do you say and in what form?

Are you in the middle of developing a project with your company? This article allows you to perfect your art portfolio, but before you can get there, you might want to learn more about how to structure your current project. To learn more, come take our training intensive!

Everybody wants to know how to prepare for an efficient day. The first thing to consider, especially when you do different activities, is to pick ahead the time slots for each type of work.

Artist: Lucile Rimbert – Photographer: Romain Sanchez

Creating a schedule

Before anything else we recommend that you choose the three most important tasks you want to achieve to be satisfied with your work at the end of the day: it will give you more visibility on how to create your schedule.

First, place the most important or time-consuming tasks, favouring the morning when it’s usually easier to focus, then insert easier or faster tasks. As the Jar of Rocks analogy explains, if you begin to plan with your small tasks (filling the jar with pebbles), it will be difficult to place the time-consuming tasks (the rocks) because you won’t have the necessary space.

Anticipate real breaks in the course of your workday, for instance by putting alarms, as suggested by the Pomodoro Technique here or here.

Always foresee more time than you think: the transition from one task to another can take more time, you can be interrupted, an urgent email can arrive, and so on.

If an objective or a task seems insurmountable to you or takes too much time, divide it in smaller tasks which will appear more practical and will be easier to place in your schedule. Our brains prefers an instant reward, that’s why we will tackle first quick and easy tasks and postpone tasks that doesn’t belong to this pattern. Dividing a task in clear and precise tasks allows you to put yourself in the best disposition to carry out the work.

Example: Recruit an employee = Create a job description + Write an advertisement + Publish the advertisement + Read the CVs + Interview the candidates + Choose an employee

The to-do list

The to-do list is an essential tool for your organisation. You can write it wherever you prefer: on a notepad, your smartphone, in your bullet journal, via an app, etc. Each person has its own system. The principal point is that the list have to be accessible all the time, because it will allow you to note down each new idea cutting off your reflection, by getting it out of your mind. The name of your task must beclearat a glance: it must not be longer than a sentence (this is not the place for details) and must begin by a verb.

For instance: Newsletter => Write/Proofread/Send/Monitor the March newsletter

Match a delivery date and a time scale to execute your tasks so you can have a more precise idea when you are scheduling. You can also link it to a field or use a colour coding.

Tasks examples:
Send the newsletter of my next show – 20 minutes – 03/02 – Communication
Calculate the costume budget – 2h – 14/02 – Budget
Prepare the meeting with the cultural centre – 1h – 25/01 – Outreach

Stay focused

You can switch off unneeded notifications of your smartphone and computer, or even put them in silent or do not disturb mode to focus on a more complex task. Don’t forget to keep your to-do list close to put down everything that could be a nuisance to your reflexion. Set up in a quiet place with the least distractions and interruptions possible.

The most important thing is to keep in mind that everyone function differently and that you have to try different techniques to find your rhythm and your organisation.

Want to learn more about how to organized your next choreographic project? Join us for our next Business and Creative Lab for Choreographers!

February has already flown by and you haven’t established your resolutions for this year… No need to panic, we’re here to help give you a step-by-step plan you can take to reach your goals with our handy Road Map.

Photo : Patrick Perkins sur Unsplash

First of all, what is a road map? It’s quite simple, really, and it starts with a sheet of paper. It’s a document that lets you put down all of your ideas, aspirations, and artistic goals for a given time (we recommend thinking ahead for the next year in correspondence with your next artistic endeavor). Think of it as a stream of consciousness activity to write out any and all thoughts, plans, subjects and concerns regarding your choreography and future piece. It’s important to include all aspects: administrative, artistic, technical and business-oriented! Once you’ve got a firm grip on this, you will be on top of your productivity and ready to anticipate any tough choices you may have to make along the way.

1. A 360˚ Look

On paper, put down all of your thoughts that come to mind on the spot. Ranging from small details to the basics of your idea or even the stress and pressure you’re feeling on how to get it all done, write it all down without giving priority. No judgement here. The objective is to turn all of your thoughts out of your head and onto paper. This first step will help address your road map from all possible directions and will help remind you of all of your most crucial points while advancing onwards. Eventually, once written down, it will be impossible to turn back.

2. Do not panic: Sort, Classify, Arrange

Once your ideas have been noted, you might be a little overwhelmed when face-to-face with the multitude of tasks ahead of you, and it might seem harder than it looks to prioritize all of your items. Don’t worry! Take some breaths and follow these rules…

• SORT
  Start by defining your categories: Finance, Communication, and Administration (feel free to add more, if it applies). Then group your ideas and thoughts accordingly and place them into these categories.
• CLASSIFY
  Next, in one category, go through your tasks and decide how long each one will take and how important they are to you. For example let’s say one of your ideas in the communication category is « Find a performance venue for my piece » and another is « Reserve studio space ». You’ll write next to the first « This is more important because it will take several weeks and a lot of various types of communication ». The second idea can be deemed less important because it will take less time to organize.
• ARRANGE
  Finally, let’s prioritize. How exactly? You can start by numbering each of your tasks from most to least important: 1,2, and 3. At this point, you will have considered all other factors so it shouldn’t be too difficult. Prioritizing will allow you to list out your due dates and stick with them in the future. For example: deciding on a Premier Date, #1 importance, due date July 2019 .

Now you’ve identified all of the most important ways to navigating your project while creating a basic structure to follow throughout the year. *victory dance*

3. Define your Checkpoints

Have you heard about a road map before? Want to know more about the advantages of project management in dance? Then check out our July summer intensive below!

Let’s meet with Alexandra, who participated at last year’s summer intensive!

Artist: Alexandra Lucia Vidich – Photographer: Emmanuelle Stauble

Can you introduce yourself and your work as a choreographer?

My name is Alexandra Lucia Vidich. Choreography and dancing to me have always been very much the same thing, as from a young age I always made dances in the living room of my parents´ home. It was not till later in dancing school that I learned these were two separate things. I have always been fascinated by public places as I love nature and history and spaces such as parks, rivers, cemeteries, and museums are close to my heart. Beginning in 2005, I began exploring the ideas of immersive and in-situ performance, later I danced for choreographers making this type of work and eight years later in 2013, I made my major choreographic debut with an in-situ work on a river in Philadelphia, USA. Presently, I explore immersivity outside the constraints of a physical site. I work with amateur performers and teach them dance and physical theater to give them tools to create choreographies and scenarios. Together we experiment with the audience and make choreographies to create an intimate experience. Intimacy is my preoccupation as a choreographer – first, it began with the river, how do I make them feel the river, they must be close to it and almost immersed in it, so I used boats as carriers for the audience. Now, I am preoccupied with the idea of close contact, how does the intimacy between the audience and the perfomer change their perspective of a work? In my choreography, I make a world for the audience to enter physically, pyschologically and emotionally.

You decided to attend the intensive program of La Fabrique de la Danse last year, what were you expecting?

I attended the La Fabrique de la Danse course because I had stopped presenting my work actively. One thing led to another but within a lot of successful projects that paid me, I lost my mission for why I created and eventually I did not want to do it anymore. It was great to be paid but I am not a business, I am an artist. I felt no flexibility in my career and that all my funding was tied to one project and no one cared about anything else I may have to say. It was rather frustrating. I experimented with commercial projects, received a contract to do a site commission with a site choreographer who I danced for and mentored me, and then was asked to leave the project. So I stopped presenting performance for about 1 year and took a break, still danced, traveled and did other jobs. I really was seeking support. What really attracted me about the program was the opportunity to receive a new perspective about dance and business apart from the US system I was taught in, and did all of my professional work in. I wanted to learn how European choreographers format their presentations, their budgets, their dossiers, and the approach. Also, at this point the choreographers support organization in Philadelphia, the city I had presented my professional work in had in had now been closed for 3 years for lack of funding. Thus, apart from discussing my goals with creative business people, I lacked a resource for my questions. I am happy to say that through the process of fundraising for this course, I discovered that patrons who followed me on my previous river projects would support me in an endeavor to study. I was grateful for their support and the opportunity to learn that they would follow me to other projects.

Can you tell us about your experience there?

The experience at the intensive was amazing. I really felt the team did a phenomenal job of weaving together a seamless week. They thought of everything from how you would arrive, to who would greet you, to getting there and becoming a group that could support each other immediately. So often our work as choreographers is solo, when we have the chance to thrive in a non-competitive environment it is rare and very cherished.

Looking back at the course, I think a lot about how to set up an experience that is as inviting for my audience as La Fabrique created for their choreographers. The attention to details, the foresight to think about how people create social connections that last, what an individual needs to understand in the metro enviroment of Paris they are entering as a foreigner, and what a choreographer would enjoy doing in their free time when not studying. During the course, I came away with strong memories from my time in Christine´s class. Her improvisation prompts were brilliant, she really understands tempo, timing, rhythm to allow the artist to find something new within themselves. It is rare you encounter this. Many choreographers teach but not many are as masterful as Christine. I wished I had kept all my notes but honestly the course just with Christine alone could be a course and in another week the business material. It felt like she could carry more time and that we could go deeper into our explorations with her.

A few months later, what did you retain from it?

I think the largest thing I took away from the business aspects of the course is how you think about yourself. Though, I had been paid for choreographing professionally for 10 years and presenting for 17 years, I still always said I am a dancer and choreographer. I am a dancing choreographer. I am an artistic director. I am an artistic and executive director. The only thing I ever wanted to be is a choreographer, but yet I continued to not give it the attention it demanded by my very title. I think Laure and Lucie made this quite clear in their presentation seminar. Just be a choreographer. Don´t undersell the statement by adding in more to it. It is implied that you dance by the very act of making dances. « Own it »

Who would you recommend this summer intensive to?

Thus, this intensive is for a choreographer ready to own it. At any stage of their career, a choreographer who wants to show up, be present and ready to develop their voice and the tools to make it a professional voice. It is not for a person who wants to be a choreographer but one who already knows they are a choreographer and is ready to go to the next step.

You also want to experience our summer intensive?

Our summer intensive combining dance and business is back from July 5 to July 11, 2020. To all choreographers worldwide, join our team to experience 6 days of workshops.

Artist: Olga Merekina – Photographer: Emmanuelle Stäuble

You knew it as “Artistic Business Lab”, now it has freshened up and has a brand new name: ‘Business and Creative Lab for Choreographers, our 6-day intensive program for international choreographers inspired by the ‘Incubateur de chorégraphes’ of La Fabrique de la Danse. Not only will it be the occasion to deepen your choreographic work as well as your business skills, but it will also enable you to discover the French choreographic landscape.

On the agenda during the week:

• Choreography Workshop
• Oratory Workshop: How to Pitch your Project
• Artist Portfolio Workshop
• Production Control
• Broadcasting your Piece
• Designing a budget
• Discover a creative online tool
• A couple of masterclasses given by professionals to grasp the French choreographic landscape
• A theme dinner with French choreographers to create a unique intercultural exchange moment.

What’s new this year? Thanks to the feedbacks of previous participants, we chose to adjust the schedule by modifying the time dedicated to certain workshops and add a new one: Design a budget. Additionally, a couple of masterclasses where added to enable you to expand and strengthen your understanding of the French choreographic landscape.

An opportunity for you to deepen your knowledge and skills

Just like the previous edition, our goal is to create a good balance between theoretical and practical times while devoting a special time for feedbacks. The pace of your week will be as follows: each morning will be composed of 3 hours of choreography practice at Le Carreau du Temple supervised by Christine Bastin, a renowned French choreographer. The afternoons are all about overcoming the challenges surrounding the business development aspects of your artistic project. Are you uncomfortable when speaking about your project? Your project presentation or portfolio is dull and unrepresentative of your artistic universe? You are puzzled when asked to design a budget or give a production planning?

Consider this week as an opportunity for you to deepen your knowledge and skills on these fundamentals topics while discussing with the other international participants and La Fabrique de la Danse’s experts.

All the members of La Fabrique de la Danse are excited to welcome you and ensure you to make the best out of this week.

Please note that our registrations are already opened so submit your application for BCLC Summer 2020 now!

We had a talk with Olga, a participant of the Business & Creative Lab for Choreographers last year!

Artist: Olga Merekina – Picture: Alina Kochetova

Can you introduce yourself and your work as a choreographer?

I am a Shanghai-based choreographer and performance artist. Since my studies at China Academy of Art, I have been researching aspects of intercultural communication, while body and movement have become my main media of artistic expression. My recent projects address collective memory, commodification, and ecology of communication. The choreographic works ranges from site-specific experiments to stage performances evolving multidimensional perception.

You decided to attend the intensive program of La Fabrique de la Danse last year, what were you expecting?

I expected to obtain practical advices how to develop dance performance piece from a subtle idea in my head into an artistic product, which can be offered to the audience. I hoped to get some clues about what I am doing wrongly and what I can do better.

Can you tell us about your experience there?

My experience was incredible. I was placed in a safe and encouraging environment to work with open-hearted professionals both as mentors and fellow choreographers. As an artist I received a chance to speak to and be heard by colleagues who saw me not as a rival but friend. And as a producer I received a great kick to improve my management skills, especially in the field of personal relationships. Although it seems obvious, but I did not realize before the need to divide an artistic and business being in myself. I tried to stick to my tolerant and creative identity, which could be a nightmare to deal with production process.

A few months later, what did you retain from it?

Now I am trying to sort everything out and focus on a few objectives. Also I am trying to figure out my professional relationships, I still find myself too involved emotionally. But I think it is a part of growing process, although it is a painful one.

Who would you recommend this summer intensive to?

I would recommend this program to emerging choreographers, who has got some experience with production process and trying to come up from the abyss of creative chaos and understand which direction they want to go and how to map their way to it.

Want to know all about the details of the program?

At La Fabrique de la Danse, we are experts at training choreographers from the artistic view to the administrative and technicals aspects. So we wanted to give dancers and choreographers some quick tips on starting projects!

Artiste : Valentina Cortese – Photo : Emmanuelle Stäuble

Tip #1 – Anticipate on your planning

Creating a show will take some time: first you should think about a schedule, and start booking spaces for rehearsals. And most of all, make sure your dancers are available, by sharing the schedule with them, and ask them to book ALL the dates so you know you can count on them.

Tip #2 – Prepare your meeting with theatres

The better way to be the best is to prepare your speech: key points, choreographic intention, technicals aspects, team presentation. The more you are prepared, the clearer you will be!

Tip #3 – Get yourself a dream team

Achieving a creative project is an exhilarating but sometimes difficult adventure! Surround yourself with a circle of caring people who believe in you: your dancers of course, but also volunteers to support you in the intense moments and advisers with whom to discuss your difficulties!

Tip #4 – Think ahead about the lighting

Tech rehearsals are usually very quick, so you should spend some time anticipating what you want. Ask yourself some questions about colors, light rythm, spaces, etc. And if you know the vocabulary, it will make your conversation with the lights designer that much easier!

Tip #5 – Build a community

Social media is a wonderful opportunity for you to let people know about your work! Short videos, pictures, inspirations… People will get interested in who you are and what you have to say artistically! And it can take a little time, so start as soon as you can, and have fun!

You need more guidance? Come to our intensive workshop in English, next July in Paris!