.presentations.

One of the things that's been really interesting over the last 7 months running Raqs Bohéme has been the applications I've been getting from dancers wanting to perform in the show. I have very specific guidelines of what to submit and how to submit it - not terribly hard or complicated, but specific: bio or resume, professional dance photo, dance video, and availability.

Almost without fail, the dancers who have read and followed the application guidelines have been high quality professional dancers who I've been pleased to try to find space for. On the other hand, there have been a few poorly put together applications from dancers who just aren't' ready for my stage yet.

I realize that a part of that dichotomy is that professional seasoned dancers have these things readily available on hand - and it takes about five minutes to cut and paste and link into an email - whereas dancers just starting out in their professional careers don't. You have to perform in order to get performance videos. Hiring a professional photographer to get good promotional shots is not cheap. And a dance resume takes some thought and consideration to put together successfully.

All three of these things are essential to any dancers professional dance kit. They require time, money and a little foresight - and if you aren't willing to put forth the effort you might want to reconsider how much you really want to be a professional dancer. No different than applying for any other job, every aspect of your presentation deserves as much effort as you can possibly put into it.