Comp team choreography
I am a 3 year dance teacher, grew up dancing all styles. My first year, I started in the middle of year and at the end of spring semester, asked to choreograph a comp team dance and wasn’t given one, which in hindsight I understand, I was very new and didn’t have a ton of choreography experience under my belt.
I helped with some comp team rehearsals throughout the year, just here and there, though. The next year I went to competition team auditions to help out, asked to choreograph something and eventually, a month or more later, was asked if I would choreograph the musical theater production that the owner normally does. I know there had to be some level of trust there to do it, but it also kind of felt like I was given that piece because the owner didn’t have the energy to do it this year so it was the throwaway.
I did a great job with it. The routine did well, the parents and kids loved the dance, it even beat the other two productions (jazz and contemporary) from our studio at one competition. I also spent the year running rehearsals for other dances and cleaning certain routines, so I was highly involved in the competition team throughout the whole year.
This year, while assignments haven’t been officially given out, I’m a bit worried I’m going to get overlooked. She already sent out an audition form asking for solo choreography preferences and didn’t even list me as an option, even though I’ve asked to be listed every year I’ve been here. I would really love to choreograph a jazz or lyrical routine, I can do any level/age range, but the problem is, the priority is typically going to the owner’s daughter and a gal who grew up dancing at the studio. They are both wonderful choreographers but they won’t be there throughout the year to run rehearsals. We’re cutting back on the number of routines, so I can just really see a scenario where I’m just SOL.
If I don’t get a routine to choreograph, I plan to say that I won’t be coming in on Sundays to help with rehearsals.
Is it fair to be a little upset about not being prioritized? I feel like I’ve made my ambitions pretty clear and haven’t been given any sort of feedback on the quality of my work not being up to par. Is there something I should do to better communicate or position myself?
I really want the opportunity to grow as a choreographer and explore new styles but I feel like I’m not given a chance or acknowledged for my work. During the year, I teach classes with a wide range of abilities and ages within one classroom, so I’m proud of how my recital dances turn out and get many choreography compliments, but the routines don’t look ~amazing~ because I only have a handful of really strong dancers who take multiple classes a week. Whereas, one of the prioritized teachers gets lots of praise from the director for a cool dance with all the most advanced dancers.