dance recital costume madness

[Anonymous]

DD is 3 and just started a ballet/tap class once a week. She loves it. They have just been measured for costumes for a recital that will be next year in late May or early June.
We have to pay for the costume by Nov 7th and if we pay late there is an extra $20 late fee.
The costume is $75!
This is madness, She will wear it once and then never again.
They do different costumes every year apparently so there is no way to pass it down to the class or for you to borrow one.
Is this normal for dance studios in this area?
It seems like a huge rip off, especially for the 3 year olds. I wish she could just wear her leaotard/tights.

[Anonymous]

This is unbelievable.

My daughter has been in ballet at Maryland Youth Ballet for 6 years, starting at 3. She is not a professional level, she simply enjoys taking classes. There is a recital every spring. The costumes, which are usually just little tutus or skirts, plus headpieces and makeup, are owned by the school. They are put on the day of the recital and given back to the school. We don't think twice about them. Occasionally there is some sort of animal tail that is purchased as part of the class fee -- we don't pay extra.

In six years, I have never been charged a costume fee.

This is some sort of scam.

[Anonymous]

By the way, the girls are also given flowers -- again purchased by the school.

[Anonymous]

I went to a prominent dance school on LI growing up and had to buy costumes for the recital every year. Classes ranged from 3yo tap/ballet to competitive dance troupe but all had to buy costumes for the recital, which was a multi-day professional-looking affair.

Your dance studio sounds like this which is great if you want your child to have the option to dance at a high-level at some point. It's totally reasonable if you just want a place for your daughter to learn some dance so you might want to look elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

When our DD was young, we had the exact same experience. The costumes were anywhere from $75-$100. Made me wonder how much the families with older daughters on the competitive team were paying since they performed in multiple routines. They must have spent a small fortune at each performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a prominent dance school on LI growing up and had to buy costumes for the recital every year. Classes ranged from 3yo tap/ballet to competitive dance troupe but all had to buy costumes for the recital, which was a multi-day professional-looking affair.

Your dance studio sounds like this which is great if you want your child to have the option to dance at a high-level at some point. It's totally reasonable if you just want a place for your daughter to learn some dance so you might want to look elsewhere.

Or it could be that studios see the mark-up on recital costumes as a great revenue generator, and it doesn't actually signal anything about the quality of the school.

[Anonymous]

At 3 we opted for ballet at a community center (city of falls church). Costumes were included in fee, but couldn't have been more than $30 seeing as 3 months of weekly classes only ran us $130 total. Meanwhile, my same-aged niece who took ballet at a studio nearby paid $90 extra for the exact same costume. It's a racket by the expensive ballet studios.

[Anonymous]

Not in DC but our 3 year old costume is $65, plus a $50 recital fee. And I believe we still have to buy tickets for the recital. Plus, I am guessing (optional) photo/video.
The dance studio itself is pretty small and seems laid back but that is just the cost to put a typical dance recital together. Yes, I recognize there are other options like PP mentioned but I think these rates and fees are fairly typical at most dance studios (at least the ones in our area and the ones I attended growing up)

[Anonymous]

Yes total ripoff and the recital tix were like $30 each. It's extortion bc you feel after a year of dancing, how can you skip out on the performance. Anyway I decided to take her out of dance school until she's 6 when they'll do more.

[Anonymous]

There are dance classes/schools where this isn't the case, but it seems to be the price you pay, literally, for the bigger, showier, more "professional" recitals.

DD has been in dance for about 5 years, and we just bought the most expensive costume to date - $38. This is more than double what her other costumes have been (because it is an actual dance costume, and not just a specific colored t-shirt). Also, recitals are free. I can't imagine doing anything different until I'm sure that the child is really serious about dance, and there are very few 3 year olds who fit that bill.

[Anonymous]

My son took a "hip hop" class several years ago and it was the same, so it's probably par for the course. They also took professional pics a couple months before the recital--both individual and of the whole class.

Our dance school charged $10 per person to watch the recital as well.

I had a friend with 3 daughters, and each daughter was taking 2 or 3 different dance classes! She must have spent over $1000 just on the recital costumes!

[Anonymous]

This is OP, well this makes me feel slightly better, at least its normal for a studio, even though its still a rip off. I feel like starting a parent uprising

[Anonymous]

Op again, The studio is only 12 mins from our house, To do it at a rec ctr would be a 25/30 min drive. Thats why we picked the place she goes to.

[Anonymous]

This is typical.

They require payment in November for two reasons:
1) Timing. Most recitals across the country have their recitals between the third weekend in May and the last weekend in June. Nearly every studio in the country is ordering costumes at the exact same time. If they order later, say January, they will not receive all their costumes in time for recital.
2) Holidays. Most people will not pay for their costumes in December or January due to holiday expenses. They just don't. Requiring payment in November and tacking on a late fee ensures they get the payments on time so they can order their costumes in time. Likely they have had costumes not show up in time for recital in the past and that is where the late fee comes from.

Decent quality child recital costumes start around $50.00 wholesale and go up from there. Each class usually requires several hours administrative work to measure, order, follow up with problems, sort and distribute. Standard retail markup from wholesale is usually 100%. Studios typically mark up only 10-50% tops on their costumes so you are getting a bargain in terms of mark up.

A dance studio is a business (unless they are a non profit like some ballet companies) and must meet their bottom line, which includes mark ups on merchandise sales like any other business. If you do not want to purchase the product then switch to a community center or county program with either no recital or a non professional, casual type end of year show.

[Anonymous]

It was this way 20 years ago when I danced at a studio. Costumes were $60 then. Once I got more advanced, we had 8-10 each year.