Why routines, not minutes
Nobody publishes a rule for this: the gap is a studio decision, and recital software treats it as a setting. One studio system lets you set costume gap requirements, another warns when dancers are inside a costume change cushion (both read on the date shown below). Counting routines is what everyone does in practice because it is what the running order shows. It is also what the planner counts, and it then turns the count into minutes with the running clock so you can see the real time a dancer has.
Worked example: what a gap means in minutes
In the sample recital in the planner, the average routine is 2:51 long and the changeover between routines is 30 seconds. From the end of a dancer's number to the start of their next one, the time off stage is the routines between plus one changeover more than that:
| Routines between | About this many minutes off stage | Enough for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Shoes or a jacket, with a helper |
| 2 | 7 | A simple costume change |
| 3 | 11 | A full change for most dancers |
| 4 | 14 | A full change with hair, or young dancers |
After the planner builds the sample with a gap of 3, the tightest change anywhere in the show belongs to Mia Chen, with about 10 minutes between numbers. The quick change report prints this minute count next to every tight change, so a dresser can plan for the ones that matter.
When the gap cannot be met
Take a short showcase of 10 routines where one dancer, Mia, is in 5 of them. With a gap of 3, her five numbers need 4 gaps of 3 routines plus her 5 numbers: 17 places, and the show has 10. No order can do it. The planner still spreads her numbers as far as they go, leaves 3 quick changes, and says for each one:
Mia is in 5 of the 10 routines here; 3 between each would need 17.
The fixes are human ones: take her out of a number, lower her gap to 2 if her costumes allow it, add an intermission (which counts as a full gap at any length while the intermission setting is on), or plan a dresser in the wings for that change.
Common mistakes
- One gap for everyone. The dancer with a full costume and a wig needs more than the dancer who swaps a jacket. Set their own gap instead of raising it for the whole show.
- Forgetting the walk. A dressing room two floors from the stage eats a routine of time. Raise the gap or the changeover length when the building is against you.
- Ignoring the finale. Company dancers often go straight from their last class number into the finale costume. Check the numbers just before the finale.
- Trusting an intermission that is too short. Ten minutes with a queue for the one mirror is not a full gap. Turn off the intermission setting if it is not.
The intermission itself is a separate decision; the free intermission length calculator listed on the Stage Stubs tools page (read on the date shown) is one way to size it.