The seven steps
- List every routine and who dances in it. One row per routine with its dancers, typed the same way every time, plus the length, the level and the costume.
- Decide the gap between a dancer's numbers. Pick how many routines a dancer needs between two numbers. Three is the usual start; raise it for a hard costume.
- Pin only what must not move. The opener, the finale, a guest number before intermission. Every pin takes freedom away from the rest of the order.
- Place the intermission. Put it near the middle of the running time. While the intermission setting is on, an intermission of any length counts as a full gap, so turn it off if yours is too short to change in.
- Order the rest so no dancer is too close. Build the order with the solver, or by hand, checking every dancer's numbers against the gap.
- Read the changes that are left, and why. A dancer in too many routines cannot always be spread. Decide whether to accept the change, drop a number or add a dresser.
- Adjust by eye, then print. Move numbers for artistic reasons, watch the flags as you go, and print the running order and the quick change report.
Recital software in this market treats the gap as a setting the studio chooses, not a rule anyone publishes. One studio system calls it a costume gap requirement, another a costume change cushion, and both flag numbers that sit inside it; the sources below were read on the date shown. Whatever the name, the job is the same: count the routines between each dancer's appearances and keep that count at or above the gap.
Worked example: a 15 routine recital
The sample recital in the planner has 15 routines and 20 dancers, typed in class order. With a gap of 3, that typed order has 11 quick changes. The first: Lily Novak dances in "Opening Number" and again in "Junior Jazz" with only 1 routine between.
The opening number and the finale are pinned. The planner adds an intermission after number 8 and builds this order, with no quick changes at all:
| No. | Typed order | Quick change in the typed order | Built order | Starts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Opening Number | None | Opening Number | 18:00 |
| 2 | Tiny Tap | None | Junior Ballet | 18:03 |
| 3 | Junior Jazz | Lily Novak | Teen Lyrical | 18:06 |
| 4 | Senior Lyrical | Ava Brooks, Mia Chen | Tiny Tap | 18:10 |
| 5 | Petite Ballet | Ella Okoro, Sofia Reyes | Senior Lyrical | 18:13 |
| 6 | Teen Hip Hop | None | Junior Tap | 18:17 |
| 7 | Junior Ballet | None | Teen Hip Hop | 18:20 |
| 8 | Senior Tap | Zoe Patel | Petite Ballet, then intermission | 18:24 |
| 9 | Teen Contemporary | Lena Ruiz, Maya Singh | Junior Jazz | 18:41 |
| 10 | Petite Jazz | None | Senior Tap | 18:44 |
| 11 | Junior Tap | None | Teen Contemporary | 18:48 |
| 12 | Teen Lyrical | Maya Singh | Adult Tap | 18:51 |
| 13 | Senior Jazz | None | Petite Jazz | 18:55 |
| 14 | Adult Tap | None | Senior Jazz | 18:57 |
| 15 | Finale | Owen Hart, Maya Singh | Finale | 19:01 |
The built show starts at 18:00 and ends at about 19:04. The order is computed by the planner itself, with the same seed every time, so rebuilding the same roster gives the same order. Try another arrangement uses a new seed when you want a different order that keeps the same rules.
Common mistakes
- Typing a dancer two ways. "Mia Chen" in one routine and "Mia C" in another are two people to any checker. Merge near duplicates before you build.
- Pinning too much. Every locked number is a place nobody else can use. Pin the opener and the finale, then see whether anything else really needs it.
- Forgetting the finale and the opener are dances too. Company dancers in both, plus three class numbers, have very little room in a short show.
- Counting minutes instead of routines, or the other way round. A gap of three short petite numbers is less time than three long senior ones. Check the minutes on the quick change report for the tight ones.
- Fixing one change by hand and creating two. Moving a number moves everyone in it. Watch every dancer's flags, not just the one you are fixing.