I hate fundraisers.

Unfortunately, there’s no escaping them. There isn’t a lot of money to be made in the dance world, but the costumes and sets can all be rather expensive, especially if they’re being made from scratch. The money has to be supplied either out of the company’s pocket (which isn’t very deep), or through the tedious affairs that are fundraisers.

My ballet company typically has two performance fundraisers a year. The first is One Elegant Evening, usually held right at the beginning of fall. It’s a rather adult sort of party, with fancy food and a lot of original dance pieces choreographed just for the occasion. The second fundraiser is the Tea Party. This one is held early in spring and is supposed to be more for young kids, with more sweets and dances from the ballet we are currently working on.

We held our Tea Party fundraiser for Swan Lake this past Sunday. It was held at the home of one of the younger dancers at the studio. We offered lots of food, and had a fasion show with costumes and leotards as well as other clothes. We also perfomed variations from Swan Lake. It completely sold out, and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun. However, we didn’t appear to receive many donations which could lead to us not being able to make all the set pieces and costumes we need. We’ve already bought the materials for and made 16 white tutus for the swan corps, and we have several costumes still to make. However, with the money we did raise and the current ticket sales for the shows, we should have just enough to cover the cost.