Creating Troupe Guidelines

Prevention is so much easier than dealing with constant conflict. This class, Creating Troupe Guidelines, will give you everything you need to create a comprehensive set of troupe guidelines. With clear guidelines, many of the issues that disrupt dance troupes can be anticipated and addressed before they occur. When expectations are clear (including what will happen if someone isn't following the agreed upon troupe guidelines), it makes the inevitable conflict that occurs within any group of people so much easier to handle.

Sneak Peak

Do I really need guidelines if I am the Director?

There are many ways a troupe can be organized. One popular model is a Collaborative where everyone has artistic input and leadership responsibility. Another common model has a Troupe Director who provides the artistic vision and leadership and the members are occasionally involved in both, but mostly serve a supportive role. With those two models serving as goalposts on either end of the field, your troupe can decide to stake out a model anywhere in between.

Although it is more obvious why you need guidelines when your troupe is a collaborative, I would argue that you need them even more if you are a sole director. I say this based on the importance of consistency whenever you manage a group of people. If you think of this in terms of a business situation, you would never have a different set of rules for one employee to earn a raise than you would for another. If you did it would breed mistrust and unhealthy competition.

You also want your troupe members to clearly know your expectations so they know what you expect from them. Clear expectations help them know what they are agreeing to do and what happens if they can't hold up their end of the agreement. It also tells them what they can expect from you as a troupe director.

Now that we all agree on how important these are for any type of troupe structure, let's examine the different components you should include and look at how one troupe operationalized each of these components.

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peak. The class, Creating Troupe Guidelines, is available online through the Belly Dance Business Academy for $20. Join the 39 other dancers who have taken it.