How to hire a choreographer for a sangeet dance in Bengaluru

Few here print a price. Of ten Bengaluru dance studios whose sites we read, one prints a wedding price, and it teaches tango and fusion. So the group prices above are a Kolkata company's own, taught in Kolkata, and the one estimate is for a couple's coaching. Each drawing shows what that kind of help looks like. The number of people in it isn't the number a price covers.

Check what a number is for before you compare. The same studio can quote a routine, an hour and a head.

Ours: DTown, a dance studio in Hebbal, teaches couple, family and ladies' sangeet routines at its studio. Ask for the price.

1. 6 to 12 weeks before

   Book the choreographer: six to eight weeks for a small group, ten to twelve for a whole family sangeet. Fix the session days with everyone who's dancing first.

2. Before the first session

   Settle the songs and who dances in which. Tell the choreographer privately who can't do what (Q6).

3. The sessions

   Four or five, of 1 to 1.5 hours, for each routine. Ask for a video of each finished routine so people practise at home.

4. The last week

   One run-through on a floor the size of the stage, in the outfits and shoes.

5. A few days before

   The final track to the DJ, in the order you'll dance (Q9).

Studios that print their hours give one 2 to 3 minute routine about six hours of teaching.

Book early in the season. For a November to February wedding, the Kolkata company says it books about four months ahead. With less time than that, see Q3.

What fits in three weeks. Studios give one 2 to 3 minute routine about six hours of teaching (Q2). Two sessions of 1 to 1.5 hours a week for three weeks is six to nine hours: one routine, or two if the group can manage three sessions a week. Five or six routines at about six hours each is 30 to 36 hours.

• Keep the dances that matter. The couple's dance and one big family number first.
• Join songs into one medley. A Kolkata company teaches a 2 to 3 minute medley of two or three songs to up to 15 dancers in six hours.
• Keep the steps simple, and say so on the first call (Q6).
• A session or two to set the steps, then a video (Q7), if the teacher can't fit more.
• Book this week. The one Bengaluru studio that prints its terms wants booked hours used within four weeks, so three weeks of sessions is an ordinary booking there.

Why the Kolkata company charges a couple more. It charges ₹3,000 more for a couple's routine than for a group's, for the same six hours, and the couple's price includes help choosing and editing the song.

What ₹20,000 may leave out. The Bengaluru studio sells its coaching by the hour, so the ₹20,000 may pay only for making the routine. For a group of ten, its group hour is ₹3,500 plus ₹500 a person. Ask whether the ₹500 is each hour or once.

A studio gives you a big floor and mirrors. Home saves the family's travel, which matters with elders and kids. A couple in Hebbal asked us for their first dance to be taught at home. A bride's parents in Koramangala would practise only in Koramangala.

Ask these before you agree a price.

• Do you come home, and what is the charge for each visit?
• If we use your studio, is the studio in the price?
• How big a floor do you need for our group?

The speaker stops at 10 pm outside. Karnataka's 2022 order bars loudspeakers from 10 pm to 6 am outside closed halls, such as community and banquet halls, unless you have written permission. So an evening rehearsal on a terrace or lawn with a speaker ends at 10. A closed clubhouse hall can go later, if your society allows it.

DTown teaches at its studio in Hebbal, which has a wooden floor, mirrors and a sound system.

Say it on the first call, in private. The choreographer needs to know who has bad knees, who's nervous and who'd rather not be in the front row before they plan the formation.

• Elders: steps done standing or walking, with a seat close by if they need one.
• A husband who won't dance: a simple part, like walking in or a few hand moves, so the routine works round him.
• Anyone shy about the front: ask for a spot at the back or the side. Nobody needs to give a reason.
• Kids: ask how the teacher keeps the ones who miss practice in the routine.

DTown in Hebbal describes its family routines as kept simple and easy to learn, for groups of all ages.

Two of the 19 people who asked us for a choreographer since April gave ₹5,000 as their budget: a bride for one 5 to 7 minute dance, and a company for its employees' dance. At one-to-one rates it buys about two hours with a teacher. For a group of ten at the Bengaluru studio's group rate, it buys under an hour.

The online route suits a couple or a few friends, or someone in another city who joins for the last sessions. You get the steps and the counts, but nobody sees your spacing.

A session or two, then the video is the middle way. Ask the teacher to set the steps and the formation in the first hour, run it in the second, and film it with the counts.

Ask these before you pay. It costs nothing while they still want your booking.

• How much now, and when is the rest due?
• Who teaches each session? A studio with a team may send different teachers. DTown, for one, has several.
• If the teacher falls ill, who comes?
• If our date moves, what happens to the hours we paid for?
• Can we move a session if half the family can't come?

If something isn't going to plan with a choreographer you booked through us, a person here sorts it out.

Somebody has to start each group on time. If the choreographer isn't there, give the job to one person in the family by name, with the running order in hand. The emcee runs the order on the stage: see our guide to emcees and anchors.

• The track: ask who cuts it, in what format the DJ wants it, and send it a few days before.
• The order: one list, with the songs in the order you'll dance, to the DJ, the emcee and the choreographer.
• The run-through: once on a floor the size of the stage, in the outfits and shoes.