Guide To Auditioning For DGC Dance Cover Projects

Thank you for learning dances with DGC!

We regularly organise dance cover video projects and a bi-annual dance showcase for students who’ve learnt songs in class.

The DGC Dance community has been growing rapidly over the last few years with more and more students becoming actively involved in our dance cover videos and bi-annual DGC Shows. We warmly invite you to take part too!

For the dance cover video, we are aiming to create cool videos like we’ve done for these songs:

– Alcohol-Free https://youtu.be/0tonhOoqjbA
– Butter https://youtu.be/P7DV2tAdefY
– Mafia in the morning https://youtu.be/Xs-OOkJMU2U
– Fancy https://youtu.be/2kA9hTz2pQM
– Miroh https://youtu.be/C_zXXBE67sg
– Feel Special https://youtu.be/1FDCxLcUuss

The shows are a student showcase plus special guest acts mostly from within the DGC community.

The next DGC Dance Show will take place on Saturday 20th May 2023.

You can read more about DGC Dance Shows here: https://www.dgcdance.com/dance-shows/

Who can apply?

You must have attended DGC Dance classes for this song to apply for this performance and must have attended most of the Parts excluding Recap. If you only attended Recap classes your application won’t be accepted.

No previous performance experience is required – just the passion to perform and be part of a team.

Beginners or first-time performers are more than welcome to apply however you are expected to know the choreography well, be comfortable performing in front of people, and demonstrate good dance technique 🙂

PLEASE NOTE: There is a limit on the total number of performances you can take part in for each dance show. If you are already in 2 dance show projects, please discuss with Dickie before applying.

Auditions

The audition application form will specify how many dancers we are looking for and we will run auditions to select dancers for each project.

Depending on the song and instructor availability, we either run auditions in person and / or ask you to submit video auditions.

Selection criteria & what we look for

During auditions, the key areas we look at (in no particular order) are:

  • Choreography – how well you know the routine
  • Technique & execution – precision, sharpness & accuracy of the moves, timing & musicality, lines & posture, match the style of the dance
  • Performance – confidence, energy, emotion/charisma/characterisation, dancing with the whole body, facial expressions

In addition to your performance in the auditions, we are looking for people who:

  • are friendly
  • are positive team players and will work well with others
  • are interested in being a part of the DGC K-Pop community & family
  • are open & honest
  • are passionate and hardworking yet humble
  • have the ability to take constructive feedback and apply corrections
  • are reliable and will be able to commit to the rehearsal schedule
  • have time to practice & self-study outside of rehearsals

Filming your audition video

This section only applies if you are auditioning by video.

Please film yourself dancing the full choreography in one take.

(Please note: class videos will NOT be accepted for your audition)

Also make sure to:

  • Dance facing the camera straight on (not at an angle from left/right/above/below)
  • 1080p (HD) is preferred otherwise your video may be too blurry for us to see any details e.g. facial expressions
  • Film in good lighting so the video is clear
  • Have your full body in the frame (so no half body shots)
  • Fixed camera on a tripod or steady handheld with minimal movement is much better than a lot of panning (moving side to side)
  • Have the music loud enough so that it can be heard clearly
  • Dance the choreo on your own (not next to someone else)
  • Don’t watch the dance practice video during your audition as it would look like you don’t know the choreo well
  • Make eye contact with camera (to show us your performance side)

How to submit your audition video

This section only applies if you are auditioning by video.

[Updated in Jan 2023] We have a new preferred way for you to share audition videos as this will help reduce admin for everyone!

Please upload your video to YouTube (in high quality) as an unlisted video and email the link to hello@dgcdance.com by the deadline shown in the “Timeline summary” section of the application form.

(Please note: class videos will NOT be accepted for your audition)

When and where are rehearsals?

Rehearsals will be weekly on a specific day of the week, which will be specified in the application form. Usually it’s on a week day evening, but some projects can be during the weekends.

We aim to hold the rehearsals in Central London, but does vary depending on studio availability.

There are also 2 run through sessions of all DGC Show acts – usually on a Sunday, the week before the show and also a final one on the Friday evening before the show.

If selected, how much will the dance cover project cost?

The total cost is made up of the rehearsal fees plus a dance cover video fee.

As at July 2022, standard rehearsal rates cost £8 per hour per person. However if the group is small (5 or less dancers), then it’ll be £9.50 per hour per person. The rehearsal fees go towards the studio hire and paying instructors.

For reference, standard rehearsal costs are (for a group of 6+ dancers):
10 hours = £80, 11 hours = £88, 12 hours = £96, 13 hours = £104, 14 hours = £112, 15 hours = £120

For reference, small group rehearsal costs are (for a group of 5 or less dancers):
10 hours = £95, 11 hours = £104.50, 12 hours = £114, 13 hours = £123.50, 14 hours = £133, 15 hours = £142.50

On average, each dance cover project would need between 12-14 hours of rehearsals.

The current dance cover video fee is a flat rate of £15 per person. This covers the cost for filming and editing. If the group decides to film at an indoor location that is hired, then please budget some extra money for that. Typical venue hires are in the £50-£70 per hour mark shared between the group and usually you would need at least 2-3 hours to film indoors.

So the total cost (for a 12-14 hour project) will be between £111 and £127 for both rehearsals and the dance cover filming, excluding any venue hire fee if needed.

If selected, rehearsals fees plus dance cover video fees will need to be paid in advance to confirm your spot.