Dance studio auction item ideas that actually sell

For the general list, see our 100+ silent auction item ideas. The distinctive lots here are recital night itself and things only a studio can offer.

Recital night

• Front row centre seats for next year — the most contested item a studio has
• Reserved parking on recital night
• A bouquet delivered to the dancer at the final bow
• A programme dedication from a family or a grandparent
• A class page sponsorship in the programme
• The photograph or video package

Full detail: recital fundraisers.

The studio's own

• A private lesson with a teacher, or with a visiting choreographer
• A term of a class, or a summer intensive place
• A dance party at the studio for a birthday — the studio has the space and the music
• A parent-and-child class, or a grown-ups' beginner class, which sells to people who have always wanted to
• Costume and shoe fitting with a stylist
• Studio hire for a rehearsal or a shoot

The adults' beginner class is under-listed everywhere. A surprising number of dance parents have watched from a waiting room for six years and would love a term, and it costs the studio an off-peak hour.

For dancers

• Shoes, tights, leotards, dance bags — expensive, outgrown constantly, always needed
• A professional dance photography session
• Physiotherapy, massage or a sports medicine consultation
• Tickets to a professional performance, and a backstage visit where a company will
• Hair and makeup for competition, taught properly

For the grandparents

This is the catalogue's real audience. Restaurants, travel, home services, garden items, experiences, jewellery, local artists. A generic strong catalogue, because the buyers are giving because of a child rather than because of the items.

What must not be in it

• Anything touching casting, solos, parts, front-row positions or team placement — the single most damaging category available
• Anything implying priority in auditions or placement
• A child's photograph beyond your media release, and never with a name
• A recital photographer's images without their licence — they own their work
• Choreography or music used in ways the licences do not cover
• Anything implying a charitable deduction where the studio is a business

The casting one deserves the emphasis. Somebody will suggest "a solo in next year's showcase" and mean it kindly, and there is no version of it a studio can list.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Whether your studio is a for-profit business, a nonprofit, or a parent booster organization alongside a business changes what a donor may claim and what you may say — this is a situation to put in front of your own adviser.