Pre-Show Announcements for Dance Studio Recitals: What Works, What Doesn't, and a Better Idea

Most dance recitals start the same way.

The house lights dim. The audience shuffles into their seats. And then — before a single dancer takes on stage — someone has to get a few hundred people to stop talking, put down their phones, and tell them the theater rules.

That's the job of the pre-show announcement. And for most dance studios, that's a chore.

I've asked dozens of studio owners, "How do you start your show?" And the answer is rarely given enthusiastically. It's usually a variation of "I'm backstage, I get on the microphone, and read out the theater rules." And I can see on their faces and in their tone, how much they absolutely hate doing that. It sounds like it's their least favorite part of their recital experience. But it definitely doesn't have to be that way.

Here's what actually makes a good recital pre-show announcement — and then a bigger idea to transform it from a boring, mandatory thing into something else entirely.

What Your Pre-Show Announcements Need to Do

Before you write a single word, be clear on what you're actually trying to accomplish. A strong pre-show announcement for a dance recital does seven things:

1. Welcomes the audience enthusiastically.
Not a hesitant "thank you for coming"... A REAL welcome — one that is worthy of who's in the room, and the incredible hard work you and your dancers have put into this moment. Grandparents who drove two hours. Siblings who are being very patient. Parents who've been watching their dancer work toward this moment for months.

2. Sets the tone for the evening.
The first sixty seconds of any show tells the audience what kind of experience they're in for. Is this a confident, professional production? Is their child a part of an organization that takes the value of the entertainment business they are in seriously? Your pre-show announcement sets the tone before the first dancers take the stage.

3. Helps 'non-dance' parents understand that dance is more than just movement.
By far, the vast majority of your audience does NOT understand the power and the passion of a dance education. They don't understand that dance is so much more than just another activity their child happens to enjoy. They don't understand the bonds and friendships that dance culture creates, or the discipline that their child is learning. That's why I recommend stating clearly and obviously that you are glad that they are there to witness just how much their child has grown and achieved. By doing that, you are giving them an aha! moment.... dance isn't just a nice or fun activity, you're actually nurturing their child's development and growth. And that's something worth paying for.

4. Communicates the theater rules without sounding like the TSA.
Cell phones silenced. Photography/videography policy. Food and drink policy. Intermissions. Dismissal procedures. These are necessary. The question is whether you can communicate them without making your audience feel like they're being processed through airport security.

5. Promotes upcoming studio opportunities.
Goodness knows, your studio parents don't read the thousands of communications you send them, getting ready for recital. The emails, the text messages, the social media posts, the flyers you send home with your students. The moment before your show starts is the ONE time you have EVERY studio parent's complete and undivided attention. It's the moment before their kids are about to perform. Don't miss this chance to tell them about your Summer camps and intensives, gifts and merch in the lobby, company auditions, and registration for next season.

6. Acknowledges and thanks your studio's families
Every studio handles its acknowledgements and thanks differently. If you don't have any other way of acknowledging your graduating seniors, this is the time to do it. If you're not thanking your volunteers, teachers, and staff in another way, pre-show is a great time to do it. Let your people know how much you appreciate them. And no matter what, acknowledge and thank your studio parents. After all, they are the ones who are writing the checks every month. They are already supporting their dancer financially, and you want to strengthen their buy-in to your studio emotionally as well. Thanking them in your show's opening definitely doesn't hurt their decision to re-enroll their students with you next year.

7. Gets off the stage quickly.
The best pre-show announcements are delivered in under three and a half minutes. Under two and a half minutes is even better, but if you are acknowledging your graduating seniors, your audience is actively participating with applause. In that case, it can be slightly longer. But always keep in mind, your audience came to watch their dancers, and your pre-show announcements are now the only thing standing in the way of that. Definitely do not turn to AI to write your pre-show script... it will be far too wordy. In fact, here's an entire article about Why You Shouldn't Use AI for your pre-show script.

Tips for Writing a Strong Dance Studio Annual Recital Pre-Show Announcement Script

Be on-brand. Generic announcements are boring. Every dance studio has its own culture. Your pre-show announcements should reflect your studio's uniqueness.

Put each item in order, with intention. Lead with a welcome. Save the rules for the middle. Acknowledge your seniors. Thank your staff and teachers. Thank your audience for being there towards the end. End on something that builds anticipation — not a weak "thank you and enjoy the show," but something that creates energy toward the opening number. After all, whether you realize it or not, you're the show's emcee if you're giving the pre-show announcements.

Write it to be spoken, not read. A sentence that reads clearly on paper can sound awkward when spoken. Write your announcements, then say them aloud, at performance pace, at least once before your show. It's amazing what you will uncover that doesn't work, just by saying the words out loud. When your ears hear it, you'll know instantly what needs to change.

Match the tone of your recital theme. If your recital theme is "Sailing around the world," your pre-show can reference cruise ships, beaches, and the ocean. If you're doing a holiday show, you can talk about mistletoe, a roaring fire, and the joys of the season. An announcement that sounds completely disconnected from the show it precedes is a missed opportunity.

Don't over-explain the rules. "Please silence your cell phones" is complete. You don't need to explain why; they already know.

The Missed Opportunity with Most Pre-Show Announcements

I get it, you became a dance studio owner because you are passionate about dance. For many studio owners, getting on stage (or staying backstage) and reading a bunch of boring theater rules is about as much fun as getting a root canal. And hearing someone who hates doing it is just as painful for the audience.

A pre-show announcement is a utility. It's a necessary administrative task. And no matter how well you write it, it's probably still going to be boring, and your audience is going to tune out most of it. They've been to shows before. They know they're about to hear the phone-silencing speech. Most of them are probably thinking "yeah, yeah, when is this talk over so I finally get to see my kid perform?"

Which is why some studio directors have started giving their announcements after the opening number — just to capture the audience's attention first. It works. But it also means admitting that your announcements can't command the room on their own.

But there's a different way to think about this.

What if the Pre-Show Was Actually Part of the Show?

In 2023, I had an epiphany about recital introductions: instead of trying to make pre-show announcements better by giving them fabulous background music, what if they were actually part of the show — created to fit the studio's theme and to draw the audience right into the show from the very first moment?

One of the first ones I made was for a travel-themed recital. An airplane pilot welcomed the audience to Flight 5678. A flight attendant told them to turn off their electronics and keep their seatbelts fastened during every routine. It opened with the sound of jet engines firing up, and ended with "Come Fly With Me."

Every required policy was in there. Cell phones, photography, stay seated, the whole list. But nobody experienced it as a list. They were passengers on a flight. The flight attendant's voice sounded like it came over an intercom. They were already in the show.

That was the very first Welcome Soundtrack. And it's exploded from there.

Mary Poppins for a Mary Poppins show. Santa for a holiday show. A carnival barker for a circus-themed showcase. We've now created Welcome Soundtracks for more than 70 distinct themes.

A Spoonful of Sugar

In 2013, Virgin America wanted to expand its airline service into North America. And because their brand is unique and fun, they decided they were going to be different in how they present the mandatory federal regulations airlines have to communicate before every flight. So they commissioned an original song, created original choreography, and produced an MTV-style safety video. All the flight attendants had to do was press play; they didn't have to drone on and go through the motions every passenger has seen dozens of times.

And their safety video is amazing. Electric even. It's so good, millions of people have watched it voluntarily. Even though they weren't on an airplane.

The flight safety information was still there. Every word of it. But the entertainment was so spellbinding that the rules just... landed. Passengers received the seat belt, exits, life jacket, and oxygen mask information. Simultaneously, their mood was instantly elevated. What an incredible way to differentiate your brand in an otherwise generic experience.

I call it the "spoonful of sugar" effect. When your pre-show is genuinely entertaining — themed, musically alive, drawing your audience into the world of your recital — they absorb your mandatory information without experiencing it as something boring. The medicine goes down because you gave them a spoonful of sugar with it.

Besides, you're in the business of teaching kids how to be in the entertainment business. Why would you start the most important show of the year with something that's quite the opposite of entertaining?

Why should I start my show with a Welcome Soundtrack?

A Welcome Soundtrack isn't a better pre-show announcement. It's a different thing entirely.

Think of it as a musical overture for your recital.

It starts with a professionally written script, and then goes to a professional voiceover talent chosen to be the emcee of your theme. From there, we mix the voiceover using a Hollywood-style approach to sound effects and music that transports your audience right into the theme you've put so many hours into perfecting. The phone-silencing is there. The photography policy is there. The stay-seated instructions are there. But the audience experiences all of it through the persona of a character who fits your theme: an airplane pilot, a wizard, a radio DJ, a circus barker, a school principal, a Broadway emcee, a safari tour guide, a Brooklyn wise-guy, a rock show promoter, a construction foreman, a robot, an enchantress, an army general, Father Time, and the list goes on.

Before your first dancer steps on stage, your audience has already been transported into your show. And they're leaning forward, not checking their phones. The Welcome Soundtrack is part of the audience pay-off for that theme you've been promoting all year. Now your ocean/water themed show isn't just routines performed with songs that relate to water... your audience hears the sound of waves lapping the shore, seagulls, and a fog horn in the distance. And your emcee is now the cruise ship captain, welcoming everyone aboard before saying 'anchors away!' as the curtain rises.

Squirrel Trench Audio now creates more than 100 custom Welcome Soundtracks for dance studios every year, for every theme a studio owner can dream up (or even when there's no theme).

Studio owners have been delighted with the Welcome Soundtracks we deliver. One of my favorite responses was:

“What a hit!!! The kids felt like they were at Universal Studios. This is now a recital-must for me. Thank you again.”
–Christie Stark-Ubiera, Dancer’s Gallery, on her Night At The Museum Welcome Soundtrack, June 17, 2024

When you start your annual showcase with a Welcome Soundtrack, you are sending a clear message to your studio families - my studio takes dance education seriously.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How long should a dance recital pre-show announcement be?

Dance studio recital pre-show announcements should be just long enough to convey all of the necessary and important information that the studio owner wants to convey to their studio parents, and no longer. In practice, that means they should be three minutes or less. The exception to this length is if the studio has several graduating seniors to acknowledge, in which case all of them deserve to be applauded individually.

2. What are the most common mistakes dance studios make with their pre-show announcements?

There are many mistakes that some dance studio owners make when writing their pre-show announcement script, especially if they rely on AI to help them create it. It may be too long, full of unhelpful explanations, and refer to the dancers as "our" dancers (awkward when addressing their parents). It may omit thanking the parents for supporting their dancers, and it may leave out any mention of upcoming summer camps. And most importantly, it may miss the opportunity to increase the emotional bond the parents have with your studio. (Here's an article on why it's not a good idea to use AI to write your studio's pre-show announcements.)

3. What's the difference between a pre-show announcement and a Welcome Soundtrack?

A pre-show announcement is an ordinary statement made to the audience before the show begins — the usual list of theater rules: silence your devices, photography policy, stay in your seats. Necessary, but rarely memorable. A Welcome Soundtrack is something else entirely. It's an audio experience that transports your audience into your recital's theme through a combination of professional scriptwriting, voiceover acting, sound effects, and music mixing. The theater rules are still in there — but nobody experiences them as a list. They're passengers on a flight, or guests at a museum, or audience members at a Broadway premiere. The information lands. So does the entertainment.

4. Do I need a recital theme to use a Welcome Soundtrack?

Not at all. Welcome Soundtracks work spectacularly well for studios with no theme or a very loose one — because the entertainment stands entirely on its own. A theme gives the Welcome Soundtrack a creative direction, but the experience of being welcomed into your show with genuine production value is compelling regardless of whether there's a unifying concept behind it.

Hear What This Sounds Like

This is one of those things that's much easier to understand by listening than by reading about it.

Check out some Welcome Soundtrack examples →

If you'd like to explore what a custom Welcome Soundtrack would look like for your next recital or showcase, we'd love to talk.

In addition to custom recital Welcome Soundtracks, we also offer Premade Welcome Soundtracks.

Have questions? Ready to order one? Email Morriss at morriss@squirreltrench.com