Putting on a performance before a live audience is an essential part of the magic which comes from pursuing dance as your activity.  Just as an athlete pulls on a jersey for game day, the heightened sense of occasion electrifies the experience of performing before an audience in a costume that is extravagant and meticulous.  Sadly, few families and ballet schools – none in poorer demographics, ever know the wonder of professional standard Swan Lake background sets or quality Nutcracker costumes.

 

Most heartbreaking of all is the thousands of expensive single use costumes that sit for 11 months in back rooms and storage units of highly resourced dance schools gathering dust until called upon for a dress rehearsal and a single annual performance.

 

Eco Dancers understands the dance community and as part of our mission to reduce and eradicate environmentally damaging waste caused by dance, we have developed a solution.  We have built a system to share and care for existing costumes across dance schools nationwide. Better yet, with the help of our corporate sponsors we are creating high quality stage sets and accompanying costumes which are used 12 times year, delighting dance students and their families who have, until now, never been able to experience the thrill of performing in such a glamorous setting.

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Our program means less environmentally damaging costumes are required to be made from virgin plastic based fabrics but more children experience the joy of seeing themselves perform in the proper attire.

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HOW IT WORKS FOR DANCE SCHOOLS
 
Dance schools can register on the Eco Dancers website for one of the performance costume and stage set packages we have on offer by specifying the month of the performance, age and number of dancers.  Some limited tailoring will be provided to fit costumes.  Eco Dancers will confirm and discuss the requirements with dance school and ensure the impeccably laundered costumes are delivered from our storage to you and the set installed in your selected venue at no cost to the Dance school or students.  At the conclusion of the event Eco Dancers collect and launder the costumes, break down the sets and return them to our warehouse ready for the next months performers to utilise them.
 
HOW IT WORKS FOR CORPORATE SPONSORS
 
Eco Dancers have thought hard about how to provide value for the sponsorship community.  Predominately female participation activities such as dance and netball receive significantly less funding support from corporate Australia on a per capita/dollar basis then male dominated pursuits.  We are offering an opportunity for Corporate Australia to align itself with the young female demographic and support its development in a practical way at an early stage.  As our creative director and former member of the Australian Ballet Ella Helvanka says, ‘its time we nurtured our up and coming dancers at all levels, sadly sponsors seem to prefer the prestige attached to supporting those that have made it to the Australian Ballet without encouraging and developing those aspiring to be there.’
 
For a corporate sponsorship of $100,000, Eco Dancers will be able to manage, for two years, the creation of a themed costume and stage set, facilitate the transfer, maintenance and storage of the sets and costumes which are delivered in recycled material garment bags featuring the corporate sponsors logo and message.  The stage sets include appropriate signage featuring the corporate logo to be displayed at the entry to the venue and the ‘curtain’ will also proudly display the sponsor of the costumes and set, leaving the audiences in no doubt about the sponsors alignment with young dancers and reducing the impact of harmful plastics and clothing waste on the environment.  Further, the sponsor will be provided with images suitable for social media from the grateful dance schools.