Choreograph Optional Floor Routine

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GymDad57

We have a small optional team, 1 or 2 girls, if one coach takes a special interest and uses her artistic talent and time to choreograph a floor routine; should the coach be paid extra for this choreograph or is this just part of the job. How is this handled at other gyms?

One other questions; who usually pays for the optional music - $60-70$, the gym or the gymnast?
 
I came from a smaller gym, and my owner and the choreographer(who happened to be the coach responsible for dance/beam/floor) cut the music on their own--so I guess they paid for it. As far as paying for the actual routine and choreography the gymnast paid the coach who choreographed their routine--it was done outside of training time and the coach was usually paid about $100-$200.
 
Floor routines

At our gym the girls learn their routines from the floor coach in private lessons, so the cost is how ever many privates it takes, some girls it is 2 some up to 5. We all pay for our own floor music, it is up to you whether you pay for it from a service or cut your own, which would be free. The girls and the coach decide together what the music will be.
 
At our small gym, the head coach/owner makes up all the routines and trains the girls in regular team time. We have a huge collection of floor music, which is added to yearly, which the girls can choose from. They can also choose an older routine that no-one is using.

There is no charge for any of this. But, I don't know of any clubs in our region that do charge.

Our lowest team girls, like level 4, get two choose between four routines. The higher levels get their own routines and keep them for two years.
 
We pay for the coach(there are several to pick from) to choreograph and teach the beam and floor routines since this has to be done at a seperate time from practice. Parents are also responsible for paying for the music no matter how we find it.
 
We also pay the choreograph coach about 60$ CAN. And we get to spend 2 hours with the coach so she can create our routine. We usually keep it for 2 years.
 
At my daughters gym, a coach creates a routine specific to the gymnast and the music they have selected.

Cost: Music Arrangement $50 and Choreography $300
 
We pay extra for choreography either with a coach from the gym or an outside choreographer. It is $350. We buy our own floor music as well.
 
I actually do the choreography and music at our gym. I charge $100 for the routine. That includes however many practices it takes to get it down. I also have a large collection of floor music that the girls can select from that I add to whenever possible. Sometimes I buy them, sometimes I cut them. Depending on the song selection, they cost between ten to twenty dollars, based upon where the song came from. If the gymnast chooses something outside of my song collection they pay for it. If they request that I cut a certain song, they give me $20 for the music.
 
At our gym we pay for the coach to cheorograph the routine. It is $125. But that includes all changes, practices to memorize ( most of the time 2 practices).

For music, we can chose from the music the gym owns at no charge, but if we want something different, it is our expense.

How often does your gym change rountines? We go every 2 years.
 
The *usual* situation in my experience is that even if the choreography is done internally, it is handled like a private lesson or some such, and there is an extra fee. However, I know of gyms that have a coach/teacher specifically for dance, and that person's salary (which comes from tuition, obviously) includes time spent making up routines (at one of the gyms I went to, it was during practice where everyone at another event. At the gym I spent most time at, we paid as much as $400-500 a routine for outside choreography and that doesn't include music. On the other hand, they were very well known choreographers). And tuition was low compared to other gyms in the area. So in the end it was basically equal, I mean the yearly tuition difference added up to more than $500 itself. Because of all of those circumstances it is hard to judge the "true" cost of routines from gym to gym. In my experience that beam choreography is more likely to be handled internally and perhaps without charge, or that routines will be recycled, or simply that all level 7s will have the same beam routine (and then do their individual variation of skills in that routine). Some gyms also hire the choreographer to do beam. I have experienced all of those scenarios.
 
Our gymnasts have to pay for both. Well if they find their own music and cut it then of course it's free, if they get music from us that's never been used before, it's only $25, but if they have it cut special from someone we know who does it, then it's between $60-100 for music.

Choreography costs vary from $300 per floor routine to $400, depending on if someone in the gym does it or we bring someone in. If we bring someone in then his/her travel costs need to be paid by the gymnast as well.

I guess it's possible to include all these fees in tuition, but then tuition would go up and either way then the gymnast and family would be paying for it. A good unique floor routines for the upper levels will usually be costly because you're paying for the choreographer's creativity, not just her time spent teaching the routine.
 
Is it necessary to have a gymnastics coach choreograph the routines or can a dancer do it? My DD is nowhere near needing that yet but when she does, I have a good friend who is a dance teacher. Would it be okay to use her or would we need someone with a gymnastics background?
 
At our gym the gymnast pays for both the music (unless there is music already there that they like) and pays for the privates to have the floor and beam routines choreographed.
 
Is it necessary to have a gymnastics coach choreograph the routines or can a dancer do it? My DD is nowhere near needing that yet but when she does, I have a good friend who is a dance teacher. Would it be okay to use her or would we need someone with a gymnastics background?

It kind of depends but generally they will need to fit in the routine requirements so it usually is someone who is familiar with gymnastics choreography. Your gym may require x choreo anyway, there wasn't much choice for outside stuff at one of my gyms.
 
For floor, we pay for the music as well as the choreography, whether it is done by one of our coaches or an outside choreographer. Music usually around $50-60 and for the routine, I've paid $120 up to $300 for my oldest DD. Little DD needed "shared " a routine with several other girls so we split the cost (I think we ended up paying $25 per child).

For beam, our previous beam coach charged around $150 but this year the new beam coach worked with the girls - the girls came up with their own routines and coach helped them with changes, etc. A freebie :)
 
We have a small optional team, 1 or 2 girls, if one coach takes a special interest and uses her artistic talent and time to choreograph a floor routine; should the coach be paid extra for this choreograph or is this just part of the job. How is this handled at other gyms?

One other questions; who usually pays for the optional music - $60-70$, the gym or the gymnast?


When I was a gymnast, our gym handled it pretty well I thought. Choreography took place during a private lesson and a flat fee of 100-300 dollars was charged. Of course, the amount depended on the choreographer. For example, sometimes they would bring in an outside choreographer with tons of experience and sometimes it was a "rookie" choreographer. Either way, I think that choreography is best done one-on-one, because in an optional routine, the whole process of choreographing and teaching the routine can take up to 3 hours. Every year, the optional gymnasts were required to schedule a private choreography session and at the end were presented with a hand-written copy of the routine. I always thought this was a really good way to go because of the personal attention and because it allows the gymnast to have some input into the routine as well when they have a 1-on-1 with the choreographer.

Also, we had stock music at the gym that the gymnasts could go through and select for free (with coach approval), but if we wanted different music, we were responsible for the purchase of the music.
 

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