The first in the world of ballet
Danceapply is a platform that simplifies the outdated audition registration process for ballet students, professional dancers, schools and companies
INTRO
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Students audition to enter ballet classes.
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Dancers audition for job openings.
The Team (7)
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Founder
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Founder + Backend Engineer
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Backend Engineer
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Backend Engineer
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Frontend Engineer
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Product Designer (Me)
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Product Manager
+ Ballet Advisor
(Director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School)
My Job
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Secondary research
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User research and interview
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User flow
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Design System + Chakra UI
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Wireframes (Mid-high)
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Prototype
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Email Templates
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Pitch Deck (For investors)
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Sales Deck (For ballet organizations/companies)
Tools
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Figma
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Github
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Notion
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Slack
PROBLEM
The audition registration process is outdated
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Students audition to enter ballet classes.
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Dancers audition for job openings.
Student:
In person registration + Travel
Paper registration form
Pay in cash
Printed photos (40+)
Ballet Schools:
In person registration + Travel
Boxes of registration forms
Lots of cash
Dancers:
Visit individual websites to seek jobs
Theaters seldom use common job boards
User Interview
We asked 20 ballet students
Student:
Age: 18-21
Ballet Experience: Since 5-6 years old (avg)
Applications per year: 20-30 applications
Feedback:
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I can't believe there isn't a website like this already
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Repeatedly writing the same information
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Printing 20-30 of the same pictures
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Having to look up conventions so I can go and apply for the schools I like
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I spend a lot of time looking for auditions to apply for
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I paid for balletauditions.org, the website is really bad, doesn’t have that much information
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I would like to view new auditions on my phone but I will use my computer for the application process
Time consuming
Need to travel
Expensive
No centralized platform
User Interview
Director of Pittsburgh Ballet School - Marjorie Grundvig
and a few ballet teachers
We want to make sure our platform can provide services that are closest to their usual audition process
Application Questions and media collection
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Pose shots
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Short dance video clip
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Application templates
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Dance experience questions
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Fees
They usually judge multiple students at once
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Instant decision
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Adjust decision
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View their profile on the spot
Over 20 audition locations & 1000+ students
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Filter location for the day
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Age group
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Classes they signed up for
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Gender
The Answers
Major features to simplify the registration process
For students, organizations, companies, and dancers
Major features for students and dancers
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Filter by school or dance company location/audition location
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Register to all partnered schools/companies online
Supporting features for students and dancers
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Auto save their answers on the applications
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A record of all of their application
Major features for organizations and companies
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Digitalize registration
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Application template + custom questions
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Media uploads
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Online payment
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Judge audition + export record
Supporting features for organizations and companies
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Custom organization/company page
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Write notes with the judge decision and scholarship option
Challenges
Example of a few challenges along the way
there were many more
Example:
The video submission deadline is often a few months longer than the in-person audition deadline.
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How do we display the application deadline if they are created under the same program?
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Schools must fill out the same program information twice if they create the in-person audition and video submission separately?
Example:
There are many different audition locations in one program
How do we let teachers sort the student data? by date? Or by the state?
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What if there is more than one audition in one location?
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What is the create audition flow look like on the form? (in- person/online/Time/date/address/name of the studio/age group?)
Example:
Do we allow organization change any of the audition information after the audition is published? (Before/ after receiving the application)
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If we don't let them at all. What if they have a typo?
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If we let them, we will keep the answers submitted but the questions will change?
Example:
We want to let teachers judge their auditions on our website
What information do they need?
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How do we make it easy to use during the audition with all the actions happening?
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How can they export that information afterward?
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What information do they need to record after judging?
What I learned and still learning:
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Working on something you don't know it's always a fun challenge!
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Communication is key
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Don't be afraid of criticism! Together we build better designs and make better decisions for our product
Let's get social
I'm open to work!