New Dance Software

[DancingMommy]

If someone were to write software for dancers, what features would you like to see?

Would you pros out there like a program that specifically caters to the things you need to track? Expenses, income, competitions, lessons, etc?

Would you rather see it on a pocket pc or your desktop computer?

Email me at orlando_ballroom_dance@earthlink.net with any suggestions you might have. Please put "software" in the subject line. 8)

[DanceMentor]

How about software that let's you track your progress with a syllabus?
1. Enter the steps
2. Check off the different levels completed for each step (ex. introduced, # hours practiced, memorized). You could think of more.

[DancingMommy]

That's definitely on the books... :)

I'm trying to get some pre-development feedback so we don't start coding away madly and then have something no one wants...

Once we get something more definitive started (and we'd love more feedback!), I'd be happy to share a beta-version with the folks here!

[salsarhythms]

Hey DancingMommy,

First and foremost, make sure that you narrow down your
market...

One thing is a general dancer, and another is a pro.

Develop software that addresses the needs of a specific group,
because if you try to generalize and try to please everyone, you'll
wind up with something that is not too useful for either.

So again, focus on your target group and who you want to attract
and then make it just for them... :D

[twodance]

Hey just what I'm looking for,
As a pro I need something make appointments with. Something that will do standing appointments and color code the screen as to whether the hour is booked or free. A place to keep names , addresses, phone #, personal info.. Track accounts for eachtype of lesson ie. private lesson, competition, groups and parties. To track the zip code where each info. call comes from. This is for advertising purposes. And to keep the levels of each students medal program as well as their competition ranking.
If I think of more I'll let you know.
Thanks

[dancerfreak5678]

Wow cool! I can't think of any ideas right now because my brain is turned off temporarily :headwall: , but I think that's a great idea!!!! This whole software thing that is and your replies too!!! The moment I get an idea I'll post it though! Just wanna let u know that I give it 5 stars for a great idea :idea:

[dancerfreak5678]

still have no ideas :(

[DancingMommy]

Hey DancingMommy,

First and foremost, make sure that you narrow down your
market...

One thing is a general dancer, and another is a pro.

The focus at this time is geared towards Pros. If there were enough interest in a product for the general dancer, it might be a later product.

Also, I think that competing Ams would probably benefit from the Pro product as well since their efforts are very similar.

Our market at this time is *extremely* narrow as we have only enough manpower to work on one thing at a time. ;)

[dancerfreak5678]

Oh! That's cool for pro's and I'd love to try it cuz I have a lot of friends who are pros, but after u finish the dance pro software definitely make one for the general dancer because I have at least 3 dozen friends who'd love to try it! Good luck1

[DanceMentor]

Yes, I think making something for pros or studios is the way to go.
Just curious, what developing environment are you using? (eg C++, C#, VB, .NET, web)

I like the idea of some kind of lesson planner. You good do a lot with that:
lesson schedule
student address book
student progress reports
set reminders to call students
syllabus

[brujo]

I would like to see a condensed format for dance steps.

When learning shines and complicated patterns, it's very hard to codify their descriptions on paper. Videos just take too long to download. It would be nice to have software that would let you drag the placement of the many joints and produce a string. This way, an instructor could give out a syllabus as a downloadable file and the students would just have to feed this file to the program to be reminded of how the move looks like.

Maybe the right way to break it down would be to have a timeline a la Macromedia flash, and then have Poser like models that move according to the time.

[pygmalion]

I used to have a dance spreadsheet that tracked who I was taking lessons with, how many lessons were paid for (i.e. how many remaining before I had to buy more), what was covered in each lesson, which dances I was working on .... I'll dig up one of my old spreadsheets and email it to you, if you want.

[dancerfreak5678]

I JUST CAME UP WITH AN IDEA! By professional I thought dance teachers and dance teachers choreograph so I was thinking that you could make it so that you can show a front view and overhead view of formations that can also show is someone is stacked ontop of someone in the dance. And it would be cool if you could be able to label names of the people who are in the formations and for the front view be able to adjust the height of the people so you can get a feel for how the formations will look! It's just an idea, but it makes it useful for not only professional dancers, but also teachers, students, cheerleaders, and people who just love to choreograph! Let me know what you guys think!