Sahar
Sahar presents a sensuous and dramatic site, all accomplished according to her red and black color scheme and the silk clothe design and textures that dominate the background. The tone and style of her design perfectly matches her performances as a belly dancer. This kind of site design might have seemed a little cheesy or dated under different circumstances, but here it absolutely works.
Overall, her free website features less information than many others. It only contains information about her, information about her previous performances, a small dynamic picture gallery and contact information. Still, everything works well together and is evocative enough that this is probably all the information she requires.
Lindathay Valero
Lindathay’s site showcases how well a minimalist design can make a big impression right from the beginning. The main focus of her landing page is an incredible high-energy mid-dance head shot that tells you everything you need to know about the girl and what she will bring to your production. When she used her website software she focused on multimedia presentation of her previous work and performances, which is a good idea for dancers and other primarily visual artists. Her site also includes a very simple and easy to fill out form, which can increase the chances of receiving messages due to the convenience factor it provides.
Perhaps the best thing Lindathay does is showcase a wide variety of photos and videos, communicating the breadth of her experience and abilities.
Jade Froeder
Jade presents a more refined and classical image through her free website than Lindathay. This tone is established immediately with her relatively demur opening headshot and pastel colored design incorporating classical patterns. Still, the design incorporates some rougher textures around the border and in the footer, which keeps the site from seeming too staid or traditional.
She used her Flash templates to place an extremely prominent “Click Here to Contact Me” on her home page, which is an intelligent choice as you should always make it as easy as possible for people to get in contact with you. She also includes a short personal message on her home page, which makes her seem warmer and more approachable to casting directors and the like. She provides all the necessary information (about me, news, resume) and incorporates an impressive and dynamic rotation of headshots showcasing a range of emotions and full-body shots.
Debbie Allen Dance Academy
This site is a showcase for a dance academy, and as such has different priorities than an individual dancer’s site. For starters, it immediately shows you the current show the academy is putting on. Some dancers choose to include their current performance information on their homepage as well, and this can be a good idea as it both shows that you are working and makes it easy for prospective future employers to find you.
Once inside the site you are presented with a very professional and slick site that features intuitive navigation and a short paragraph of information on the school. The background features an automatically shifting slide show of a variety of past performances. These kinds of dramatic photo showcases are actually easy to make with free website photo galleries.
As you can see from this site, many of the same elements that add up to a successful individual dancer’s website also stand up for a full dance company’s site. The main differences between the two is the fact that company’s feature more community-based information (present and upcoming shows, class information, newsletters, tuition and donation information, etc.)
The emphasis still stands on showcasing a wide variety of styles with a predominantly visual presentation, regardless if your free website is for an individual dancer or for a full company.
