Your main shows sold out over a weekend. Now the messages are arriving. Nan can't do Saturday night. A family of six can't stretch to six full-price seats. A dad works every evening that week and is gutted to miss his daughter's first solo.

Meanwhile, the Friday before, you'll run the entire show in full costume, under full lights, to a row of empty seats.

More and more studios are filling those seats. An open dress rehearsal (some call it a preview performance) gives families another way to see the show, gives your dancers a real audience to warm up in front of, and gives your front-of-house team a practice run before the big night.

It isn't right for every studio, though. Here's how to decide, and how to set it up so nobody feels short-changed. If your Christmas show is coming up, it's not too late to add one. Our Christmas show planning timeline and guide on how to sell out your Christmas show will help you fit it in.

What is an open dress rehearsal?

It's your dress rehearsal with a ticketed audience. Same costumes, same lighting, same running order. The one big difference from your main performances is that you're still allowed to stop.

If a lighting cue misfires or a quick change runs long, you can pause, fix it and carry on. That's the whole point of a dress rehearsal, and it's exactly what your audience needs to know before they book.

Why studios open up the dress rehearsal

Extra capacity without adding another full show. You've already booked the venue and you're running the show that day anyway. If you're regularly selling out, an open dress can soak up demand without the cost of an extra date. Our Venue Capacity Calculator will show you whether you're short on seats, and if you're weighing up a bigger change, read Should You Run One Show or Three?

A lower-priced option for families. Not every family can afford full price for everyone who wants to come. A cheaper dress rehearsal ticket means the extended family can still be there, without you lowering the price of your main shows. For more on finding the right level, see How Much Should You Charge for Dance Show Tickets?

A better fit for some audiences. Grandparents who'd rather not drive home late. Shift workers. Toddler siblings who'll never make it through a three-hour evening show. An earlier, calmer performance suits plenty of people, and for some families it's the only way they can come at all. More on that below.

Dancers perform better on the night. Rehearsing to an empty room is one thing. Hearing a real audience clap and laugh is another. When the first-time nerves happen at the dress, your dancers walk on for the main show already knowing what it feels like. It's also your last chance to check spacing on the real stage, so map out your numbers beforehand with our free Stage Formation Planner.

Your door team gets a practice run. Volunteers can get used to scanning tickets with the Stage Stubs app, learn where everyone sits and iron out any queue problems before the busiest night. Plan who's doing what with our free Volunteer Rota Builder, and read how the ticket scanner app gets your audience seated fast. Your crew benefits too, so take a look at our tips for supporting your backstage team.

Turning your dress rehearsal into a relaxed performance

For some families, a packed, dark, loud evening show is a big ask. That doesn't mean they don't want to be there. It means the usual format doesn't work for them.

Think about who might be missing from your audience right now:

• Grandparents who are hard of hearing, who struggle to follow along in a noisy, crowded auditorium.
• Relatives living with dementia, who can find a late finish, a dark room and a big crowd confusing or distressing.
• Autistic siblings or family members, who may find sudden loud music, bright lights or a full room overwhelming.
• People with photosensitive epilepsy, for whom strobe or flashing lighting effects can trigger seizures.

Running your dress rehearsal as a relaxed performance can give all of these families a way in. It's also a natural fit, because a dress rehearsal is already more flexible than your main show. A few changes go a long way:

• Keep the house lights partly up so nobody is sitting in total darkness.
• Bring the volume down a notch and avoid sudden loud effects where you can.
• Leave out strobe and flashing effects, or if you can't, warn families clearly in advance and say exactly which numbers use them.
• Make it fine to move, make noise and come and go. Tell the whole audience at the start so nobody feels judged.
• Set up a quiet space outside the auditorium where people can take a break and come back in when they're ready.
• Hold back aisle seats and seats near the exits for families who may need to step out, and seats close to the front or the speakers for anyone who's hard of hearing. If your venue has a hearing loop, mention it on your event page.
• Share a "what to expect" guide before the day, with photos of the venue, the running order and the times of any loud or bright moments. This helps autistic audience members and anyone who feels anxious about new places.
• Choose an earlier time so it suits people who tire easily or don't travel well at night.

One thing to plan for: unexpected stops can be unsettling for some people. Explain at the start that the show might pause and why, so a stop doesn't come as a shock.

It's also worth saying that a relaxed dress rehearsal shouldn't be the only option for disabled audience members. Some families will still want to come to the main show, and that's their choice to make. Our guide to making your dance show accessible for every family covers how to support them at every performance.

When it might not be the right call

Your dress rehearsal still needs lots of stops. If you know you'll be pausing every few numbers to sort lighting or spacing, a paying audience will get frustrated. You might be better keeping the dress closed and opening a final run-through instead, once the big fixes are done.

Your venue charges more for a public audience. Some venues add costs for front-of-house staff or treat a ticketed rehearsal as an extra performance. Check your contract before you announce anything, then use our Dance Recital Budget Planner to make sure the ticket income covers the difference.

It adds performances for young dancers. In the UK, the number of public performances can affect whether children need a performance licence from their local authority. Check with yours before adding a ticketed dress. Studios in other countries should check their own local rules too. Add it to your Dance Recital Planning Checklist so it doesn't get missed.

Your dancers are performing twice in one day. If the dress rehearsal is the same day as a main show, think about energy levels, meal breaks and how long the youngest dancers will be at the venue. Our Intermission Length Calculator can help you build sensible breaks into both runs.

It could pull families away from your main shows. Price the dress too low or release it too early and some families will skip the full-price tickets. More on how to avoid that below.

How to price dress rehearsal tickets

There's no single right answer, but most studios pick one of these:

• A noticeably lower price. Somewhere around a third to a half off your standard ticket makes the difference clear without undervaluing the show.
• One flat price for everyone. Simple to explain and easy for families who are booking for a big group.
• Free, but booked in advance. You can create £0 tickets on Stage Stubs, so you still control numbers, know who's coming and scan everyone in at the door.

Whatever you choose, keep the gap between the dress and the main show obvious. If the dress costs nearly as much, families will expect the polish of opening night.

If you use tiered pricing for your main shows, run the numbers with our Tiered Ticket Pricing Calculator to see how a cheaper dress rehearsal fits alongside them. Our posts on the benefits of tiered seating plans and promotional seating have more ideas, and ticket booking fees explained covers what families pay on top.

Set expectations before anyone books

The happiest dress rehearsal audiences are the ones who knew exactly what they were booking. On your event page and in your announcement, be upfront about:

• The possibility of stops. A simple line like "this is a working rehearsal, so we may pause to fix things" covers you.
• Running time. Give a rough finish time and say it could run over.
• Photos and filming. Lots of studios ban photography at their main shows. The dress can be the one performance where families are welcome to take photos (without flash), which makes it a real draw.
• What they'll see. Share your show theme so families know what's in store. Still deciding? Browse our Show Themes & Songs library, or read Dance Show Recital Theme Ideas and 7 Fresh Show Ideas for Your 2026 Dance Recital.
• Who it's for. If it's a relaxed performance, say so clearly and list what's different, such as lighting, sound levels and the quiet space. Families who need it will be looking for exactly that detail.

When it's time to share the news, our post on how to tell parents your show tickets are on sale has templates you can copy, and the Parent Communication Timeline will help you plan when each message goes out.

Setting up your dress rehearsal on Stage Stubs

Give it its own event. Name it clearly, for example "Open Dress Rehearsal, Friday 6pm", so nobody books it thinking it's the main show.

Decide when to release tickets. Opening dress rehearsal tickets a week or two after your main shows go on sale gives full-price sales a head start. Alternatively, keep it in your back pocket and release it once the main shows sell out. For help with timing, read when to start promoting your next event.

Use a seating plan that fits. You might open the whole auditorium or just the stalls. The Stage Stubs team builds complimentary, bespoke seating plans for your venue, and our post on dance show seating plan mistakes is worth a read before you choose.

Limit tickets per family if you need to. If demand is high, a cap keeps things fair. See how many tickets each family should get for help deciding.

Add programmes and merch. The dress rehearsal audience still wants a programme and a show t-shirt. Add them at checkout so you know how many to order. See what to include in your event programmes and how to make additional revenue with Stage Stubs event tickets.

Share it. Create a printable poster with a QR code using our free Ticket Poster Generator and pin it up in the studio. For more ways to spread the word, try our creative ideas to promote recitals and sell more tickets.

Ready to open your dress rehearsal?

An open dress rehearsal can take pressure off sold-out shows, give more families a seat (including those who'd struggle with a busy evening performance) and send your dancers into opening night with an audience already under their belts. Set expectations clearly, price it with care and it could become the performance families ask about first. Once the curtain closes, our post-show tasks checklist and tips to make this year's show better than last year's will help you decide whether to run it again.

Stage Stubs is free for event organisers, and you can have your dress rehearsal on sale in under 10 minutes. Take a look at our pricing or browse our free tools for more help planning your show.

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