Selling Tickets Online for Dance Shows with Stage Stubs

If your current selling ticket process means envelopes, spreadsheets and door queues, it is time to modernise. Stage Stubs helps dance schools sell tickets online, simplify ticket sales, and give families clear event tickets before show day.

Why selling tickets online matters for your dance studio

Small and mid-sized UK dance schools are moving away from manual ticket sales, cash-in-hand and numberes on a spreadsheet. Now? People expect to be able to purchase tickets in seconds, on their phone, in their own space. Which means, booking in a number of clicks, paying securely, and keeping tickets on a phone.

Saying goodbye to lost envelopes, chasing parents, unclear seating, and long recital queues. A dedicated ticketing platform, like Stage Stubs, helps you sell, manage, track and promote events with less admin, while giving attendees the best experience.

How Stage Stubs helps you sell tickets online in minutes

Stage Stubs is built for dance schools and performing arts events, not generic conferences or sport fixtures. A studio can create their summer showcase, choose seating, set prices and share links with parents in under 15 minutes.

• Create the event and add venue details.
• Choose allocated seating or general admission.
• Set adult, child, OAP, VIP or dress-rehearsal tickets.
• Publish the page and share by email, WhatsApp, social and website.
• Sell 24/7 on mobile or desktop, with no software install or upfront cost.

Event management tools often include features that allow organizers to create and manage events efficiently, including customizable event pages and ticket sales management. (find out more in our blog post. 'Dance ticketing software: how Stage Stubs helps dance schools sell out every show'.)

Pricing and fees: keep ticket sales simple and transparent

Stage Stubs is free for organisers; booking fees are paid by attendees at checkout. Many ticketing platforms charge a booking fee to attendees, and booking fees for ticket sales can include a percentage of the ticket price plus a fixed fee per ticket sold. (Calcuate exactly how much your attendees will pay with our free tool, ticket pricing calculator.)

For example, a £12 recital ticket can show as £12 plus a clearly displayed low, all-inclusive booking fee including VAT and card processing. There are no subscriptions, setup costs or hidden charges. Stage Stubs keeps simple costs that make it easy to sell tickets for every show.

Designing seating charts and ticket types for performing arts events

Good seating design protects the audience experience and your money. Stage Stubs builds custom seating charts for school theatres, town halls and 300-seat community venues. All for free,

With Stage Stubs ticketing platform, you can include stalls, balcony, restricted view seats, wheelchair spaces and family blocks.

Learn more about seating plans and how beneficial they can be in our blog post: 'seating plans vs no seating plans'.

Step-by-step: how to set up and sell more tickets for your next dance show

There are many benefits of using a ticket selling platform for your next event, one of which being how easy it is to set up. Selling tickets online involves five key steps: platform selection, event listing optimization, secure payment integration, promotional campaigns execution, and entry management.

Before you build your page, gather what you need: dates, venue, show times, ticket prices, capacity per performance, and a strong event image. Five minutes of prep here saves you editing later.

Then create your Stage Stubs page, run a test checkout, and review every detail before you go live. The whole setup takes under 15 minutes.

Make Your Pricing Work Harder

Don't just set one price and leave it. Early-bird tickets reward the families who book first and create an immediate spike in sales — set a deadline and watch them go. As the date approaches, let prices rise naturally with tiered pricing. Add group discounts to encourage parents to share with friends, and display remaining ticket counts on your checkout page. Nothing moves tickets faster than "only 6 left."

Get the Word Out

Your page is live — now fill those seats. Email your existing families first; they're your warmest audience and most likely to buy within 24 hours. Then go wider: share your Stage Stubs event link on social media, post in local community groups, and ask your teachers to share it directly with their classes. Short, visual posts with a direct booking link consistently outperform long announcements. Keep posting as the event approaches — most people need to see it more than once before they buy.

Giving parents and audiences the best ticket-buying experience

Parents often buy between classes, at work or in a car park, so checkout must be simple. They should quickly choose seats, select ticket types, enter attendee details and pay securely.

Using secure payment methods in ticketing platforms, such as major credit cards and digital wallets, is important for fraud protection. Parents can buy event tickets from a phone, receive instant email confirmations, download qr codes and forward tickets to relatives. If an email is lost, staff can find the order easily.

Managing ticketing on the day: scanning, door sales, and reporting

The job is not done once tickets are sold. On the day, Stage Stubs helps you scan tickets with standard smartphones, reduce queues and face fewer front-of-house issues.

Many event management platforms provide mobile applications that enable organizers to sell tickets and check in attendees on the day of the event, enhancing the overall event experience. Event ticketing platforms often provide mobile apps that enable organizers to sell tickets and check in guests on the day of the event, enhancing convenience and efficiency.

Staff can sell last-minute tickets from a laptop or phone, issue digital tickets immediately, track checked-in attendees, monitor remaining capacity and answer questions without printed lists. Learn more about our ticketing software and scanning here: Ticket Scanner App: Get Your Audience Seated Fast on Opening Night

Payouts, accounting, and financial control for studio owners

Cash flow matters when you are paying for costumes, venue hire, lighting and teachers. Stage Stubs supports practical financial control with clear reports and weekly payouts to UK bank accounts ahead of major performances, with final settlement after the event.

Download a list showing revenue by performance, ticket type, discount code and fees. These insights help you budget future events, pay a person or technician on time, and report results to trustees or partners.

Why performing arts organisers choose Stage Stubs over generic ticket sites

Most ticketing platforms are built for gigs, conferences, and club nights. Stage Stubs is built for the chaos of show week — multiple performances, dozens of ticket types, grandparents who need help finding their seats, and a front-of-house team running on adrenaline and cold coffee.

That focus shows in the details. Seating plans are custom-built for your venue. Terminology makes sense to dance teachers, not just developers. And when something goes wrong at 7pm on a Friday before opening night, support actually picks up.

The practical difference for organisers is real: no more paper tickets to print and sort, no cash tin on the front desk, no manual tally at the end of the night. Studios and theatre groups across the UK and internationally have swapped the spreadsheet for Stage Stubs and reclaimed hours they used to lose to admin.

Attendees notice the difference too, a smooth checkout, a clear seat, a QR code that scans first time.

Getting started with Stage Stubs

To start, create a free account, send venue details if you need a custom seating chart, and publish your first event. Use Create Event or Get Started on the Stage Stubs website.

UK-based support can help with setup, test orders and fees. Use Stage Stubs to sell tickets online, simplify ticket sales admin and deliver unforgettable live performances.

Find out more about how you can use Stage Stubs to support the running of your event, with our range of resources: 

• Make additional revenue with Stage Stubs event tickets
• You’ve done the hard work, let Stage Stubs do the rest 
• Benefits of offering a tiered seating plan for your events

Create your event and start selling your tickets in minutes. (Interested? See how Stage Stubs compares to TicketSource, or Eventbrite, and Trybooking.)