photographer

camera operator

videographer

mascot

freelance photographer

DanceBUG

Working for DanceBug has been very rewarding, I love to film dance and travel and the people I get to work with are really great.

Most of the job is filming dance competitions in the US from about February to June. There are some special events at the end of the season, and if you are a US citizen with a passport, there are events in Canada as well. You need video camera experience, experience working with laptops to capture video and some experience with connecting microphones to digital recording devices.

The travel is all covered by DanceBug, as well as meals while you are working. If you are a videographer, your equipment will also be provided, but photographers use the equipment they have developed their style with and they are given some money for equipment maintenance. 

The competitions do have long hours, I think that's the hardest part. Some days run from 6:30am to 10:00pm, and events can run two or three days in the US and usually more in Canada. (DanceBug doesn't set the competition schedule, but they will let you know ahead of time what the schedule should be and they are constantly advocating on their employees behalf for safer working conditions and appropriate remuneration. The competition organizer will determine the pace and number of dances you film, and some of them can be long and seemingly constant. These are live events and sometimes things go wrong, but DanceBug has a support team that is available and happy to help you wherever and whenever you find yourself in need. You will have to advocate for yourself in the moment when at events, but if you feel you have been mistreated or misunderstood, the management team has your back and will do everything they can to find solutions for you. Same goes for travel, do everything you can to get where you need to be as early as safely possible - but if problems happen, there are people available to help figure out how to resolve them.

You will have to manage your energy to make it through those longer days, and the more experienced you are with video production the better you understand why the schedules run the way they do. There can be hundreds of dancers competing at these events and they want to make sure everyone gets a chance to show what they have been working on. You must manage your time well and pay attention to changes in scheduling.

Timeliness, and cleanliness are very important in this role. You are the representative in the field and usually work with one other photographer, (or more photographers or videographers if the event is a large one or one with a complicated schedule.) For the most part though, you are the face of the company at these events and they count on you to be there on time and ready to record without causing delays or frustration for the event coordinator or the families attending the event.

The dancing you will get to film will cover everything imaginable; ballet, tap, jazz, musical, folk, abstract, solos, groups, modern and even futuristic. The dancers are allowed to do pretty much any dancing they want, (it is a family event though and the dancers usually range in age from about 4yrs to 19yrs old but can also be as old as they like. I've seen amazing performances from 75 year olds and older!) The dancing ranges in age and experience, but there will be moving and truly breathtaking performances at every event. You will find your camera technique and abilities quickly improve while filming this much dance, and by the end of the season it's hard to go back to normal life. I pretty much cry at every event when some sweet kiddo is pushing themselves to be the best they can be and they share their dedication with you, or a dancer does something that just doesn't seem humanly possible and you feel the whole room holding their breath. It's absolutely amazing!

The dancers and parents who purchase the videos you are recording will cherish this video and this memory for the rest of their lives. The videos are also used to help the dancers improve their craft, and the audio recording that you get of the judges' comments will help dance instructors develop the dancer's abilities much faster.

So many people come up to me during events and thank me for being there to capture a fleeting moment that they have invested so much time in creating. It's a long day, but it moves very quickly, it's inspiring and it's very rewarding.

This is a review for being a contract photographer/videographer with this company. 
First off, its good to note this is a software company.  They provide the software to dance competitions for the judges scoring as well as the software the photographers and videographers use to organize the files by dancer and company.  They require these competitions to use their video and photography services for the events and hire independent contractors to do these.  Being contractors there is of course no benefits and you are paid a day rate.  The time commitment is pretty much full time.  You are required to have all the weekends basically from March through June open and most of the time those weekends you are working between 12-16 hours.  Its not uncommon to leave a venue at 11 pm and be due back at 6 am.  On the days you don't work you are also responsible for booking your own travel, attending video meetings with your work grouping, attending some company wide meetings and uploading  your files at a pretty low hourly rate.  

The expectations are for work of a professional and experienced photo/video shooter but the pay is more what you would make at a grocery store.  They do make up for it somewhat in volume.  You'll get about 40 hours each weekend but cramming that into 3 days each week is hard on you.   So for some people that need something on the weekends it can work out pretty well.  

One benefit is you get a work card to use for expenses and a $60/day stipend for meals.   They also pay each week and on time.  

I would like to mention to start that prior to last season there was someone who made a labor board complaint and the company ended up paying out contract workers at the end of it and making policies that were explained as wanting to pay us for our time but in reality were just a response to the labor board issue.  This issue wasn't mentioned by management to anyone who didn't receive a payout.  The new things were paying a small hourly fee for the tasks they were required to do previously unpaid and supposedly being paid extra for any days that go over 12 hours.  However most of the time their own software couldn't properly tally the extra hours.  The "breaks" are unpaid and your breaks are recorded by the software you use and often times you can't leave where you're sitting working but it still counts as an event.  Most of time you'll be running to the bathroom quickly on your breaks and maybe eating something in the area you're working from.  

~Toxic work environment
~Virtually no training
~Different rules for different employees
~Mis-communications or omitted information is a CONSTANT ISSUE
~Extremely High Stress
~You WILL be confronted about on site problems that you have no control over
~broken or missing equipment will be a weekly problem
~lots of company wide payment discrepancies 
~logistics are incomplete or changing all the time
~if you have anything else going on in your life, you cannot do this job. The powers that be will tell you that they will work with you and then hold it against you later
~Constantly being put in situations where no matter what you do, someone is always upset with you, be it the bosses, the client or both
~EVEN THEIR CLIENTS HATE THEM, they just don't have a cheaper alternative yet, and they will often tell you that during the job and treat you poorly because of it.
~This company grosses millions of dollars every year and continuously asks their employees to front money for them
 ~Traveling might seem nice all you will see of most of the cities you go to is the airport and the venue
~You will be called a Supervisor but have no power to fire anybody and are frequently circumnavigated when it comes to disciplinary action so who you are meant to be supervising is unclear 
~The expenses you have to invoice for will be taxed twice because they're included as income in your taxes
~You will have all the duties of an employee but are called a contractor
~Will probably be asked to work illegally in Canada

The money might look nice in the beginning but you will spend so much of it just trying to keep yourself sane that it's honestly not worth it in the end

What is the best part of working at the company?
The travel is nice if you like that sort of work. Being home during the week is nice, makes it easier to work another job part time. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The schedule. Days start early and end late. The schedule is extremely rigid and oftentimes the videographer is integral to the entire event. If you’re late, the show doesn’t start until you arrive. If you’re late, you delay the entire day and everyone at the event. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Mostly remote, some office work required during post-production. Company culture is fractured and discordant. Leadership has changed a lot since COVID-19, and it seems like the company as a whole is struggling to recover from that period. The rank and file are cool, upper management is difficult (to put it politely). 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Long. It requires the same care and attention as driving, really. If you can drive for 10+ hours a day no problem, you’ll have no issue behind the sticks for Dancebug.

I had a lot of fun working for DanceBug and would have gladly worked more seasons if I didn't get an offer closer to home.  I loved the travel and got to visit many places I would never have gone otherwise, with all my expenses paid for. I believe the base salary is fair, especially with the overtime you accrue from travel time (which is paid for). I also happen to enjoy dance, and you get to see some outstanding young talent. 

The days can be extremely long (like packing a full-time job into 2.5 days), but it builds great stamina. I see a lot of feedback about communication being off, but I've always found that people are available, especially if there's an emergency (tech or otherwise). I've really enjoyed working with the people I got to meet, but you're mostly alone until breaktime. 

It was a fantastic opportunity, until the gig I had that was a very dangerous work environment. I was getting hurt on the job and that just wasn’t good enough, clients happiness mattered more than employee safety. I ended up going to the emergency room to get checked out, at the same time the bosses were asking for the equipment. Couldn’t even get myself checked out after getting hurt on the job. I wish this job would have worked out, some middle management issue had presented serious concerns for employee safety. I wish the best for this business figuring things out, I’m sorry to disagree with policy but I do have to prioritize my own safety over someone else being happy. Is it really worth an employee breaking their neck so some other person can be happy? 

DRC is not a good place to stay at long term.

The hardest part of the job is dealing with upper management, which does not treat employees with respect and often overworks them.

The best part of the job was lower management, which in contrast to the corporate overlords, does care about the company's employees and treats them with respect.

Another good part was networking, DRC employs copious numbers of video professionals from all over the country so it was a great way to meet other people in my field.

All in all, DRC is a good place to build your resume and network. However disrespectful upper management is not something to deal with long term.

I’ve had a passion for performance arts since I was in musicals and choir in high school, but almost zero dance background so I was honestly very surprised to be given the opportunity to be contracted with DanceBUG this past dance season.  

Pros:
No post editing required unless specially asked (very seldom)
Rewards points (they pay for the accommodations, airlines, and rental cars as needed - but you get the reward points)
Travel(mostly regional but at times other parts of the country when needed)
High energy (if you’re a person that has a passion for both performance and photography, you’ll love this job)

Cons:
Can be long hours (12-16 hrs)
High volume shooting (times 5,000-10,000 photos in one day 

Working for DRC was honestly the best job for me. I enjoyed traveling every weekend and seeing different places while working at dancing competitions. The days are long but the kids and parents help pass the time. It's not a difficult job, just gets busy from time to time and you just have to find a rhythm that will work for you. It's a fun challenge because no venue is ever really the same. You have to make changes as necessary but if gives you great experience for working in a very fast pace. I enjoyed being an event supervisor and meeting all different people around the US and some out of the country.

If you love to travel and have everything paid for then this is a great job. They pay for rental cars, flights, hotels, and all food while you’re on the job and traveling! It is a busy schedule, basically from February until July you’ll be working every weekend. I usually traveled from Thursday - Monday so that gives you Tuesday and Wednesday off before leaving again. They pay is fair and they train you for 2 weekends so when you do that 3rd weekend on your own, you feel extremely prepared! I love this company, there’s ups and downs but you have direct access to the big boss who handles everything. So if you ever have any issues, you can just go directly to him.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Photographer 113 salaries reported	$274 per day
Camera operator 103 salaries reported	$25.00 per hour
Videographer 11 salaries reported	$261 per day
Mascot 5 salaries reported	$250 per day
Freelance photographer 4 salaries reported	$275 per day

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