performance Requests

We request a donation of $550 for private events in Austin, Texas (i.e., events which charge admission, events which are not open to the public, events which are organized by for-profit organizations). We do perform outside of Austin but additional compensation will be requested to cover transportation expenses (please contact us for an estimate).

For schools and non-profit cultural events, we often perform free of charge! To qualify, organizations must typically (but not always) be either a 501(c)(3) public charity or a 501(c)(3) educational organization. Other 501, 501(c), and 527 organizations typically do not qualify. High school and collegiate student organizations hosting events which are (1) open to the general public, (2) advertised to the general public, and (3) do not require a fee for admission generally qualify. If you believe that you qualify, please let us know when requesting a performance.

Our team is comprised of a combination of UT students and working professionals. We are typically unavailable to perform on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Our performances require both a minimum number of performers as well as our equipment and we have been unsuccessful at arranging daytime weekday performances.

That being said, we have had some limited success in scheduling early morning (7:45 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.) performances for some elementary schools. Please understand that while we will make every effort to accommodate your request, early morning performances stand a lesser chance of being accepted than evening or weekend performances.

Certainly! Our client contact team will make every effort to fulfill special requests.

However, their ability to fulfil this special request is based entirely on performer availability.

Our core rules are:

• We have a minimum number of available performers that we need before we can accept a performance request.

• We will not confirm our team availability unless we can provide a performance which does justice to our team and our style of lion dancing.

• We do not do "half" or "partial" performances.

No, we do not offer recorded performances.

All of our performances are live and unique.

For publicly-available recordings of our team please visit our Video page.

Sometimes!

While we do occasionally perform outside of Austin, such performances incur additional costs including transportation, fuel, wear and tear, as well as opportunity cost. The Texas Dragon/Lion Dance Team reserves the right to request additional compensation for out-of-town performances. The out-of-town fees vary depending on travel distance, the date of the event, and the availability of our performers.

Our client contact team will make every effort to fulfill special requests.

Until we have confirmed the date, time, and location of a performance our client contact team cannot accurately determine if our team is available to perform for your event. Event requests submitted without this information will be considered incomplete as we will be unable to begin our request evaluation process.

In order to ensure the safety of our community and our team, in addition to live performances we now offer virtual, live-streamed performances.

These performances are not recorded. (We do not offer recorded performances.) Our performances are live and unique, just like they would be for an in-person performance.

Despite virtual, live-streamed performances requiring additional personnel and equipment (beyond what we would normally need for a live performance), we offer this option at no additional charge.

Please send us an e-mail and one of our client contact team will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Upon receiving a complete request, your request will be reviewed by our Client Contact team. 

You will be assigned a Contact Manager who will follow up with you within three (3) days to clarify any questions we might have.

After the details of the performance request are squared away, the Contact Manager will attempt to address any special requests you may have and submit your request to our team for processing.

At this point, individual performers will indicate their availability.

Once we have met all of our internal criteria for providing a high quality performance, the Contact Manager will reach out to you to confirm the performance.

The timeline for the above varies based on the time of the year and performer availability.

We will provide you with a response as soon as we are able, though due to our members largely being students it may take some time. We understand that some events require significant advance coordination. If you have a deadline by which you need a response, please include that information in your request.

Upon receiving a complete request, your request will be reviewed by out client contact team. You will be assigned a Contact Manager who will follow up with you within three days to clarify any questions we might have. After the details of the performance request are squared away, the Contact Manager will submit your request to the team for processing. The amount of processing time varies based on time of the year and team member availability, but when we do know for certain, the Contact Manager will give you a CONFIRMED answer.

Note: Until you receive a definite confirmation from a Contact Manager, we CANNOT GUARANTEE that we will be available. If you need an answer by a certain date, but we have not given you a CONFIRMED answer, then our official answer is "No, we are unfortunately unavailable."

Only when you have provided a specific date, time, and location will your performance request be distributed to our performers to determine their availability.

In the event that you need to change the date, time, or location of the performance please let us know as soon as possible so that we may re-evaluate our performers' availability.

While we will make every effort to accommodate changes to performance dates, times, and locations please be aware that our ability to make these accommodations is limited.

Change requests should not be considered approved until explicitly confirmed by one of our team's Client Contact Managers.

In the event of rainy conditions on the date of an outdoor performance, we will make reasonable accommodations to ensure fulfillment of the performance agreement. 

If, however, we cannot guarantee the safety of our equipment (our lions are made of balsa wood/paper-mâché and our drum top is stretched leather... both are irreparably damaged in rain), we reserve the right to postpone, reschedule, or cancel any performance. 

If we have to postpone, reschedule, or cancel a performance we will work with you to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution.

Here is a suggested blurb which your MC may read:

The Texas Dragon/Lion Dance Team (TDDT) has performed the pan-Asian dragon and lion dance in Austin and around Central Texas for over 20 years. Their goal is to share and, in many cases, introduce the art of dragon and lion dancing to the community. The team performs year-round for elementary schools, cultural events, festivals, restaurants, and weddings. For more information, visit www.tddt.org.

Please send us an e-mail and our client contact team will be happy to answer any questions you might have.