As the pundit once said, "you can't please all of the people all of the time". I got a call from a mom who was upset that I only had one shot of her daughter's solo performance the first night.
Or as another pundit said, "No good deed goes unpunished."
As an official photographer for what's apparently a student or youth company, you're going to be discovering something that dance teachers and choreographers already know: The worst mental health hazard in the field is the parents!
One thing you're going to want to do for your own protection is to make sure that the participation agreement that the organizers usually make students and parents sign (it generally includes a liability waiver and such) also includes a statement that they agree that the company AND YOU, the photographer, are free to photograph the dancer in connection with the company's activities and to use those photographs for any purpose.
I photograph several local dance groups so that they'll have photos for press, promotional, and archival purposes [examples
here,
here and
here] and I find that the dancers themselves, especially adult dancers, are very appreciative of having their work documented -- although they're ruthlessly
self-critical about how they look, and many times what I thought was a terrific photo would be shot down by an "Omigawd, look at my knee!" or similar remark about a tiny technical flaw that a civilian would never notice.
Parents, though, are a completely different animal. I figure that the participants are entitled to see the photos I shoot, so I generally put them on a private website and distribute the URL to the cast. I tell the dancers they're welcome to download the photos for free and share them, print them, etc. The website also links to a print service where they can order prints at what I consider extremely reasonable prices (e.g. $1 for a 4x6.)
Most people are happy about this -- but lately I've been running into situations in which one or two parents have decided that the very fact of my taking the pictures, putting them on a website, and offering prints for sale constitutes "taking advantage of their children" and telling directors that they will not allow their children to be photographed for the production. (Naturally, if their kids are in a group dance, this knocks out
everybody in that dance from being photographed!)
I've also been getting objections that showing their kids' pictures on the Internet (even at a non-publicized URL) is going to attract throngs of child molesters. This doesn't seem sensible when the photos are of a
public performance which child molesters could easily attend in person! But there's no reasoning with them.
It's all part of the mindset that seems to have sprung up over the past few years that anybody who's seriously interested in photography is probably an exploitive paparrazo at best, and some kind of creepy pervert at worst.
It's just a lot easier to work with adult companies made up of professional dancers... but of course there are fewer opportunities to do that.
So, I wish you good luck! Just keep the risks in mind, and try to get the company to provide you with as much "insulation" as possible.