Backdrops for shows - do you make them or rent them?

[Neverdull44]

Wanting to compare what your club does for the holiday show, making backdrops themselves?   How do you do it?  How much do you spend?  Or, do you rent a professionally done backdrop or painted backdrop?  What company have you used, price, experience?

Asking because our parents make the backdrop & props.  They have a good time doing it.   They usually use wood, PVC, and tarp or paint paper.     I saw a dance studio that made their own painted backdrops for a theater, and they were beautifully done.   But, then I saw a professional backdrop that was rented, and it was gorgeous.  I looked online and saw that backdrops were just a few hundred dollars to rent.    It actually could be less to rent, then the materials to make the props & PVC type backdrops.   But, the club members said that when they ordered one, it arrived as a wreck.  Another coach said that he bought black out curtains from a big retailer and sewed them all together to make a big curtain.     

[FigureSpins]

We had a holiday-themed show where one of the coaches arranged to have live evergreens brought in to use as a backdrop.  It was beautiful and the rink smelled SO NICE but hauling the toweing spruces across the ice was a problem.  They were too heavy and unwieldy to carry so the setup crew tried pushing/dragging them.  The burlap-wrapped root balls left trails of dirt behind.  I came up with the brilliant idea of putting the root balls on open pizza boxes, dragging them into place, then removing the boxes.  Unfortunately, someone missed the memo and left the boxes underneath...whole lotta scraping going on before the ice could be resurfaced properly.

For our Nutcracker show, this rink doesn't use curtains or backdrops.  Instead, there's a huge artificial Christmas tree and beautifully-wrapped empty boxes that get piled up.  Someone's antique sleigh is borrowed and lined with fake furs for the traveling scenes.  You can still see the rink but with the house lights down, it's pretty magical.

[DressmakingMomma]

Oohhh, a lit tree piled with wrapped boxes and an antique sleigh, that does sounds magical.

I like simplicity. I haven't done anything for an ice show, but I created the set pieces for our school's themed talent shows for a couple of years and it was a tremendous amount of work. I bet factoring in the protection of the ice surface adds a whole new dimension of complication. We made some things and also ordered from a big prom supply house. We used tall light columns once and they added a nice effect to the stage. I bet those would be really pretty on the ice for a show.

[FigureSpins]

At our last Club Board meeting, we were talking about the backdrop for our competition Awards area.  We have a wooden, six-panel backdrop made of framed latticework that the setup crew puts together with braces and screws but it's really old and showing its age.  Since we had to move our awards area due to changes at the rink, we're discussing buying a backdrop.  Someone suggested using PVC pipe to make a frame and hanging fabric curtains, saying it's probably cheaper than buying a backdrop and stand.

What would be the pros and cons?

[FigureSpins]

Oohhh, a lit tree piled with wrapped boxes and an antique sleigh, that does sounds magical.

OT: There's also a 10-foot painted Nutcracker cut-out made of wood.  During the off-season, he used to be placed at the end of the rink, right where the hockey dots align.  It was great for Pre-Prel Moves: you could tell the skater to "look at the Nutcracker and let your spiral head right for him!  Keep your eyes on him!"  (Now, they put a very-tall ladder in that spot, which is good, but not as entertaining.)

The storage for all this stuff during the other 51 weeks is a little sad because we box up the costumes/accessories, which are piled up in a corner of the rink along with the Nutcracker, presents and the Tree.  The area starts out well-organized, but through the year, people move things and it gets messy by Thanksgiving.  During Nutcracker setup, they always find at least a dozen pucks that went over the glass and were lost amongst the presents and boxes.  Hey Hockey: It's Christmastime - here's a present!  A bucket of pucks! lol

[Twizzler]

We don't use a backdrop, but do use a curtain toward one end of the rink. we use PVC and curtains rented from the local rent everything place. we set it up about even with the hockey circles, so there is space behind the curtain for soloists to warm up and to arrange the skaters in order.

re: an awards area, the curtains would look very nice. maybe try to rent them once to see how it works for your group.

[AgnesNitt]

I don't know what my rink does, but my coach is always muttering about hot glue guns.