Stancz, an alternative to Formy

Formy and Stancz, point by point

What Formy highlights: “Dance formation maker, made simple.”

Free with no sign-up, or free with an account

Formy says all its features are currently free, and that you can start without signing up. Data stays saved on the device; signing in with Google or an email address syncs it between phone and computer.

Stancz asks for an account from the start, and the choreography lives in the cloud. The free plan covers 3 choreographies and 4 formations per choreography; the Pro subscription lifts these limits for €3.99/month or €29.99/year.

For a recital prepared without wanting to create an account, Formy takes fewer steps. To find every choreography on every device from the first launch, Stancz starts from the account.

Sharing: a link, a sheet, a PDF

Formy shares through a link that opens with no app and no account, and each dancer can highlight their own spot. Formy also prints the formations, or saves them as PDF and images, on a white background to save ink.

Stancz does not export to PDF. The choreography is shared by invitation, and each dancer follows their own dot, highlighted with a halo, in Follow mode.

If you need to pin the spots on the studio wall or slip them into a binder, Formy fits that need better.

Offline, or online

Formy says you can edit right on the device, even where the signal is spotty.

Stancz is designed to run online. In a community hall with no network, that is worth checking before you choose.

The stage, the video and the language

Formy offers T-shaped stages with a runway (the hanamichi of Japanese theatre), semicircles or free shapes, with tiered risers, platforms and stairs. Formy also plays the spots alongside a YouTube video, to match a passage to a tutorial. Its site reads in Japanese and English.

Stancz sets the stage to the room’s dimensions, and you place risers, stairs and props on it. Music is imported as an audio file. The interface is translated into eight languages: French, English, Spanish, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, German and Indonesian.

What Stancz does

Stancz places dancers on a to-scale stage, offers 19 preset formations that adapt to the number of dancers, animates every transition, and shows the stage from above, in 3D and from the audience’s seat. Moves are timed to the imported music, and the LED backdrop screen is programmed cue by cue. The choreography is shared with the team, who can comment on a formation, and each dancer can follow their own dot, highlighted with a halo, in Follow mode. A choreography takes up to 500 dancers.

Stancz runs in the browser on PC and Mac, with nothing to install, and has apps for iPhone, iPad and Android.

What Stancz does not do: no PDF export, and no dance studio admin (enrolment, class schedules, invoicing, attendance). It does not teach dance steps either. Nor does it print formations or allow simultaneous editing.

Try Stancz

Stancz opens in the browser, with nothing to install. Free up to 3 choreographies, then €3.99/month or €29.99/year.