Dance that Means Business

Recently, companies like Hewlett-Packard have been hiring…dancers.

You read that right. Envelope-pushing dance troupe Trey McIntyre Project has started selling its creative services to big businesses, to help them figure out innovative solutions to their non-dancey problems.

A TMP session at Hewlett-Packard (photo TMP via CNNMoney)

At Hewlett-Packard, for example, TMP dancers stage impromptu performances in the corporate office, and then talk through how the dance was created with HP employees. At that point, an HP leader cuts in, and the whole group discusses possible solutions to HP’s problems. And at Aetna, a health insurance company, TMP dancers have been teaching doctors how to read body language in their patients.

(That’s the simplified version. If you’re curious to hear more details, head to CNNMoney.)

Sounds a little unusual, right? But it seems less so when you consider that for years, corporations have hired inspirational speakers and other performers to get the creative juices flowing. It’s also a smart move financially on TMP’s part—they earn $20,000 or more for a half-day consulting session.

What do you think of TMP’s business idea?