Please help me with dance recital pictures!?

I'd like to take pictures of my daughter dancing during her recital. I am dealing with a dark auditorium, a spotlight-lit stage, fast movement, and no flash photography allowed.
Any suggestions for a quality picture under those conditions? Thanks for any help you can give!

1) Practice taking photos in the same lighting *first* so you have some idea of what will work and what won't work. That way you're not trying to figure things out during the actual recital.

2) Generally, using the highest ISO you can get will get you shutter speeds that'll work. For a point and shoot digital...I'd forget it unless you happen to have a Fujfilm F31fd. You either need a digital SLR or a film camera loaded with 800 or 1600 speed film.

3) Let's presume you have a digital SLR. Start with the ISO at 800 and move to 1600 if you need to. A sharp image with a little grain is better than a blurry image with no grain.

4) When taking photos, take them at the "peak" of action, that is when natural motion pauses before moving in another direction. This helps to minimize motion blur from your subject.

5) Use a tripod or some other mechanism to steady the camera. This will minimize issues with camera shake/camera motion.

6) If the spotlights are very strong, your exposure at ISO 800 may not be that bad and you may even be able to drop down to ISO 400, which is where even a point and shoot will work.

7) If that's the case, the big thing to watch out for will be the dark background, which will tend to fool the meter into longer exposures to lighten the background. This will overexpose the people and also give a long shutter speed.

8) Here's where you have to hope that your camera is adjustable. If the people are overexposed, then you need a shorter shutter speed, while keeping the aperture the same. This can be achieved by using manual exposure. Or in Aperture preferred by using exposure compensation. You'll have to see your manual about how to do this with your camera model.

9) Good luck and have fun.

There are special cameras for that...OR, you can just take the pictures in the dark and use Adobe Photoshop to make it lighter. That's what I do, and when you lighten it, it's just as clear as if you used flash.

If you shoot film, go for the ISO 800 to 1600
Since most people are going digital, check your scene mode. It is often an icon of a moon.
That will let in the most light but it is not the best for motion.
Realistically you need to be good at timing. Even in a dance, there are moments when the dancers will come to an edge and briefly pause. Set yourself up and time it right and you get a good shot.
Another option that I would strongly recommend is to beg, barrow or rent a low lux video camera. Some of them can yield very good results in low light conditions.

To stop motion you'll need a fast shutter speed, and unless you're using a DSLR with a fast lens, you're on the road to dark, grainy, noise-filled pics.

Here's a solution: see if you can take your pics at rehearsal, using flash. The results may not be pro-quality but they'll be miles ahead of what you'll get shooting flashless in the dark.

HTH.