Starting Early to Prepare for a Dance Career

The career of a dancer is challenging, creative, and exciting. Dancers and choreographers have opportunities to entertain and educate their audiences, visit new cities and meet new people, and involve themselves in a personally expressive career.

Dancers and choreographers also need commitment, patience, perseverance, and self-discipline. Dancing is strenuous, and rehearsals require long hours that often include working weekends and holidays. Often, a dance company will go on tour to perform in other cities, so dancers need to be resourceful and flexible about their personal needs. The demands for practice and lessons often leave little free time.

As a young dancer, you should focus on doing summer intensive programs, workshops and master classes. Click here for a list of programs that our company members offer to their communities. If you don't attend an arts school, try to take more than one class per week, and sometimes, in various dance disciplines. Don't just limit yourself to ballet, try tap, jazz, modern, ethnic and other styles to gain a broader sense of the dance field, even if it is not the type of dancing you wish to pursue. Find out about the dance companies in your area, and see if they offer classes for young students, or if you could sit in on a class. Check out our list of company members to find a company near you. Often local companies will be more than willing to answer specific questions that you may have about the career of a dancer or choreographer. You may be able to visit a rehearsal, or invite a dancer to visit your school to talk about his/her career. Attend performances and concerts of amateurs at local schools, colleges and universities and professionals at world-class dance companies.

Serious training for dancers begins by age 10 or 12 with a private teacher or an independent school. Practice and training continues throughout the career. After high school, there are many opportunities to study dance. More than 250 colleges and universities offer a bachelor's, masters, or doctoral degree for the study of dance. Click for a partial list of links to college dance departments.

Dancers normally work 30 hours a week or more, which include rehearsals and performances. Dancers perform on television shows, in stage musicals, and with touring dance companies. Salaries vary, but they are not very high for most dancers/choreographers. Dancers salaries are not steady because employment is not regular. Many dancers have temporary jobs that supplement their income.

A dancer's performing career is often short. Because of physical demands, most dancers stop performing in their late 30s. But there are other opportunities to work in the dance field as dance teachers, artistic directors, dance critics, administrators and publicists, and dance therapists.

If you want to read more about dance or purchase videos, you might want to visit the site of the Princeton Book Company. This business offers many resources about dance training, as well.

Best wishes as you prepare for a very exciting career!