Tips on Becoming a Professional Dancer

SheriL | Jun 24, 2009 | 0

Have aspirations of becoming a professional ballet dancer or performing on a Broadway stage? Three things, young dancer, must be at the forefront of your mind if you want to make it as a professional. What follows is my experience as a dancer, and of course as with all advice you take of it what you find helpful, but for what it's worth this is how I did it. My ascent into the world of professional dance was always self-assembled into three criteria which I believe you must respect and be able to achieve regularly if you're going to succeed in what truly is a cut-throat business as well as art.

First: Want It. This is crucial. You're going to put yourself through huge physical and emotional strains not just in training but throughout the length of your career by embarking upon this journey. I am not trying to dramatise, it's just the plain truth. Do you want it enough?

I had a teacher who used to love presenting her students with the scenario of a young dancer who stands in front of two doors.

One door is marked "please enter, dear" and the other with the word "push".

At this point she'd pause for dramatic effect, finishing with

Only dancers who choose to go through the second door have a hope of success.'

She was right though, my teacher. You have to want it enough to push for it, both physically and mentally.

To decide if you really want it enough, let me recount a few of the highs and the pitfalls of from my experience. First off, you will not become rich as a dancer. Even in the upper echelons of performance hierarchy, a dancer's wage is mediocre. You can live on it, but you won't have much left over for cars, mortgages, holidays or other luxuries.

Contrary to some articles I've read however, there can indeed be glamour. I have been lucky enough to have traveled to cities such as London and Paris, receiving an education as well as experiencing the joy of performing. And although I've sleep in far from glamorous rooms, I've also had the great thrill of someone asking for my autograph or a child saying that I had inspired him or her. There have been opening night galas where I have had the chance to meet great artists and learn from them.

One of the best things about being a dancer is the fact that someone is going to pay you to do what you love doing. Think of all the people working in retail or in offices who have absolutely no passion for what they do. And you could get paid to dance, something that hopefully you do now because you adore the way dancing makes you feel.

Secondly: Do It. By this I mean train. Live the life of a dancer and put in the time, or "go to work" as a friend of mine says. Go to class, relentlessly. Go even if you feel too tired, even if you're having a fat day, even if it's sunny out. Respect the fact that people who have done it all before and know what is required have prepared this schedule for you.

Nothing short of injury or strong antibiotics should bring you away from the studio. This is the groundwork. It will set the foundations for your career, so do your time. If you have ever heard the old adage "Dancing through tiredness is when you improve the most," believe it because it's true. And away from class, still treat your choice to be a dancer as the profession it is. Look for auditions, go to performances, arrange to have photos taken to use for audition shots.  YOU will be in charge of making your career. Your body and ability to use it will be your meal-ticket. You will be your own one-stop dancing-shop. You'll build on it for years after you finish full-time training, but get into the habit of seeing yourself as a professional, finding inspiration and marketing yourself as such.

Third, and this is perhaps most important: Love it. If you can't love it you will not be able to do it, let alone cope with the inevitable rejections and set-backs every dancer receives at some point. Even a dancer with the best facility and technical training in the world has no longevity if he or she does not love what he/she is doing. You have to keep going. I have always loved performing onstage. That to me is worth all the pain, tiredness and sadness I've been through. When you've been to your fifth audition in two weeks and been cut for the fifth time, you CAN hate the casting director, but don't hate the dancing!

Provided you've conquered the first two criteria: you've wanted it enough and you've done it enough to be up to standard in the professional field, loving it should come fully into fruition when you get your first professional contract. And that's when the next stage of your career begins! Remember that like anything else, although we may be artists, the world of Dance is still very much a business. If somebody is going to pay you, you must stand up to the plate and be better at it than all the other people who want that job. Do not concern yourself with other people. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

Whether you are aiming for work in the classical, contemporary, commercial, musical theatre or a mixture of fields, time is of the essence so go and want it, do it and love it and dance!

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