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DANCING
as a career?
Many children say to me during class that they want to be a dancer. As they get older it inevitably turns into something a little more realistic, but there are still a few that are determined that that is where their future lies. Being a dance teacher there is nothing I like more than to hear that one of my girls has got into dance college and is pursuing her life time ambition, but all too often these dreams are shattered and parents and teachers are left to pick up the pieces.
Dancing is a very competitive industry and very hard to succeed in. Not only do you have to be able to dance, but these days you have to be able to sing and act as well. If your face doesn’t fit, then you are cast aside (often quite harshly) and made to feel worthless. You have to be very strong willed and have incredibly tough skin! When my girls come to me for advice on where they should go and what they should do, then I sit down with them and discuss all of the following with them: -
Make sure you get some academic qualifications behind you. These days it is very important to have A’ levels to “fall back” on. Even if you do get into Dance College, it doesn’t automatically mean that once you graduate you are going to walk into a West End Production, or indeed any type of work. If you have A’ levels behind you then at least you will be able to apply for work in an office environment or even do some temping work, just to keep the money coming in.
Choose the dance college carefully. Send off for all of the prospectuses and read through them carefully. Make sure you choose a college course that is suitable for you. Also, investigate any grants that may be on offer; Dance College is not cheap and if you need help financing it then you will need to apply early for a grant.
Audition at as many Dance Colleges as you can. You will be able to get an immediate feel for the place and you will know if it is where you want to spend the next 2/3 years of your life.
Make sure that when you are at college, you work for you associate teaching qualifications. I know that you may not want to teach when you leave college and your ideal is performing, but if you are unsuccessful during auditions at least you will have your teaching qualifications behind you and you may be able to get yourself a teaching post somewhere; you will still be working within the dancing profession, but just not on the stage.
Make sure it is what you want to do. Dance College is tough and very demanding both physically and mentally. You will need to be strong and take any knock backs as positively as you can. It is a cruel world out there and you may be dismissed at auditions because you are too tall, too short, too fat, too thin, have the wrong hair colour, the wrong shape face and so on. It can be very hard and as long as you can say ‘oh well!’ and move on to the next audition then you’ll be fine.
If after all that, my girls still want to go to Dance College then I try to support them as much as I can and guide them through the whole process. When all is said and done, a dancing career can be very rewarding. It isn’t often paid well (unless you make it big!) but for some people you cannot put a price on performing on stage. I know many people who would dance on stage for the love of it and not for the money! And just imagine how you would feel as a parent, when you see your daughter or son step out onto the stage as a paid artiste for the very first time – you simply can’t put a price on.
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