Education · 1 of 4
The path
No degree is required and nobody will ask for one at an audition. Training, though, starts early.
- 1
Serious training as a teenager
Ages 8 to 18
Most professional dancers are in daily technique class well before high school ends. For ballet especially, starting late is very hard to recover from.
- 2
Summer intensives and auditions
Each summer
Four to six week programs run by companies and schools. They are effectively extended auditions and they are where people get noticed.
- 3
Choose a route at 18
0 to 4 years
Either join a company or a second company straight away, or take a college dance degree. Purchase College in New York, for example, runs a four year performance degree with ballet, composition and production tracks.
- 4
Audition constantly
Ongoing
Open calls, video submissions, agency work. Rejection is routine and not personal, and dancers who last treat auditioning as part of the job.
- 5
Plan the second career early
From day one
Most performing careers end in the thirties. Teaching, choreography, physical therapy, arts administration and company management are the usual next steps.