Dancing

Career Overview

Dancers use movement, gesture and body language to portray a character, situation or abstract concept to an audience, usually to the accompaniment of music. This normally involves interpreting the work of a choreographer, although may sometimes require improvisation.

Dancers work in a variety of genres: from classical ballet and West End musicals, to contemporary dance and disco. A dancer's role may involve education or therapy, as well as performance.

Dancing is a competitive and physically demanding career, which often involves periods of unemployment and underemployment. Many dancers combine part-time jobs in performing, administration and teaching.

Work activities

Although performing is the most obvious activity, it usually occupies a comparatively small proportion of a dancer's time. Many dancers follow portfolio careers, combining performance with teaching, choreography, development work or administrative work in a dance company.

Work activities will differ from dancer to dancer, depending on the contract, but usually include varying combinations of the following:
These include:

♣ Preparing for and attending auditions and casting sessions

♣ Preparing for performances, by rehearsing and exercising

♣ Performing to a live audience

♣ Studying and creating choreography

♣ Discussing and interpreting choreography with colleagues and choreographers

♣ Learning and using other skills, such as singing and acting - many roles, for example in musical theatre, require a combination of performance skills

♣ Looking after costumes and equipment

♣ Taking care of the health and safety of others, which requires knowledge and observation of physiology and anatomy, as well as safe use of premises and equipment

♣ Teaching dance, either privately or in the public sector

♣ Working in dance development and promotion, encouraging and enabling people, especially children, to become involved in dance and to understand and appreciate it

♣ Running workshops in the community, eg with disabled groups

♣ Undertaking administrative, promotional or stage management work, particularly in a small company or if setting up your own company

♣ Undertaking administrative, promotional or stage management work, particularly in a small company or if setting up your own company

Training

Training continues throughout a dancer's career, with even the most famous dancers attending daily classes. Out-of-work dancers still need to continue to attend open classes in order to maintain and develop skills.

In order to increase your employability, you may wish to gain further training and qualifications, particularly in other types of dance. Many dancers undertake training to move into teaching. There are two types of qualifications to consider:

♣ To teach in the private sector, such as leisure centres and private dance schools, you need a qualification recognised by the British Dance Council or the Council for Dance Education & Training (CDET).

♣ Graduates wishing to teach in state schools must hold qualified teacher status (QTS), usually through taking a BA with QTS or a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). Brighton, De Montfort, Exeter, Liverpool John Moores and Middlesex Universities offer a PGCE in Dance, as does the Royal Academy of Dance. PGCEs in physical education normally also include dance. See the GTTR (Graduate Teacher Training Registry) for details of courses. You could also try out-of-hours teaching in primary schools

Some dancers choose to go into further or higher education lecturing. It is possible to teach in colleges without a degree in dance but you would need to take an appropriate qualification while working. Vocational schools usually run their own CDET accredited dance teacher courses. A postgraduate degree related to dance would be required or preferred for lecturing in higher education. Some dancers decide to gain or formalise dance-related skills by taking further training in dance performance, or by obtaining a qualification in an area related to performance, such as community theatre work, choreography, scenography, notation, or arts administration. Details are available from the CDET and from dance schools such as the Laban Centre for Movement and Danceand the Royal Academy of Dance. Dance UK is a good source of information on training opportunities and networking events in the independent sector. Some dancers also do further training to work in complementary therapies or to take fitness classes such as yoga, pilates and the Alexander Technique. These open up opportunities for self-employment. Another option is to become a personal trainer. It can also be useful to gain IT skills, not only for temporary work but also for work in dance administration and development.

Related jobs

♣ Actor

♣ Arts administrator

♣ Choreographer

♣ Dance movement therapist

♣ Further education lecturer

♣ Higher education lecturer

♣ Magazine journalist