Life As A Professional Dancer

Living the life as a dancer is a great lifestyle if it's what you've always wanted to do. Many dancers have trained for a long time, often since they were children in order to achieve their dreams of being a ballerina, dancer in a Westend show or dance in a music video.

It does have some sides which may not appeal to some people. This can include very long days for rehearsals from early in the morning to performances which finish in the evenings. Dancers may also have to travel a lot as part of some jobs, live away from home, and have uncertainty when they'll get their next job.

This however would be a very negative view of the industry. And it's probably a worthwhile payoff for the many benefits of having a job being a dancer. Many dancers have had to do a normal 9-5 job at some point and I think they'd all agree that they prefer life as a dancer even though it is more physically demanding!

It's also a case of doing something that you are actually interested in, not just doing a job to pay the bills. This is not to look down on people who do office jobs, it's saying that if you have a dream and a 9-5 job is not what you want then perhaps you should take the chance to see how you'll do in the dance world.

Of course there are many routes a dancer can take and these will be influenced by the individual dancer's training. A dancer in theatre shows will probably have frequent rehearsals for their contract or however long the show is running. A dancer who does a music video may have anywhere from 1 to several days for the whole shoot.

Dancers can be paid very well in some cases, especially for work such as music videos and commercials. Other jobs may not be paid so well but will provide a more regualar wage. There are organisations now like Equity who'll look after a dancer/ performer's interests and make sure they are paid and contracts honoured.

Dancers may also supplement their incomes by doing additional flexible work when they aren't dancing, teach dance or work in dance in a non-performance capacity.

So all in all if you love dance, if you love going to dance classes and practising, you'll probably love life as a dancer too!

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