As you probably know, it takes a lot to make it as a dancer, especially a ballet dancer. But did you know that there are many more Dance Career Opportunities and Dance Employment Opportunities that are on offer for those that don’t have those perfect ballet bodies, or the skills to match.
A lot of dancers would love a career in dance or the arts, but don’t get accepted into any of the major dance companies. The competition is stiff, and only the best of the best make it into the most prestigious companies. Being a dancer is also the type of career you can only do while you are young and fit, so you also need to prepare yourself for what you will do once your career as a dancer is over.
It is a difficult life floating from audition to audition and hoping that you can get work, as a free lance dancer, unless you have a good support system.
Here are some other great opportunities for dancers, and the best part is that these jobs are all related to dance or to the performing arts.
With some of these jobs you won’t necessary be in the limelight, as they are more the unsung hero type jobs.
So, What Other Dance Career Opportunities Can I Do?
Here is a list of dance employment opportunities that you could take advantage of, and that you will also enjoy as a lover of the arts, and a trained dancer.
- Dance Teacher or Mistress in a company.
- Swing – A person who understudies several roles in an ensemble.
- Armourer – Maintains all the props and prop weapons.
- Chaperone – Looking after child actors in a show.
- Dance Captain – Oversee the dancers and maintain the choreography.
- Choreographer.
- Dresser – Helps the performers with costume changes.
- Fight Director – choreographs stage fights.
- Flyperson – operates scenery from high above the stage.
- Prompter – Follows the text and reminds the actors of any lines they forget.
- Rigger – In charge of hanging scenery.
- Benish Notator – Writes out the dance choreography in Benish Notation.
- Costume Manager.
- Costume Designer.
- Stage Manager.
- Company Manager.
- Production Manager.
- Dancing or choreographing on a ship.
- Pianist – If you can play the piano, dance schools are always looking for good pianists.
- Online jobs like a YouTuber or Influencer on Instagram or Tik Tok.
- Pilates instructor.
- PBT instructor.
- Freelance teacher or choreographer.
- Hire yourself out to do high school musicals as a choreographer.
- Hire yourself out to edit music for teachers.
- Offer to do admin for dance studios, as most teachers are too busy to handle this side of their businesses. This will include handling of accounts and sending out communication.
- Workshops for local dance studio’s.
- Judging competitions.
- Study further and get into sports injury management or biokinetics. You already have a pretty good understanding of how the muscles in the body work in relation to one another.
- Start your own website like this one. If you also love to write about your passion for dancing, you can earn a full time income doing this. To find out how to get started this company has the best training on the internet today.
- Start a dance group and hire yourselves out for events and promotions.
As you can see from the list above there are just so many Dance Career Opportunities and Dance Employment Opportunities that you could explore. Don’t settle for that boring office job if you don’t have to. You only live once, so make sure that you spend your life doing something that you love.
Wow, I did not expect at all the list of potential opportunities to be such a lengthy one. I mean, I was thinking of the classic ones like a dance teacher or doing the choreography of some play but I loved it. The list had definitely a few unconventional ones, the way I see it.
I mean, being a pianist, you don’t really think about that when it comes to dancing career opportunities but I 100% see how that could play out to be such a great way of still being in the dance field.
Workshops are another one I somehow didn’t come to think about. Whereas starting one’s own website regarding dancing is kind of like a jackpot in these crazy pandemic-stuffed times. So, thank you for that. I will be looking more into it. Cheers. 🙂
With any career nowadays there is so much more you can do with your skills. Thanks for stopping by Matiss.
I wish I could dance and sing but I absolutely suck in those two departments. Is there a place I can learn how to dance online? Do you perhaps know of any place. There are a lot of dancers in my family so I will be sure to share this article with them. I am sure they will appreciate it.
There are many teachers now that offer online classes, and many of them are good, although I don’t think any online classes can beat going to dance in a live studio.
Google online dance lessons and take your pick.
Ok so I love dancing I have since I was little. I remember taking ballet and jazz when I was little. However because of my height I was told I could never dance. I really like your article I knew there was a lot to do with dance but some I never knew. Being a dancer is tough but there is so much more one can do. For years I danced but never taught it because I thought it was to late for me. However a year ago I got certified as a Ujam dance instructor. I have loved every minute of it. Dance can be enjoyed in many other ways besides broadway. I really liked your article so thank you. Remember keep on dancing.
Thanks for stopping by Kiersti and I am glad you didn’t get put of by people telling you that you are too short. Well done on your certification. Keep dancing, no matter what they tell you.
I was needing to find out more information to help my daughter find more dancing opportunities she loves to dance. Right now she loves teaching line dancing but she was doing it mainly for free and for close friends & family. This is a great list of different dancing opportunities and some that she will benefit from. I will be sharing this list with her on social media.
Hope your daughter gets some inspiration Jannette, as there is also so much scope with line dancing at the moment. People of all ages can do line dancing, so she would probably find a good job in a retirement establishment too if she wanted.
You listed a great number of jobs that some would not associate with dance. I would like to think that there are even more associated with dance such as: accounting, payroll, travel agent. It takes a great deal of time to become a noted dancer which is one of the reasons so many people will wait for the call.
Jerry
Thanks for stopping by Jerry.
Well dancers are normally very good a maths, so accounting and payroll could be on the cards, but this list is more geared towards the dancer who wants to use her dancing skills.
I am glad to read about all these options we have to work in things related to dancing. I see teaching made it to the top of the list. And it reminded me of a friend that always aspired to be a great novelist, but the last I heard about him was that he was still teaching middle school English.
All puns aside, I love teaching myself. So, this is a rewarding path to even grow in our career as a dancer.
The great thing about teaching dance is that it is a long spanning career, unlike being a dancer where you can only dance when you are young. Teaching is also a very rewarding career as you are helping others.
The list of opportunities is far longer than I would have suspected. Although I am too old now with three year of ballet under my belt, I should have seen this list 40 years ago. Although ballet is an acquired taste, dancing today has a prominent place in the public sphere. Dancing techniques have begun to include moves across all styles.
That’s right Canty, so if you love your dancing it is definitely better to learn a couple of different styles.
Reading your post has taken me back in time to when I took dance as a subject in grade school. I had all the enthusiasm and energy an 8 year old could have but totally lacked grace and posture 🙂
My sister became the ballerina though and we had a world of dance in our home as we attended events/ competitions/ auditions and workshops. It was so entertaining and seeing how talented my sister was made us all so proud!
Not many people view dance as a sport or that dancers are also athletes. It’s good you have written about all the career opportunities because not everyone can be prima ballerinas for life.
Thanks for sharing all this useful information !
What a great list of career opportunities for dancers that might not make it to Broadway. I never expected so many possibilities. I thought about the classic ones like being a teacher and offering private classes and workshops, but the variety is fantastic.
When you think outside the box of classical ballet, then there are endless opportunities. And I do like the suggestion of starting an online dance website.
I would love to know what Benish Notation is as I have never heard of it before. Is it something very specific to ballet, or more general dance terminology?
Hi Line,
Benish notation is a method of recording choreography. It is written on the same bars as music is and if you can read Benish as well as record choreography in this way you will be highly sought after by many dance companies.
It is fascinating to come across with so many career opportunities as a dancer.
I am a fan of Bollywood dances and the dancers. They typically come from high performing dance forums. The competition to be at the top is huge. You see the enormous dedicated effort that goes in to the performances. But I have seen a large number of employments as well.
If this is your passion, you could earn part time or full time income from related employment. Your age as a dancer will have no limits as a dance teacher. Never shy away from a valuable art-form if you really enjoy doing it. If nothing else, it will work as a therapy for you.
You are right Anusuya. There are always ways to explore your passion in more ways than what you think, so never limit yourself or you will end up doing something you hate.