Ianja: How do I become a professional ballet dancer?
I am 18 years old, fresh out of High School. I have been dancing ballet for a long time and I am pretty good. How do I take it to the next level? How do I get into unprofessional companies?
Answers and Views:
Answer by Mucictheatreanddance
normally to be pro you have to go to a specialized school (Royal Ballet School or Juilliard program for teens). You can google ballet auditions around your town to see who is holding auditions. Good luck!
“How do I get into unprofessional companies” Perhaps a typo there?
Most people have no clue what it take to reach the professional level needed to become a professional ballet dancer. By the way, to the other answerer, Juilliard is a contemporary dance conservatory and not for training ballet dancers except during their summer intensive for students 16 and under which is a ballet focus.
18 is a bit late to start auditioning for professional ballet companies. Most dancers apprentice by age 16 and are asked to join as corps de ballet about 6 months later.
Being “pretty good” wont cut it. Your competition will be really great. If you haven’t been studying in a world class ballet academy taking 20-30 hours of technique classes a week and even more in the summer months, you wont be competitive. Even dancers who dorm at schools like School of American ballet, started at the right age with the right body structure and great training, wont all make it into the professional ranks. There are so few jobs and many well trained dancers.
That being said, if you are 18 and haven’t gotten any offers from the summer intensive ballet companies you danced at, things aren’t looking really good. If you haven’t done any summer intensives and took the summer months off, I think you are way over your head on going any further as in a career in ballet.
Many ballet companies, don’t hold auditions. They pick dancers as apprentices from their feeder schools, who eventually join the ballet. That is what NYCB does. SAB is their feeder school. Other ballet companies choose dancers from summer intensives to apprentice. There are a few that do offer open auditions but will not bother seeing anyone who hasn’t had the right training. And if you haven’t you may be screened out.
I am sorry that I cannot be more encouraging. Asking this at your age and asking on a site like this that has recreational dancers not dancers about to join the work force as a professional, does indicate that most likely you are not properly trained, or you would know what you would have needed to do at your age.
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