10 Dance Career Tips From Professional Dancers: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
10 Dance Career Tips From Professional Dancers (Part 2)
by Alex Ferguson.
Date: 9 November 2009
Following on from the last article 10 Dance Career Tips From Professional Dancers (Part 1), which had Tips 1 to 3, here now are tips 4 to 7.
4. The next tip is something that I’ve written about before. You need good head and body shots, and for that you need a good photographer.
The important thing to remember for your body shots as a dancer is that you should take pictures of yourself in various dancewears. Don’t wear flashy jewelry, use lighting or shadows to create illusions, or distract the observer with a complex or interesting background. You should be the focus and the subject of interest, nothing else.
Good photographs can really help you further you dance career by grabbing the attention of those who should be watching you.
5. At this point, you should already have been to minor dance auditions and castings, just to get your feet wet and some sort of experience, however, now you are ready for some serious work…and it is work. Don’t ever forget that this is your job, your profession.
This new level of dance might come as a shock or seem like foreign territory, but you must believe that you are good enough to be here. You are good enough to be here. This is a higher standard. It will be different.
It will be difficult, but that is what makes it so much greater when you succeed. You’ve come this far. This is what you’ve been training for, and others have found potential in you, enough to accept and train you. You belong here. The more of these auditions and casting calls you attend, the more comfortable you will become.
6. Those networking and people skills you picked up during your days at dance camp and college will now come into play. You’re in the deep end of the pool now, playing with the big kids. Time to mingle and make new friends.
You have to start talking to those professional dancers you see walking the studio halls during your dance auditions. Talk to other dancers who are auditioning.
Talk to the judges, casting directors, agents, anyone that will talk to you. Ask them questions, pick their brain, and learn from their stories. Even if they don’t answer your questions, their behavior, demeanor, and way of conversing with you will teach you something. The best thing you can do is become friends with someone successful.
7. You should be fairly comfortable with auditioning by now, and ready to start searching for a dance agent or a dance agency. You will most likely have to perform a dance routine for them in order to be accepted, however, once you’re in you will be given opportunities that you otherwise wouldn’t know existed.
These dance agents and dance agencies get the scoop on dance auditions and casting calls so try your best to get represented by one. Once you are in, your dance career will be given wings. However, this is no time to take it easy and coast on through.
Now is the
time to step it up.
Read career tips 8 to 10 in Part 3
