Dancers use movement to perform for live audiences or in recorded performances.
28 to 30 irregular
evenings / weekends / bank holidays away from home
You can get into this job through:
You'll usually need a degree or diploma in professional dance or musical theatre. These take 2 to 3 years to complete and are offered by dance schools and universities.
Academic qualifications may not be essential if you show enough talent at audition.
You could get a Dance and Drama Award to help with fees and living costs.
You'll usually need:
There is no set entry route to become an dancer but it may be useful to do a relevant subject like:
You'll usually need:
Dancing is very competitive and you'll need to develop your skills by getting as much practical experience of dancing as possible. You could do this through:
This can also help to put you in touch with people in the dance profession, who could be useful contacts when looking for work.
You can apply directly to become a dancer, if you have a high level of training and ability in at least one form of dance.
Most professional dancers start taking dance classes from a young age. You can take graded exams from awarding bodies like:
Classical ballet dancers start training very young, usually at 10 or 11 years old. It's possible to make a career in contemporary dance if you start at a later age, if you're prepared to work hard and put in a lot of training.
You could join One Dance UK and Equity for professional development and to make industry contacts.
You can find out more about becoming a dancer from:
You can also get more details about working in creative careers from Discover Creative Careers.
You'll need:
You’ll specialise in a form of dance, like:
You’ll spend time:
You could work at a TV studio, on a cruise ship, in a hotel, in the community, at a film studio or in a theatre.
Your working environment may be physically demanding and you may spend nights away from home.
With experience, you could move into choreography or dance teaching.
We can't find any apprenticeship vacancies in England for a dancer right now.
The Find an apprenticeship service can help you with your search, send alerts when new apprenticeships become available and has advice on how to apply.
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