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'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.
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.
The Find a job service can help you with your search for jobs and send alerts when new jobs become available.
Call 0800 100 900 or use webchat
8am to 10pm, 7 days a week
More ways to contact us