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Dancer's salary
1) It is very rare for a dancer to have full-time employment with one company and thus a "salary" that allows her/him to live exclusively as a performer. Dance companies don't have a lot of money and as a rule are struggling to find ways to make ends meet while producing compelling creative work. With the exception of some of the more established ballet companies, very few companies employ their dancers full-time. More often, performers are hired contract-to-contract, for shorter periods of time, or for specific projects (that MTV video, for instance). More than one company has been known to hire its dancers for most of the year and then lay them off for a period so that they can collect unemployment -- only to rehire them later! Smaller companies can often only pay their dancers for performances, but not rehearsals. Some choreographers choose to cast their pieces project-by-project with dancers in the community rather than maintain a consistent company. Situations like this are the norm rather than the exception, making it difficult to generalize about a dancer's "salary" per se. 2) It is very common for dancers to earn a livable wage by taking a variety of dance-related jobs. Most dancers I know (including myself) wear a lot of hats! Not only might they perform for several companies or choreographers in their area, but they typically work as dance teachers or choreographers or arts administrators or dance critics as they do so. (See my partial list of the many dance-related jobs in my answer to Job prospects for dance majors). This is the much more likely way to make one's living exclusively in dance, and reflects many dancers' inherent passion for all things dance (not just technique). Remember that it is possible, as well as wise, to develop talents outside of dance class as you forge your dance career. 3) It is also common for dancers to amend their earnings from dance by taking non-dance jobs that offer them the flexibility they may need for rehearsals and touring. Some dancers prefer to take a well-paying job in another field while working professionally in the low-paying world of dance. I have known dancers that work as temps, waiters, taxi drivers, executive assistants, graphic designers, video artists, paralegals, and biochemists(!) while simultaneously working as professional dancers. This might mean pursuing a second career that features very flexible hours (or a very understanding boss!). Many dance companies, recognizing that their dancers need to work other jobs to make ends meet, schedule their rehearsals for evenings and/or weekends. When you add to this any technique classes that a dancer may be taking, you begin to see why dancing professionally requires an enormous degree of commitment. (Incidentally dance, with its reliance on a well-tuned body, is the only art form that requires a continuing investment in training throughout one's career.) Most dancers have very little free time and not much of a social life at all (aside from those very close dance friendships borne of hour upon hour together in the rehearsal studio or on tour)! 4) While it is thus entirely possible for dancers to do what they love while paying the bills, many of the solutions mean that dancers tend to be self-employed, work as independent contractors or hold multiple part-time jobs. While there are dance careers which carry with them the security of full-time employment (teaching in a college or university, for instance), this is not the reality for many dancers. Amongst other things, this means that essential benefits like retirement funds, health insurance, sick pay, vacation/family leave, etc. are often missing from the equation and must be secured by other means if at all. You will find that this gets old after a while! (Note: please, please don't go without health insurance if you are a dancer! As a dancer you are relying on your body for your professional livelihood while simultaneously placing enormous physical demands upon it. It is simply not worth the risk. Invest in individual health insurance and consider it a necessity like paying the rent or buying groceries.) 5) A dancer's career will change shape as s/he gets older. Sometimes as a young dancer it seems impossible that you will ever come down off that high of taking a good dance class or of perfectly executing that elusive triple pirouette. Thinking beyond the pure physical joy of dance and the single-minded concentration it takes to become proficient as a dancer may seem like a tall order at this stage. But the professional dance world extends far beyond dance technique to embrace many different skills and talents, and it is almost certain that as a dancer you will be doing things other than performing if you are to make a living. There is also the reality that to dance is to rely primarily on your body as your professional instrument, and that the body changes as you age. Professional interests change and develop as we mature as well -- at least, one hopes so! You will find that throughout this site I have urged young people embarking on dance careers to consider all their interests, as daunting as that may seem while training seriously as a dancer. It is just very, very likely that sooner or later in your dance career, you will be called upon to combine various of your skills in ways that you may not foresee at first. Embrace this! Ultimately you will find that it makes choosing dance as your career that much more exciting and fulfilling.
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