Dance Major

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids has a friend who majored in ballet at a well known program and is now dancing with a professional ballet company. My child (who also danced when younger) brought back a program from a performance he attended and there were a number of other dancers who had also completed college.

I think the ballet world is changing and they are realizing that dancers with an education and some more maturity are an asset to the company.

You and your daughter might want to spend some time looking up the bios of dancers who are in the jobs your daughter would like someday. See where those dancers went to college or what kind of training they had: that might help you to figure out a good path for your daughter.

Agree with all of this, except that the dance world is changing. It might be changing, but not for the better. I work with ABT fairly regularly, and I would say the culture is largely the same. The only difference now, is that the dance world isn't likely to see another Suzanne Farrell. Those days are done.

I'm not sure what you mean about Suzanne Farrell- I didn't think she had a degree.

My kid's friend knows a number of other dancers who graduated from a highly regarded ballet major program at a large Midwestern university who dance with professional ballet companies. No, they are not dancing for ABT, City Ballet, or PNB, but for smaller regional ballet companies. They are dancing full time and earning money for doing so.

During their contract year and on summer breaks they are making $40-50/hour teaching at studios and summer programs. Parents really like it when the teachers have a degree from a well known program. Most of them graduated with double majors, so they do have something else besides ballet in their tool box for when they move on from dancing.

It's telling to me when people don't know certain specifics of the dance world.

Suzanne Farrell has the rights to many of Balancine's pieces. She owns them. No she doesn't have a degree. Ludicrous to think she would need one.
That would not happen now. Those pieces would be the property of ABT or city ballet or whoever. Yes, the dance world has changed.

There are many second tier companies that will look at dancers after the college years. A few older girls will make it to the big ones. There is no set path.
Op, are you confortable with your daughter deferring college until later in life?

[Anonymous]

15:57, your information of the dance world sounds very dated.

I think you would be very surprised at how much things have evolved.

For example, most non ballet companies don't want 17 & 18 year olds right out of high school. They prefer 20-somethings.

Many dancers with degrees can make a nice living for a kid out of college perfoming with a company and then teaching at night/weekends/breaks.

Dance is not limited to the ballet world you grew up in back in the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids has a friend who majored in ballet at a well known program and is now dancing with a professional ballet company. My child (who also danced when younger) brought back a program from a performance he attended and there were a number of other dancers who had also completed college.

I think the ballet world is changing and they are realizing that dancers with an education and some more maturity are an asset to the company.

You and your daughter might want to spend some time looking up the bios of dancers who are in the jobs your daughter would like someday. See where those dancers went to college or what kind of training they had: that might help you to figure out a good path for your daughter.

Agree with all of this, except that the dance world is changing. It might be changing, but not for the better. I work with ABT fairly regularly, and I would say the culture is largely the same. The only difference now, is that the dance world isn't likely to see another Suzanne Farrell. Those days are done.

I'm not sure what you mean about Suzanne Farrell- I didn't think she had a degree.

My kid's friend knows a number of other dancers who graduated from a highly regarded ballet major program at a large Midwestern university who dance with professional ballet companies. No, they are not dancing for ABT, City Ballet, or PNB, but for smaller regional ballet companies. They are dancing full time and earning money for doing so.

During their contract year and on summer breaks they are making $40-50/hour teaching at studios and summer programs. Parents really like it when the teachers have a degree from a well known program. Most of them graduated with double majors, so they do have something else besides ballet in their tool box for when they move on from dancing.

It's telling to me when people don't know certain specifics of the dance world.

Suzanne Farrell has the rights to many of Balancine's pieces. She owns them. No she doesn't have a degree. Ludicrous to think she would need one.
That would not happen now. Those pieces would be the property of ABT or city ballet or whoever. Yes, the dance world has changed.

There are many second tier companies that will look at dancers after the college years. A few older girls will make it to the big ones. There is no set path.
Op, are you confortable with your daughter deferring college until later in life?

Did you read the OP? It is about the DD majoring in dance in college, not about being a prima ballerina. And she asked about viability of getting a job, it wasn't even clear that the job needs to be as a dancer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids has a friend who majored in ballet at a well known program and is now dancing with a professional ballet company. My child (who also danced when younger) brought back a program from a performance he attended and there were a number of other dancers who had also completed college.

I think the ballet world is changing and they are realizing that dancers with an education and some more maturity are an asset to the company.

You and your daughter might want to spend some time looking up the bios of dancers who are in the jobs your daughter would like someday. See where those dancers went to college or what kind of training they had: that might help you to figure out a good path for your daughter.

Agree with all of this, except that the dance world is changing. It might be changing, but not for the better. I work with ABT fairly regularly, and I would say the culture is largely the same. The only difference now, is that the dance world isn't likely to see another Suzanne Farrell. Those days are done.

I'm not sure what you mean about Suzanne Farrell- I didn't think she had a degree.

My kid's friend knows a number of other dancers who graduated from a highly regarded ballet major program at a large Midwestern university who dance with professional ballet companies. No, they are not dancing for ABT, City Ballet, or PNB, but for smaller regional ballet companies. They are dancing full time and earning money for doing so.

During their contract year and on summer breaks they are making $40-50/hour teaching at studios and summer programs. Parents really like it when the teachers have a degree from a well known program. Most of them graduated with double majors, so they do have something else besides ballet in their tool box for when they move on from dancing.

It's telling to me when people don't know certain specifics of the dance world.

Suzanne Farrell has the rights to many of Balancine's pieces. She owns them. No she doesn't have a degree. Ludicrous to think she would need one.
That would not happen now. Those pieces would be the property of ABT or city ballet or whoever. Yes, the dance world has changed.

There are many second tier companies that will look at dancers after the college years. A few older girls will make it to the big ones. There is no set path.
Op, are you confortable with your daughter deferring college until later in life?

I know who Suzanne Farrell is and that she owns the rights to a number of Balanchine ballets because of her special relationship with him. I don't see what that has to do with the post of mine that you responded to. That post was discussing the fact that ballet companies are hiring dancers with college degrees today and not only kids who are straight out of high school. I'm not sure what SF has to do with that specific subject since she was a young dancer back in the 60s and she did not graduate from college before dancing.

Regional companies have a place in the ballet world. Many are very successful and bring the enjoyment of ballet to audiences in the many areas of the country that are not New York City. I wouldn't look down on a regional company because it is not ABT.

I've talked to the parents of my child's friend who majored in ballet. They are very happy she has completed her degree. They said that her dancer freinds without degrees are limited in their options and while some go on to finish a degree, many don't simply because life gets in the way. Also, some of them take a course here and there while they are dancing, but then find that when they want to go to college full time, they can't afford it because they are no longer considered new freshmen, so are not eligible for many scholarships. It does make a big difference to get that degree done while one is still young, it becomes much more complicated when one gets to one's late twenties.

[Anonymous]

Three close friends from high school majored in dance. One immediately opened her own studio after college; one danced professionally for a while then opened her own studio; one went to grad school in a different field and has a non-dance related career.

Both dance studios are very successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:15:57, your information of the dance world sounds very dated.

I think you would be very surprised at how much things have evolved.

For example, most non ballet companies don't want 17 & 18 year olds right out of high school. They prefer 20-somethings.

Many dancers with degrees can make a nice living for a kid out of college perfoming with a company and then teaching at night/weekends/breaks.

Dance is not limited to the ballet world you grew up in back in the day.

I work in the ballet world right now. Today. I work with the best of the best. Today. I see how the corps are treated right now. Today. No, my information isn't dated. No I don't have a niece who dances in Sacramento and just loves it...
I work with dancers at the Kirov, Bolshoi, POB, ABT...
I also work with commercial dancers, so my insight is not limited to the ballet world.
Asking whether OP is comfortable with her daughter dancing first, and attending college second is a very salient question and a conversation worth having.
Here in DCUM land people are worried about top schools and prestigious degrees. That's great for your STEM kid. It's ok to take a different path, if you've a different kind of kid. College isn't going anywhere. Dance careers are short.

As a person who works in the arts, I will tell you it's a difficult life in some ways. If you are going to be working evenings, weekends,and all holidays, you will want some decent return on investment. Yes, you can dance with small companies and make very little and scrape by. You can do many things, but it gets old.
What kind of dancer does your dd want to be? There isn't a wrong answer. What is fulfilling to one person, might not be to the next. Dancing in small companies and teaching might be your dd's dream. If so, college might be the right answer. Look at three companies she admires and read the bios.
Did they go to west va? Oklahoma? No mention of college?
But the first question is ...

What kind of dancer does she want to be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op are you local?
What grade is your daughter?
Where is she studying now?
Is she doing the Suzanne Farrell program? Is she with Washington ballet? Is she at Kirov?

Yes, I'm in Burtonsville. My daughter is a senior and she attends a dance studio in Silver Spring. She has done summer intensives in New York for the last two summers.

Ok. Cool, I assume Towson due to in state tuition? I definitely see the wisdom in not graduating with debt. What kind of dancer does she want to be? Commercial jobbing dancer/actor? Does she specifically want to be with a company? If she wants to be with a company I would save college later in life. Those are precious years in dance. It's a short career for most.

She wants to be a professional dancer with a company plus she wants to teach dance classes for kids and teens part time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op are you local?
What grade is your daughter?
Where is she studying now?
Is she doing the Suzanne Farrell program? Is she with Washington ballet? Is she at Kirov?

Yes, I'm in Burtonsville. My daughter is a senior and she attends a dance studio in Silver Spring. She has done summer intensives in New York for the last two summers.

Ok. Cool, I assume Towson due to in state tuition? I definitely see the wisdom in not graduating with debt. What kind of dancer does she want to be? Commercial jobbing dancer/actor? Does she specifically want to be with a company? If she wants to be with a company I would save college later in life. Those are precious years in dance. It's a short career for most.

She wants to be a professional dancer with a company plus she wants to teach dance classes for kids and teens part time.

Yes, but what kind?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op are you local?
What grade is your daughter?
Where is she studying now?
Is she doing the Suzanne Farrell program? Is she with Washington ballet? Is she at Kirov?

Yes, I'm in Burtonsville. My daughter is a senior and she attends a dance studio in Silver Spring. She has done summer intensives in New York for the last two summers.

Ok. Cool, I assume Towson due to in state tuition? I definitely see the wisdom in not graduating with debt. What kind of dancer does she want to be? Commercial jobbing dancer/actor? Does she specifically want to be with a company? If she wants to be with a company I would save college later in life. Those are precious years in dance. It's a short career for most.

She wants to be a professional dancer with a company plus she wants to teach dance classes for kids and teens part time.

Does she have a dream company? Not ABT ( although why not try), but maybe a smaller company that she can she herself dancing with?
I'm going to ask around this evening, as I'm working with about 2 dozen classically trained dancers. I'll happily pass along some info.

[Anonymous]

I have a close relative who majored in dance. Couldn't get a job with a company. Ended up working as a dancer for various dj companies that do bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings, corporate events, etc. She also teaches various classes. Still gets lots of parental support.

[Anonymous]

I had a classmate in grad school (masters in physical therapy) who double-majored in Dance and Spanish. She took all the pre-requisites for the physical therapy graduate degree program. She eventually became a physical therapist for professional dancers.

[Anonymous]

If she wants to do ballet, she should look into Indiana University's ballet program. It is within the music school there. It is a very selective program: they only accept 9-10% of those who audition. Many of their grads are dancing in professional ballet companies, check out bios and you'll find IU grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she wants to do ballet, she should look into Indiana University's ballet program. It is within the music school there. It is a very selective program: they only accept 9-10% of those who audition. Many of their grads are dancing in professional ballet companies, check out bios and you'll find IU grads.

I'm the above poster working with a bunch of ballerinas. There was definitely an Indiana grad in the bunch.
Would also add Butler and CCM.

[Anonymous]

The one dancer I know who left college after two years to apprentice at an east coast ballet is from Indiana U

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she wants to do ballet, she should look into Indiana University's ballet program. It is within the music school there. It is a very selective program: they only accept 9-10% of those who audition. Many of their grads are dancing in professional ballet companies, check out bios and you'll find IU grads.

I'm the above poster working with a bunch of ballerinas. There was definitely an Indiana grad in the bunch.
Would also add Butler and CCM.

The dancer I wrote about above who is friends with my child also went to IU. They originally met at a selective summer program. I think a kid who gets accepted to the IU program has what it takes.