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One Dance UK spotlight dance during National Careers Week
As part of National Careers Week on 4-9 March we are proud to be showcasing the many varied, exciting and rewarding careers in dance.
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From dance science to arts management and from teaching to choreographing, where could dance take YOU?
Keep reading to discover lots of resources that can help you find out more about CAREERS in dance.
A career in dance offers a unique, exciting and engaging pathway to follow. In the same way that dance encourages you to express yourself, develop your creative thinking skills and find your own voice, you can be creative in which direction you choose to go in your career.
Dance builds many transferable skills for life, including collaboration, problem-solving and resilience, all of which are essential for any role in the creative industries. Many trained dancers go on to have hugely varied careers which go beyond the familiar roles of dancer, teacher and choreographer. Could you be a health care practitioner, stage manager, dance scientist, costume designer or producer? Where could your creativity take you?
Take a look at our Guide to careers in dance to see which career path in dance appeals to you.
So, you’ve got the drive, and you’ve got the ambition; where can dance take you?
Knowing how to transform your passion into a career can be challenging. Whichever career path you aim for in dance you’ll need to plan your route for getting there and achieving your goal.
What training do you need to achieve your ambitions? Where can you go to find out more about the different pathways? How do you find out about all the options available to you?
Our ‘Where can dance take me?’ journal is set out to help you think about and shape your ideas for your career, your ambitions and goals.
This can be completed at home, with your school careers advisor, a dance teacher, or a family member. It may help you decide on the schools/colleges/conservatoires you would like to apply for and better understand the processes for applying.
A career in dance can be rich and rewarding, but you also have responsibilities to make sure you take care of your body and mental health. In dance, your physical body is your tool, and you need to treat it with love and respect. In any career, taking care of your mind is essential to be able to work to the best of your abilities. Be preventative - don’t wait for pain to become injury or tiredness to become burnout. Practice self-acceptance and self-compassion, and make sure to find a healthy work-life balance.
Use the free health care available to you: BAPAM, NIDMS, Equity health insurance, One Dance UK Healthcare Practitioners Directory, NHS.
If you are interested in a career in dance science take a look at our resource ‘Studying and careers in dance medicine and science’.
A career in dance requires an incredible amount of energy and drive. If you want to succeed you need to be dedicated and passionate about what you do.
Your energy and attitude will impact both your work and also your relationships with those around you. Dance is collaborative by nature. Choreographers collaborate with their dancers, dance organisations work as a team to deliver their programmes and dance scientists come together on projects to share best practice and knowledge. So it's really important to build positive relationships with those you work with as this can also lead to more opportunities in the future. Be positive, be open, be committed, be yourself and most of all be kind.
Visit One Dance UK’s Careers Hub to find out more about what it takes to succeed in a broad range of roles.
Many people who work in dance go on to have ‘portfolio’ careers, meaning they work in various roles in dance throughout their career. #NationalCareersWeek
Many people find that as their career develops, their individual strengths emerge and they develop new skills that can take them in a new direction, whether that be performing, teaching, managing or designing. Performers and choreographers only make up a small percentage of jobs in dance.
An individual with a number of skills, who is flexible and adaptable to a number of roles can be highly employable. Use your skills wisely and you can enjoy a life-long career in dance!
Find out more about how your dance career could develop in our case studies.
Resilience is important when embarking on a career in dance. Your career may follow a different path from the one you envisioned but this can be a good thing, sending you down a new path of discovery and personal development.
It's vital to keep developing your skills - learning doesn't stop. Be versatile and build your skillset, the more you can offer the better your chance of work. Remember to believe in yourself and your abilities.
If you want to get advice from professionals working in the dance sector, check out the top takeaways from our Creative Careers panel.
What does success look like for you?
Everyone’s path into dance is different! There are so many rewarding roles in the dance world, be open to any opportunities that come your way.
Freelance Dance Artist Delene Gordon shares her advice for those entering the dance world:
“To know yourself so that you are not dependent on other people’s opinions for your success and motivation. Understand your boundaries and know when you need to say ‘enough’... Be open to experiences as you never know where they will lead. Know your worth and what makes you special. Enjoy it, it’s an amazing field to work in!”
