We’re happy to contribute this post, and this series on Careers for Dancers, to DanceAdvantage’s Teach-a-Thon! See the link at the end of this post for more on this great blogging event!

Hopefully you’ve read our first post in this series on the challenges of a professional dance career.

With this post, we’re continuing our conversation on careers for dancers who aren’t sure if they want to become professional dancers.

Dance-Related Jobs Within Dance Companies

Many dancers find themselves in fulfilling, steady careers at various roles within dance companies.

Within a dance company, there’s a job for every skill set, and, unlike most jobs for professional dancers, many of these positions are full-time jobs with salary and benefits.

All of these jobs demand people who are self-motivated and passionate about dance. And with your background as a dancer, you’ve already fulfilled those requirements!

Many of these positions have several titles, and the job descriptions vary depending on the size of the company.

Artistic Director

In a dance company, the artistic director must often unite the dance instructors, choreographers, costume designers, stage directors and lighting technicians under a single vision.

An artistic director must have a strong background in dance, teaching, choreography, performance, staging, administration, and leadership. The artistic director may also attract new dancers to the company and maintain contacts in the dance world.

Director of Education

The director of education is often someone who organizes outreach programs, partnering a dance company with schools and educational programs. At a performance school, the director of education might evaluate teachers and staff.

In either position, the director of education must have great writing skills and the ability to work imaginatively with many types of people, including children. The director of education also needs good finance and organizational skills, because he or she will often manage a company’s budget for outreach programs.

Director of Administration

Tasks such as answering phones, sorting mail, managing office operations, maintaining a website, communicating with agents, distributing press kits, writing press releases,

maintaining company contacts, preparing budget reports, and booking travel arrangements are often performed by the very busy director of administration.

In a smaller company, the director of administration may act as secretary, the public relations writer, a graphic designer, marketing director, and touring director. To fill this job, you’ll need to be a great multi-tasker, and you’ll need to be familiar with all aspects of the dance world. And, clearly, you’ll need super-human organizational skills. In this position, every person within the company will look to you for something.

To begin working in administration, you may need previous experience in an office setting. You must have excellent computer skills, and you’ll probably need to prove that you’re familiar with a wide range of computer software in areas like graphic design, database management, and accounting.

Director of Development

The future of a dance company often depends on the director of development. This person secures funding through individuals, corporations, foundations, government, fund-raising efforts, and endowment campaigns.

To fill the role of director of development, you’ll probably need a background in grant writing, fund-raising, nonprofits, and event organization. Experience in marketing and public relations will also be important. You can train in these areas at any number of colleges and universities, with most programs offering bachelor’s degrees that cover these skills.

Director of Touring

Although the responsibilities of this position might fall to the director of administration, the director of touring in a larger company must book company performances, make travel arrangements, and secure tour contracts. As director of touring, you would need to work closely with stage managers, technical directors, and choreographers to make sure that each venue can accommodate your company’s productions (Eberts 94).

Stage Manager

If you’re handy and well-organized, you might be able to handle the fast-paced role of stage manager. In this position, you would organize the transportation of production staff and technicians, and secure rentals for a production. You would have to work closely with the costume shop team, set designers, electricians, lighting crews, and the director of touring.

This position requires a great deal of experience, confidence, and calm. You’ll need an intimate knowledge of each production, and–from sequins to screwdrivers–you’ll have to know what everyone involved in the production needs. You’ll also be responsible for the performance and safety of each person you supervise.

Sometimes, the stage manager is also known as the production coordinator.

Technical Director

In another very important behind-the-scenes role, the technical director oversees the lighting, sound, and

rigging for each production.

As technical director, you’ll have to organize and supervise crews, manage multiple time-lines and tasks, and lift heavy objects. Also, you’ll need to work closely with the artistic director to understand, and fulfill, his or her vision for each production.

General Manager

A general manager is often a dance company’s spokesperson. In this role, business, arts, public relations, marketing, and fund-raising skills are all important.

As general manager, you will manage staff in finance, marketing, development, production, education outreach, direction, and touring departments. Very often, this position requires a bachelor’s degree in business, as well as experience in arts and management.

Marketing Director

The job of filling seats goes to a dance company’s marketing director. This person must identify target audiences and sell tickets to those audiences.

To promote the company and get people interested in production, the marketing director needs to identify with both the dance community and the larger non-dance public. A marketing director might, for instance, create member programs that encourage people to return for future shows.

In this role, you’ll need to manage mailing lists, design mailings, and work with public relations professionals. Many universities offer training in marketing. You’ll need a bachelor’s degree for this position.

Executive Director

Although this position might have several titles, a company’s executive director oversees each department and director within a company. This person must not only communicate well, but he or she must also lead and coach every other person in the company.

An executive director should have experience in management, budgeting, fund-raising, marketing, public relations, graphic design, education outreach, and, of course, dance.

A degree in a specialized area such as arts management will equip you for a career as executive director of a dance company. But the right combination of experience, business education, and marketing skills can also get you the job.

Choreographer

When you think of dancers, you probably also think of choreographers. A choreographer is, of course, the person who creates and teaches new dances for each production.

To fill this role, you’ll need a background in dance, a huge amount of creativity, and a broad knowledge of

music and musical styles. To work as a choreographer, you’ll have to be a good teacher and leader. But you’ll also have to be flexible so that you can coordinate with the artistic director and technical director.

Many choreographers learn through experience and succeed through their own motivation. The job outlook for choreographers is fairly good, because they’re needed outside dance companies also, in television, film, the music industry, and even in some sports (Eberts 88-89).

Dance Notation & Reconstruction

Although the dance world doesn’t supply a ton of positions for these people, professionals who work in dance notation and reconstruction are highly skilled experts who demand good pay for their work.

A dance notator will record every movement of a ballet, using the special symbols of a notation system such as Labanotation. Notators used to record by hand, but now they use a variety of computer programs to record symbols and add a score.

When a company wants to de-code the work of a dance notator, they hire a dance reconstructor. A reconstructor can read a completed score and teach it to dancers.

Some dance companies employ notators and reconstructors. But, most dance notation and reconstruction experts are freelancers who work full-time in another job. Often, they are professors in dance programs (Eberts 90).

Costume Design

Costume designers have a rewarding role in a dance company, because their work is on clear display during each performance. But, this also means that the job carries a lot of responsibility.

Costume designers must know how to design and create each piece of dancewear. They work with choreographers to make sure that their designs will let the dancers move. And they work with the artistic director to make sure that the costume designs fulfill the director’s overall vision. A costume designer even works with the technical director to make sure that costumes look right under the stage lighting.

Many costume designers possess a combination of experience and education. Some companies require costume designers to have a bachelor’s degree in theater. Some positions call for a MFA (Master of Fine Arts degree). Costume designers need experience in costume cutting, draping, drafting patterns, tailoring and construction (Eberts 96).

Still Not Sure?

Do you see yourself in any of these roles? If not, don’t worry. We have an entire series of posts on career advice for dancers. Come back for the next post in this series. We’ll talk about dance-related jobs in media and communications.

Additional Sources:

Eberts, Marjorie, and Margaret Gisler. Careers for Culture Lovers & Other Artsy Types. McGraw-Hill Professional, 1999.

Teach-a-Thon

Throughout this week, we are participating in DanceAdvantage’s Teach-a-Thon, a week-long blogging event that offers advice to all of the dance students heading back to classes soon.

As you read our posts on Careers for Dancers all week long, make sure you also check out posts by the other Teach-a-Thon participants.