It’s an age-old question: “Which path sets my student up to get a job as a professional ballet dancer – college or straight into a post-graduate training program?” It can be a tough decision for a lot of students, especially with the proliferation of post-graduate programs that often have large numbers of dancers all vying for a limited number of jobs.
We interviewed the heads of a number of top college and university dance programs and learned a lot! There are some interesting advantages and disadvantages that go along with choosing the college ballet route.
First, let’s be very clear. College is still not the typical path that dancers take to go into a professional ballet company. Can it be done? Yes. Is it still in the minority compared to going from high school straight into a trainee or second company? Also yes.
If you don’t believe us, believe this data in the DataPointes Guide. The guide was compiled by Jason Yeung, a data scientist who is currently finishing up a joint M.D./PhD. He used publicly available information from ballet companies across the U.S. to determine which ballet training programs produce the greatest numbers of professional dancers. It lists all ballet training programs that dancers, currently working in U.S. companies attended, and it includes colleges and universities.
Note that the data in this guide looks at the top 26 U.S. based ballet companies. College graduates may represent a larger population in smaller companies, so it’s important, if your dancer is looking at a college or university, that they ask for a list of where recent graduates ended up working and whether or not the dancers are paid a living wage.
So, does it make sense to attend a college ballet program? As with everything in ballet, it depends because each dancer has unique needs and goals. Following is a discussion about things to consider when looking at choosing college as the next step toward a professional ballet career.
Dancers Come Out of College With A Degree
One of the most attractive factors associated with college ballet programs is that students finish their four years with a college degree!
As part of our college and university dance series for the Ballet Help Desk podcast we spoke with the heads of the dance department at Indiana, Butler, the University of Utah, Point Park and Juilliard. Juilliard is a slightly different animal, but the heads of the other programs told us that most students major in dance along with something else.
That something else may be as varied as biology or English literature. Regardless, students who attend college ballet programs graduate not only with the dance training and experience to pursue a potential professional career, but they also come out with a degree that may help them better navigate career paths outside of dance.
Because getting a job can be tough, some students may want the security of knowing that they have a college degree to fall back on if a dance career doesn’t work out.
Students in College Dance Programs Dance A LOT
Everyone we spoke with pointed out that their students spend a lot of time in the studio and on stage. Many university ballet programs operate like mini-companies. The directors we interviewed emphasized the large number of performances that students do, which often included not only the classics, but also new works set on them as well as works choreographed by fellow students.
College ballet programs can also operate with larger budgets than many companies, affording the schools more flexibility with commissioning work, securing costumes, live music and other elements that go into staging a live production.
Sarah Wroth, Chair of the Ballet Department at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music also told us that university ballet programs really prepare dancers to do a lot of corps work. Although some companies may use dancers from their post-graduate programs for corps work, it’s never a guarantee. In addition, more often than not, the corps roles are largely reserved for female identifying dancers. There just isn’t the same amount of corps work for men. According to Wroth, in university dance programs, corps work is nearly guaranteed for all students.
College Dance Programs Continue Training Dancers
Some dancers who are finishing their ballet training at a local school, or even in full-time training, may feel like they need a few more years to mature as a dancer. While some post-graduate training programs provide a full complement of classes, many don’t. It’s not uncommon for a trainee program to offer one technique class each day and then they spend the rest of the day rehearsing.
Conversely, all of the college dance folks we spoke with indicated that dancers took a full slate of classes each week, allowing them to further develop their technique alongside rehearsing for performances.
College Dance Majors Gain Maturity
Let’s face it – college can be a ton of fun! There are loads of great classes, interesting people, clubs, sporting events, and of course, parties. Some dancers simply want that “true college experience.”
By functioning as a regular college student, dancers learn how to manage their time and shift between the studio, the classroom and the many, many distractions that come along with college life. Not only do they hone their time management skills, the classes required for a dance major often include pedagogy, anatomy, kinesiology, choreography and other dance adjacent subjects.
The result? Often, a well-rounded, mature dancer who has a bit more lived experience to bring to their craft.
College Dance Programs Provide A Few Years of Security
Dancers who go into post-graduate training programs are often only there for a year or maybe two. This means that right as they’re starting to get comfortable, they’re back on the audition circuit. And, because these dancers likely won’t know their fate on being taken into the main company until late in the season, most audition elsewhere as a back-up.
Students in college dance programs have the security of knowing they’ll be there for three to four years and can focus on ballet training and academics without worrying about hitting the audition circuit for a few years.
College Dance Programs Can Be A Bit Of A Bubble
Despite the security of college, dancers can potentially lose touch with the broader professional dance world. With all of the great experiences dancers might be having as part of the traditional college experience, they may not stay as connected to the professional dance world as could be necessary.
This was pointed out in an article for Dance Magazine in which Mikko Nissinen (Boston Ballet), Devon Carney (Kansas City Ballet) and Julie Kent (at the time, Washington Ballet) were asked their opinion on college dance programs. All three, to a greater or lesser degree, implied that students coming out of colleges and universities can be unprepared for the professional ballet world.
The article noted, “Many people in the ballet world still view most BFA programs as too dissimilar from the professional realm to be truly competitive. The insulated bubble of campus life can mean students don’t realize they’re not performing at a high enough level.”
Carney did also point out that he has hired dancers during his tenure at the Kansas City Ballet, and said this about students coming out of college programs: “Graduates are personally and artistically more level-headed. They have a better ability to deal with problems, and that maturity is something I highly value in a dancer.”
As an aside, there are currently two dancers with Kansas City Ballet who indicate they attended a university ballet program. One attended Indiana and the other attended Utah.
So, it’s not a clear-cut issue. The point is that dancers must be exceptional to secure employment coming out of a college ballet program. But, really, dancers need to be exceptional regardless of the training path they take.
Note that this article was written in 2017 so things may have changed. However, we would be surprised if the artistic directors quoted had a radical transformation in their thinking. And, the data doesn’t indicate that dancers coming out of college programs represent more than a sliver of the overall population in at least the 26 largest U.S. ballet companies.
What’s important for dancers that ultimately want a performing career is that they stay plugged in to the community. Attend summer programs, take master classes and do everything needed to make themselves as attractive a potential employee as possible. And, that includes knowing the state of the dance market and how they may fit into that.
College Dance Majors May Start Careers Later
Although there are several benefits to university dance programs, dancers also should consider a big factor: in many cases, graduates of these programs may enter the ballet world at the same level that recent high school graduates are entering. Everyone we interviewed for our series conceded that many of their graduates went into trainee and second company levels. So, dancers may have passed up a potential post-graduate position in a ballet school to head to college. But, coming out of college, they may be offered that same exact post-graduate spot, only four years later.
Interestingly, when we spoke with Sarah Wroth, she also mentioned that dancers coming out of college programs often have a level of maturity that sometimes allows them to move up the professional ladder a bit faster.
Financial Considerations Abound
Ballet training, as we all know, is incredibly expensive. And, regardless of the order in which dancers pursue things, families are looking at potentially supporting their dancer well into their twenties.
Trainee programs, for example, can sometimes cost the equivalent of college tuition. After they finish, dancers may go into another trainee program, a second company or an apprenticeship. With the exception of a small number of apprenticeships, none of these pay a living wage, meaning dancers must get side jobs or continue to receive support from family. Many parents will say that they view the post-graduate years as their dancer’s version of college. And, that is certainly a valid way to look at it. However, families should be clear-eyed about the training program their dancer attends and what the cost-benefit of it will be in the long run.
For dancers who go the college ballet route, there are still high costs. Yes, there are often scholarships, but it rarely covers everything. And, for most graduates, they still start in trainee or second company levels. As we mentioned, the costs associated with training at those levels can be quite high. However, the student also comes out of college with a degree that they can fall back on if a professional career doesn’t materialize.
The bottom line is that costs are high and families should consider what’s important at what time in a dancer’s life. There is no one right way to do this.
Ballet Jobs Are In Short Supply
Although college is becoming more of a viable option than it was in the past, it still represents a small percentage of dancers who are going into professional careers. And, there are only a small number of programs that consistently turn out dancers who find work.
If you have a dancer who is considering the college route, it’s important to do the legwork to understand the level of career support and the placement rates of schools your dancer may be considering.
The cold, hard reality is that not everyone coming out of college or post-graduate training will sign a contract as a professional dancer. We’ve written in past posts about several post-graduate training programs that are stuffed full of aspiring professionals. There is no way that every dancer in a post-graduate training program, given the prolific growth and the staggeringly high numbers, will get paid to dance. And, the same goes for those graduating from college. There simply aren’t enough jobs to accommodate everyone who wants a contract.
This is not to say that a dancer absolutely should or should not choose the college route as a means to having a professional career. There are many, many reasons that have nothing to do with dance that students choose college over going directly into post-graduate training.
There is no perfect path and there is no guarantee that dancers will get a job regardless of the road they take. It’s important that everyone makes their decisions with enough information and their eyes wide open.