Example Career: Dancers

Career Description

Perform dances. May perform on stage, for on-air broadcasting, or for video recording.

What Job Titles Dancers Might Have

• Ballet Dancer
• Company Dancer
• Dancer
• Soloist Dancer

What Dancers Do

• Train, exercise, and attend dance classes to maintain high levels of technical proficiency, physical ability, and physical fitness.
• Study and practice dance moves required in roles.
• Harmonize body movements to rhythm of musical accompaniment.
• Perform classical, modern, or acrobatic dances in productions, expressing stories, rhythm, and sound with their bodies.
• Collaborate with choreographers to refine or modify dance steps.
• Coordinate dancing with that of partners or dance ensembles.
• Attend costume fittings, photography sessions, and makeup calls associated with dance performances.
• Audition for dance roles or for membership in dance companies.
• Develop self-understanding of physical capabilities and limitations, and choose dance styles accordingly.
• Monitor the field of dance to remain aware of current trends and innovations.
• Teach dance students.
• Devise and choreograph dance for self or others.
• Perform in productions, singing or acting in addition to dancing, if required.

What Dancers Should Be Good At

• Gross Body Coordination - The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
• Stamina - The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
• Extent Flexibility - The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Dynamic Strength - The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
• Trunk Strength - The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without 'giving out' or fatiguing.
• Gross Body Equilibrium - The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
• Multilimb Coordination - The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Speed of Limb Movement - The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
• Static Strength - The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
• Dynamic Flexibility - The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

What Dancers Should Be Interested In

• Artistic - Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.
• Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

What Dancers Need to Learn

• Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.