Think you can dance for a career? Think again
By Jay MacDonald • Bankrate.com

So you think you can dance? To make it as a professional, you're going to need talent, dedication, training and versatility, not to mention a solid plan B for stayin' alive after you hang up your dancing shoes.

Forget fame. Definitely forget fortune. Neither is likely to be within your grasp unless you're a genetic match for Rudolph Nureyev or the sibling of a single-monikered pop star.

"The vast majority of dancers cannot make a living off of dancing alone as a performer," says John Munger, director of research and information for Dance/USA, an American dance service organization. "I believe less than 3,000 actually do in the entire nation."

By Munger's estimate, there are roughly 2,000 to 2,500 legitimate dance companies in the United States. Of those, just 150 to 200 have budgets of $100,000 or more, and only 20 have budgets exceeding $1 million.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook, 38,000 people worked as dancers or choreographers in 2004. While even the BLS won't estimate average annual incomes due to the wide variation in hours worked and length of employment (from a day to a year), the median hourly earnings for a dancer was $8.54; the lowest 10 percent averaged $5.87, the upper 10 percent averaged $21.59.

Choreographers and dance instructors don't waltz off with big bucks either, earning an average $33,670 and $34,090 respectively.

"It's not a profession where you say, 'I want to make $70,000 a year, so I'll be a dancer," says Deborah Allton, eastern counsel for the American Guild of Musical Artists, the dance affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

Larry Rhodes, director of dance at The Juilliard School, agrees.

"In my experience, people in dance are never working because they are looking for financial reward. They choose this profession because they love it, they want and need to do it," he says. "Dance is simply a part of their lives and to do without it would be a great loss to them."

The good news is, the future for dancers is on the up-kick in America; the BLS expects dance-related jobs to increase by 9 percent to 17 percent through 2014. The bad news is, only the most talented will make a living at it in this intensely competitive field.

So you think you can dance? You'll have to stay on your toes to tango your way through this unconventional profession.

Old dance, new steps
Munger says the ancient art of dance is actually a relative newborn as a popular art form in America; the Ballet of the Metropolitan Opera was formed in 1895, Martha Graham established the first American dance company in 1926, and the ballets of San Francisco and Atlanta followed in 1930. Of 405 dance companies he surveyed, less than one-fifth (72) were founded before 1970.

America's current dance fever, fueled by the summer TV hit "So You Think You Can Dance?" and the fall return of "Dancing with the Stars," grew from a clever concept: combine professional dance (dancer partners and choreographers from ballet, modern, contemporary and hip-hop) with participatory dance (amateur dancing we all can do, however clumsily) in an atmosphere of friendly competition.

Both shows actually teach a solid fundamental about the dance field today that professional aspirants would be wise to heed: If you want to win, be versatile.