Think you can dance for a career? Think again
Page | 1 | 2 | 3 |

It's important to note that AGMA's scale is minimum; many dancers from corps to soloists can and do negotiate contracts that far exceed scale. Dancers with these companies also supplement their company wages during summer hiatus by working as guest performers at summer festivals or teaching dance workshops.

It is far more likely, however, that you will piece together dance work with other jobs in order to pay the bills. Munger says most dancers also work as teachers, choreographers, arts administrators, even set or costume designers, to make ends meet.

"A lot of people are realizing that the best money in teaching is to be found in college dance departments," he says. "It's quite competitive and you pretty much need an MFA now to do it, and a lot of people go back and get one to get into the college dance field."

Is it practical to dream of being a Britney Spears backup dancer, live or in videos?

"It's realistic if you're prepared to be very tenacious, very persistent, to work very hard and to understand that nothing is fair," Munger says.

He suggests a better avenue lies in commercial work (think Gap commercials), where you're only hired for a day or a week, but at a handsome wage.

"I have a dancer in my company who is a backup dancer for Michael Bolton. She takes off for a week every three months or so and comes back with several thousand dollars and lives off it until the next time she goes off," he says.

If you want to dance and only dance, be prepared to travel and hustle for gigs.

"Most of them combine teaching jobs with as many 'Nutcrackers' as they can find, and maybe a summer festival," says Allton. "It's completely a gypsy life, not knowing where the money is going to come from."

Plan for plan B
Allton says some of the most difficult moves a dancer must master happen offstage.

"When all your friends are having a great time, you put everything on hold and you dedicate yourself to dance," she says. "Your dance career absolutely determines the rest of your life: where you live, how you spend your day, what you eat, who your friends are, what you do in your off time, when you have kids and how much money you make. Everything."

Allton, who danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet for 20 years (and once paired with Munger in a 'Nutcracker' production), admits that, as a self-described "plan B person," she felt the constant undertow of reality beneath her dancing feet.

"It's such a myopic pursuit that it's really difficult to commit yourself to the level that is necessary to succeed and also try to think about what you're going to do when it's over, because it will be over," she says.

Like other professional athletes, dancers know that every performance could be their last. Allton started planning for that day in her late 20s. At 43, she enrolled in law school and graduated at 47. Today, she helps AGMA dancers get the most money and benefits possible by negotiating contracts with the upper 1 percent of dance companies (known as destination companies) that include New York City Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

"I made sure I was not going to be left without a way to make a living if a director came in and said, 'Ew, I don't like you' and fired me. I wasn't going to be a victim to that," she says.

Today, dancers in AGMA companies enjoy not only secure salaries but numerous provisions regarding working conditions that protect them on and off the job. There's even a form of severance pay based on their current weekly compensation and number of years with the company that can help ease the transition from dancing to their next career.

Two organizations -- Career Transition for Dancers and The Actors' Fund of America -- provide counseling, grants and career placement to help dancers make a graceful exit from the stage. Some companies even train their former dancers to fill other nondance positions or help find positions for them with corporate sponsors.

Munger's best advice for aspiring dancers? Bring it on -- in person.

"Network, network, network," he says. "The entire dance field operates more on networking and living people interacting with living people than by any other means. When presenters make choices (about casting), the thing that works is when they see your live performance, then ask for a video or DVD."

Jay MacDonald is a contributing editor based in Austin, Texas.