Companies

[L' Allegro]

How old do you start having students go to company auditions? I will be 16 this Thanksgiving(oh yes, it's true!), and was wondering if this upcoming spring I should audition for a company. NOT for a job. Merely to get an experience of what calibre of dancer the auditioners are looking for. Would it be a good experience? I was thinking it would be because I wouldn't be under pressure to get a job, and it would allow me to evaluate myself as well as giving me some goals to work torwards.

 

thanks!

[Victoria Leigh]

You should not audition for a professional company until you are ready for a job. Not a good idea. They are not interested in seeing students. That is what SI auditions are for. Companies are looking for dancers who are finished with high school, or even older. These days almost everyone has to do a year or two as a trainee, or maybe an apprentice, sometimes paid, sometimes not. Companies want more mature and experienced dancers.

[SugarPlumFairy1]

I have a question about ballet companys also. When I go to college (which is a couple years away) after I graduate is it possible that I could get a masters degree or law degree before i try out for a company or will i be to old after i complete a masters or law degree to be picked for a company?

[Victoria Leigh]

I think that would be incredibly difficult to do, SPF1. Yes, you would be older than most companies would be looking for in a new dancer, but more than that, it is highly unlikely that you could maintain a professional level technique and finish a masters or a law degree. Getting through undergraduate school is one thing, but graduate school is entirely different, and especially law school. If you are company ready when you graduate from high school, or one or two years later, that is the time to dance. School can be done at any age.

[SugarPlumFairy1]

ok i was just wondering what you would think because i was taking to my mom about it and from her response as long as i get it done some time in my life thats good.

 

I really would like to have a professional career and if I get one then graduate school can definently wait.

[L' Allegro]

Thank you, Ms. Leigh! I just worry about getting "too old"! I understand what you mean, though. Your post made me feel better, the part about even older than high school. Mature? I'd say I'm mature. But everyone I meet says, "oh, you're so cute!" (in a little sort of way, like you'd say a one and a half year old is 'cute') and people think I'm 13. More time! yay!

[Skye90]

I'm auditioning for a full-time dance school for my last two years of school....and just say I get in, and finish school...what then? It's my dream to dance in a company, but I guess you can't just hop out of a pre-pro school and audition can you? So, do you get a teacher and have lots of classes and mature a bit, or do a bachelor of dance or what? Theres so much talk when you're my age about getting into that full-time school, that I've never really heard what happens after you've finished.

[vrsfanatic]

Skye90 it is difficult to say how things are handled in Australia. In the US, most schools recommend the graduating class to take auditions for professional companies. Since Australia does not have that many jobs for performers of ballet, there may be another way it is handled. I am only aware of two classical ballet companies in Australia. This may be a question you could ask when applying for your full-time school.

[Skye90]

Yeah, it's true that we don't have that many classical companies. I will definitely check this out with the school. I know alot of people audition for NZ and other countries because there just aren't that many places here....or they go contemporary. We have alot of contemporary companies.