Economic climate and ballet?

[teeny dancer]

I am 15 years old and have wanted to dance for my life from the day I started. My family however, has not been in the best econmic postion. I am not able to take as many dance classes or take from a higher level or pre-proffessional school because of our money situation. I've been reading about the schedules of all the dancers and mine is not anything in comparison. It's made me extreamely concerned for my future. I have not necessarily been exclusively set on dancing in a proffesional company and I am personally more drawn to modern, but I do want to make dance my career. I have considered going to college and double major. Are the requirements that have been expressed been more geared towards professional ballet or dancing in general?

 

I hope this is in the right place.. Please move it if it's not!

[vrsfanatic]

Teeny dancer it sounds as if you have come to a place and time in your life to evaluate your opportunities. Many forums at Ballet Talk for Dancers are geared to those with an interest to have a professional career in ballet. There are also forums with information on college/university programs in ballet and modern/contemporary work. A career in dance has many aspects and is a wonderful goal. Explore your options however quality and consistent training is a must for a professional career in dance.

[Victoria Leigh]

teeny dancer, I'm so sorry that you are not able to get as much training as you would like at this time. It's not easy, especially when the economy is as bad as it is now.

 

Most of the schedules we discuss here are geared for professional ballet. However, a career in any form of dance is going to take pretty much the same kind of training in terms of daily classes. Even to get into a good college dance program one needs a great deal of training.

 

But, sometimes there are ways of getting more training even when your parents cannot afford it. Some schools give scholarships based on need along with talent, so that is certainly worth looking into. Some schools have work study programs, which give the students more classes in exchange for some help around the school. Students can help themselves too, by babysitting, for instance, or helping with house cleaning, or whatever way you can find to make some money to help with your tuition and dancewear. So, don't give up without trying all the possibilities! Good luck!

[teeny dancer]

Thank you very much for your imput

[Victoria Leigh]

You are welcome, and please do let us know if you find a way to continue to dance and to get more training!

[teeny dancer]

I definitely will!

[cutiepi]

I hope it's ok to say this here, but it is hard for my family to afford ballet too. I have a separate part time job to support training expenses, and I help my teacher with the younger students and occasionally substitute-teach for a class.

[teeny dancer]

I'm an assistant teacher too I have been doing it for a while at my studio and really enjoy it. A big concern of mine though is that I want to try and go to another studio for more extensive training and I'm not sure if I'd be able to do it at another more professional school.