Is Joining a Dance Troupe Good For Your Dance Career?

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Is Joining a Dance Troupe Good For Your Dance Career?

There are lots of dance troupes and dance crews popping up in different areas and around the world. A lot of their choreography is amazing, but does joining a dance troupe actually help your dancing career?

That will depend on which dance crew you join! If you're invited to join the Jabbawockeez by one of their members you'll probably be doing a lot of paid performances and may even find yourself in a music video or TV show or two. A lot of dance crews don't have the reputation of the Jabbawockeez though!

Many dance crews operate as training opportunities for their members where they can get together and practise. They can then take part in performances and also take part in dance competitions as a dance troupe. A lot of these performances and shows may be unpaid as the focus may be more about practising dancing and performing as much as anything.

When entering dance competitions there may be lots of rehearsals leading up to it to give the troupe the best chance of success. Not surprisingly you will not be paid for entering these dance competitions, but could get a nice prize for winning!

When deciding whether joining a dance crew will be good for your career there are a number of things to consider. Some of the most prestigious dance crews and the ones run by well known and established choreographers are the hardest to get into but you may be rewarded with good paid work. Joining a lesser known dance crew may involve a lot of hard work for little reward.

You should also consider how often the troupe rehearses. It could take up several days of your week so you have to consider whether this will be time well spent. If you're getting a lot of free training then it may be, if you're learning nothing new then it may not be.

Other things to consider include location of rehearsals, how strict they are with rehearsals (ideally they'll let you miss rehearsals when you have other paid work) and quality of the dance troupe. If the dance troupe is always coming last in competitions you have to wonder about the quality of the choreographer and dancers in the group and whether it's really worth your while.

You shouldn't expect to be paid a lot of money to be in a dance troupe as there can be a lot of people in a dance group, some troupes have over 100 members. But if you love performing and the excitement of competitions then it may be something you want to do.

Also if rehearsals do not cost money to attend you will often be getting free training from dance teachers who you'd usually have to pay for at dance studios.

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