Arts & Entertainment

Pro dancing is more than just making a living

By: Mariana Zepeda

The stiff competition. Being rejected during auditions. Not knowing your next income source. Those are some of the reasons why many aspiring dance professionals get asked, “What’s your backup plan?”

Yet, for many of them, dance is more than just a way to make a living.

“I would do it for free if I could. I love what I do. Why would I not do it for free?” said Maxine Warren, a 27-year-old freelance dancer. 

The average pay for freelance dancers, who make up 60% of professional dancers in New York City, is about $24.53 an hour, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. (The remaining 40% are full-time dancers who are union members.) That means some dancers must work a second job to afford to live in one of the five boroughs; earlier this year, Kiplinger’s ranked Manhattan the nation’s most expensive place to reside.

Even if a different career might provide more financial stability, many dancers said they would still choose to be dancers. 

When, as a child, Ali Montez went to a Broadway show for the first time, seeing the dancers in “Cats” made her feel that professional dance is where she’s meant to be. “That was a moment,” said freelance dancer Montez, 25, alsona dancer instructor, “where the fuel and the fire and the excitement overpowered any part of me that was, like, ‘What if I can’t do this?’”  

Still, dancers can sometimes follow a nonlinear path into their profession. Catherine Meli, 20, is majoring in dance and mathematics at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. 

“There are infinite avenues that you could take as a dancer,” Meli said. She didn’t pursue her math degree as her Plan B or fallback but, rather, with the idea that she’s “building two skills that can actually really transfer across one another.” 

Sometimes, what a dancer envisioned as a child studying the art form doesn’t mirror what happens later in the real world of dance. Montez balances her life as a freelance performer in the city with a job as a dance teacher in Connecticut. Warren babysits and works at catering events on the side. 

“[I] it’s okay for your dreams to change,” Meli said. “It can be a very big adjustment. You’re not failing if a certain dream isn’t your dream anymore.” 

Many student dancers train hard, some win trophies, some attend summer intensives. Some earn a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. But, still, they may not be what casting directors are looking for. 

“It literally could be your face shape,” Meli said. 

Nevertheless, many dancers keep striving. They stay determined.

“Performing is an out-of-body experience,” Warren said. “I’m really in that flow state. I’m just, like, a vessel for a story.” 

One way Montez keeps her drive for dance is by focusing on and training under dancers who’ve succeeded in the dance world. She also sticks close to her dancing peers, who remind her that she’s not in it alone. 

Warren gave her perspective: “You have to choose to see everything is a lesson. If you choose to believe that whatever’s happening now is happening for a reason, you’re gonna come out stronger and better and more knowledgeable on the other side.”