The Complete Guide to Becoming A Dancer
What it really takes to get hired, get paid, and build a life as a professional dancer
by Alumigogo Books
non-fiction
Real pay. Real training. Real day-to-day life. Know exactly what you're signing up for before you audition.
About this book
You love to dance. Maybe you've spent years in a studio, maybe you just discovered it, but now you're asking the hard question: can I actually make a living doing this? This guide answers that question with facts, not fairy tales. It walks you through what dancers earn at every level, what a typical contract actually pays after taxes and rehearsal hours, and where the jobs actually are geographically and by industry.
You'll get a chapter on whether your personality and working style fit the career, with a self-assessment checklist that flags the honest warning signs. Then you'll learn the real paths into the business, comparing college degrees, apprenticeships, and direct auditions, including typical timelines and real costs. Breaking In gives you a concrete, step-by-step job-hunting plan, and A Day in the Life shows you the mundane Monday-morning reality alongside the adrenaline of performance night.
Career Growth lays out what you can do when your body slows down or your interests shift, and the FAQ answers the uncomfortable questions people are too polite to ask. No hype. No 'follow your passion' filler. Just a clear picture of one of the most demanding and rewarding occupations there is.
Reader Reviews
Jason Green
★★★★★I've been dancing since I was six, but I had zero idea what the actual career looked like. This book nailed it. The chapter on pay versus training cost made me sit down and do the math before I committed to a BFA program. I finally know what I'm walking into, and I feel way more confident about my decision now.
Donald Wilson
★★★★★As a career-changer in my late twenties, I needed a realistic picture, not a pep talk. The day-in-the-life chapter was worth the price alone - it showed me the rehearsal hall grind and the 9-to-5 reality that nobody mentions. The salary numbers were shockingly honest. I decided to pivot to teaching instead, and this book saved me years of regret.
Brian Martinez
★★★★★The self-assessment checklist in chapter two is brutally honest. I checked off more 'not a fit' signs than I expected, but reading through the chapter on adjacent careers gave me a plan B that still uses my skills. This is the book I wish I had before I picked my college major. Highly recommend for anyone considering dance seriously.
Jeffrey Martin
★★★★★Breaking In had a checklist I actually followed, and it worked. I put together a reel with the specific advice from chapter five, hit up every contact I had, and landed my first contract with a regional company after three months of applying. The networking tips were concrete, not the usual 'just put yourself out there' nonsense.
Jonathan Nguyen
★★★★★Solid information, and I respect the honesty, but I found it a bit too pessimistic on the income front. I've been dancing professionally for two years and my experience is slightly better than the entry-level numbers here. Still, the training cost breakdown was accurate, and the outlook section matched what I see in the industry. Worth reading, just take the pay estimates as a floor, not a ceiling.