Five Qualities Every "Dancer-preneur" Needs

As each day passes and I interact with more and more professional dancers, it seems like we are in the age of the entrepreneurial dancer. Some artists are starting their own dancewear lines, while others are creating their own fitness programs. Perhaps, this trend is due to fear of the brevity of dance careers. Or, maybe, we have past generations to thank for empowering us to follow them after they became entrepreneurs outside of their performing careers. Even many dancers that are living the age old tradition of joining a company seem to feel the pull of guiding their own career as a freelancer. Being an established freelance dancer and choreographer, like myself, is surprisingly entrepreneurial. Most of my days outside of the studio are spent developing my brand, promoting my product, and selling my services. Not everybody is up to the challenges of running their own business, whether creating a physical product or selling your dancing. Here are five qualities that every Dancer-preneur should have in order to have a successful career as a freelancer:

(Photo: Shalem Photography)

1. Leadership: Any dancer that is looking to launch a career as a freelancer needs to show signs of a leader. Spending a career with a company requires a certain level of submission. But as a freelancer, you will find yourself in a handful of situations that require strong leadership skills. First, a dancer needs to be strong enough to put themselves out there for employers to hire. Often, dancers are brought into a school or company to show students/company members what it means to be a confident, professional dancer. In order to own your own business, whether you are selling yourself as a dancer or selling a product, it is important to show confidence in that service/product and to convince employers that you are a leader. When you can lead, you will get hired.

Stress Control?

2. Stress Control: Getting to lead your own career may sound like an ideal situation. But there are many challenges and stresses that go along with finding your own work. In a great deal of work environments, you get out of your work what you put into it. Unfortunately, this is not how the freelance world exists. More often than not, you are putting in 1000 (yes, one-thousand) percent of the work and only getting 50-75 percent in return. When you have poured all of your time, energy, and heart into something and your bank account is continuing to dwindle, stress levels can blow through the roof. Whether looking for work, negotiating a contract, rehearsing, nursing injuries, performing, getting paid, surviving financially until the next gig, or a multitude of other items, it is necessary that you are able to handle the sometimes insurmountable stress that is involved in being an entrepreneurial dancer.


3. Social Media Expert: Love it or hate it, we live in a day and age of social media. When I first started using Myspace, people used to talk about what a waste of time and energy that was social media. Often, I heard, "I'd rather be living in reality than sitting on my computer." While I don't disagree with this statement, I have always been rather attached to networking sites. Today, there are people in the international workforce getting hired with large, rewarding salaries to sit on the likes of Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, and innumerable other sites. If you are a freelancer, you are unlikely to be rolling in the dough. So, you need to find inexpensive ways to promote yourself. The easiest way to do this is through Facebook fan pages, Youtube videos, blogs, personal websites, and much more. I know for a fact that I would not have had any success as a freelance dancer if it weren't for my social media skills.

Romeo & Juliet w/Fort Wayne Ballet (Photo: Jeffrey Crane)

4. Compromise: As mentioned in the first important quality of this post, leadership is necessary to become a Dancer-preneur. Many of our great leaders have set themselves apart from the crowd with their ability in handling compromise. The challenge of being a leader is knowing when to give a little to get a little. When negotiating a contract, a dancer must approach their potential employer with care about the financial health of the company. At other times, dancers may need to give up some of their professional expectations to work for a choreographer that they have always wanted to work with. Knowing when and when not to compromise is, perhaps, one of the most defining qualities of the best independent contractors.

Performing "Maan Singh" (Photo: Oberon's Grove)

5. Determination: One quality that is naturally found in most professional dancers is determination. In order to guide your own business, you must have gritty determination. Only if you put every ounce of your being into finding and/or creating work can you have a career built from an entrepreneurial spirit. Keep in mind that even if you throw every bit of yourself into your business, it won't always succeed. But the more determined you are to make it work, the better your prospects will be of experiencing a successful, freelance career.


What qualities would you add to this list? 

12 Reasons Dance is My Religion

For some reason, the holidays always put me in the mood to make lists. Best and worst lists of the past year, lists of things I'm thankful for, and lists of my hopes and wishes for the coming year. Well, I'm not going to resist that urge this Christmas. I am a Jew living in heavily Christian country, so I tend to love celebrating both holidays. And since Chanukkah is officially over on this here Christmas morning, I have decided to create a list in honor of the 12 days of Christmas. Since I am not really religious at all, and I appreciate celebrating all types of holidays, I have decided to create a list with a twist. With all of that said, I bestow upon you the 12 reasons dance is my religion.

1. Dance has been a part of my life since I was a very young age. When I was 2 years old, I kept running into my sister's dance class. After a few frustrating interruptions, the instructor of the class saw an opportunity. Instead of reprimanding the parent of the child, she invited me to stay in class if I could behave. And I did. From that young day of my life on, I have been immersed in the ways and the morals of dance.

This little boy couldn't stay out of his sister's dance class

2. Walking into a dance studio every day is like walking into a place of prayer. Every morning, I begin my morning ritual of plies, tendus, jetes, and beyond. Or, in a non-religious sense, plies are like my morning coffee and the rest of barre is like my breakfast.

3. Even my every day activities are ruled by dance. I think before anything that I do, "How will these activities affect my dancing." Exercise, risky activities (skiing, rollerskating, horseback riding, etc.), drinking with friends, sleep, etc.

Maria Chapman - So inspiring

4. Those people that I hold in highest esteem are my mentors and fellow colleagues that are professional dancers. I don't worship these people, per se, but I have more respect for them, their work ethic, and their inspiration than most anybody else.

R&J (Lucia Rogers) w/Fort Wayne Ballet (Photo: Jeffrey Crane)

5. When going through a difficult experience, I turn to dance to express myself, heal my wounds, and fill myself with joy.

6. While many religions learn the basis of their faith from ancient scripture, a great deal of learning is taught through oral tradition that has been passed on through the generations. Dance, like religion, is one of the last traditions that is almost completely passed on orally and ritually from generation to generation.

7. I give all my glory to my art!

8. No place on earth is more sacred than a stage or a studio.

9. Just like the holiday season brings families together in the name of religious events, ballet brings dancers together for something special every time they begin preparing for a performance. I have always felt a warm holiday-like bond by the end of a performance series.

Returning to Rochester City Ballet's Jessie Tretter for Nutcracker 2013 (Photo: Josephine Cardin)

10. I have an ongoing joke that I am going to create a religion called, "Exercism," or the religion of exercise. It would be a glorious religion! It makes you feel good, it treats your body and soul well, it inspires people to do good, and makes us all-around better people. Cheers to Exercism!!!! (I joke)

11. Just like there are multiple sects of religions, there are multiple sects of dance. Ballet has classical, neo-classical (Balanchine), and contemporary ballet. You can even break down these forms into smaller denominations; like Vaganova, Cecchetti, Bournonville, French school, Royal Academy of Dance, etc. Non-ballet sects have spanned from modern to post-modern, tap, jazz, contemporary, and beyond. While some followers of these sects of dance only hold values for their one form of dance, dancers display the most inspirational openness to joining and sharing in other forms of dance. In the spirit of collaboration, exploration, and growing one's idea of dance, most dancers are open to crossing into other belief systems of dance. If only we could experience this in religions across the world...

12. Even if I turned my back on dance, it will always be there waiting to accept me back with open arms.

Guesting in my home dance school's Nutcracker last year (Photo: Marla Kaine)

I'd like to wish all of my readers a happiest of holiday seasons!