Ballerinas of Mefi, how do you live?

May 1, 2022 7:42 PM

Do ballet dancers make a living wage while they're dancing professionally? If not, how do they live? How much do the corps de ballet, the soloists, the principals make? Do male dancers get more or less money than female dancers? What happens when they get injured? And after they age out/invalid out? Are all condemned to work for peanuts in a ballet school for the rest of their lives?
posted by pH Indicating Socks to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

I am not a ballet dancer but I have been friends with some. Unsurprisingly, I think situations differ depending on how far you advance professionally and what company you are in (different companies pay more or less and have varying levels of perks). My second-hand knowledge of some principal dancers working at midtier companies is that it is much like teaching - covered during the season but basically (and sometimes officially) laid off during the off-season. The pay can be livable and benefits like health insurance are normal but side gigs like teaching and contracting to fill in at lower tier groups are a good idea. When my friend was injured dancing, costs were covered and there was disability insurance as with other jobs.

After "aging out", there are more options than just taking peanuts as a ballet teacher. The dancers I know are well educated in terms of things like dance theory and physical anatomy, and some are also well qualified in related arts like costume making, choreography, and pilates. So they've gone on to do pretty well after retiring but I don't think it's a simple path. They clearly love what they do with a passion.

Hope we have some actual dancers here to give you more specifics.
posted by Tandem Affinity at 8:52 PM on May 1, 2022 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: Excellent info, Tandem Affinity - thanks!
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 9:06 PM on May 1, 2022

Best answer: Here’s the enterprise bargaining agreement (aka EA, EBA, pretty much a group contract) for the Australian Ballet Company. It has the pay rates for all the types of dancers as well as information about annual leave and sick leave and all other employment conditions. I’m pretty sure all Australian ballet companies will have them. You might be able to find them by googling “ballet company name + enterprise agreement” or looking on the Fair Work Commission‘s site
posted by poxandplague at 1:06 AM on May 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Forgot to mention for comparison that as of 1 July 2021 the Australian National Minimum Wage is $20.33 per hour or $772.60 per week before tax.
posted by poxandplague at 1:11 AM on May 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

My ex- ballet teacher danced full-time in the local professional ballet company (I'm not in the U.S.) She retired in her 30s after she got married and had kids to concentrate on her family. She has been teaching ballet full-time ever since which was how I met her.

Ballet dancers often do a lot of body work like Pilates and yoga for conditioning and flexibility to supplement traditional ballet classes during their training so some do pivot to getting certified and becoming instructors as mentioned by Tandem Affinity. Or they could retrain to become nutritionists, do sports medicine, open dance shops and become pointe shoe fitters etc.

You might enjoy this:
Pro pointe shoe fitter
posted by whitelotus at 6:05 AM on May 2, 2022

Best answer: The International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers is dedicated to the post-performance phase of dancers' lives. Their Beyond Performance report (65-page PDF) is an interesting overview.
posted by Etrigan at 6:30 AM on May 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

I dated someone who had been a (male) principal dancer in NYC before I met him, and had become a doctor in his post-dancing life. He told me that he knew several dancers who had gone into sports medicine.
posted by pinochiette at 7:13 AM on May 2, 2022

I knew somebody in graduate school who after her ballet career was cut short due to injury, she went on to get a Ph.D. in Computer Science and then became a professor at a highly ranked institution. People who were in her cohort described her as being incredibly disciplined, which can be one of the most important qualities for completing a Ph.D.
posted by needled at 8:22 AM on May 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If you're interested in a Canadian pespective, you can read the working agreements with the professional association (including minimum fees) here. Certainly not all dances join the association, but I would think most working ballerinas would.

Canada's Dancer Transition Resource Centre is here.

And last, for an artistic perspective on the life and career and retirement of a French ballerina, you must must must watch Veronique Doisneau, a play/dance/theatre creation...monologue...thing created by Jerome Bel for a corps de ballet dancer of the Paris Opera
ballet. I love it.

Four parts, on youtube: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four.
posted by stray at 9:20 AM on May 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

After bad injury: one become costumes and stage designer for ballet theater; another went to the university to study mathematics.
Another ballerina – after retirement she become a DJ; and then went to the community college to study criminal justice, with a goal to become a lawyer.
posted by Sky12 at 10:43 AM on May 2, 2022

The physical therapist I worked with for a foot injury, who worked for a major health system as a specialist for athletes and performers, was once...a ballerina. Seemed like a sensible and direct career route for her.
posted by epanalepsis at 6:19 PM on May 2, 2022

I talked at length today to someone who trained seriously in ballet from childhood through college, but never worked in ballet after graduating. Instead she worked as a dancer in West End shows and as a backing dancer for rock & pop artists (concerts, videos, award shows, TV appearances, etc).

She quit in her 30s and now works at an Apple store, and is thinking of becoming a marine biologist or doing some sort of ocean-adjacent conservation work. (She's a keen swimmer and diver, and says that a lot of dancers swim to keep fit & while rehabbing injuries, since it's a form of exercise that's strenuous but non-weight-bearing.)

The dance studio I go to for classes always has a lot of audition notices on the notice board for modeling (not catwalk, but promos and photo shoots) and ad campaigns (TV, online and photos).
posted by Pallas Athena at 7:43 PM on May 2, 2022