How can I work in the field of dance?
I want to make my career in the field of dance. How can I work in this field? What courses do I need to take and where can I take them? Besides dance, psychology interests me a lot. I’m confused whether I should do graduation, post-graduation and Ph.D. in Psychology or focus on getting trained in dance. Please help.
Ritika / St Mary’s Convent, Allahabad
Careers in dance range from performance to production, teaching to dance therapy. Other careers include choreography and dance direction. The growing popularity of dance in recent years has resulted in increased employment opportunities in teaching dance. But the competition is very keen in this field, and as a result only the most talented will find regular employment.
Dance is perhaps one of those fields where you’ll need luck more than anything to succeed, no matter how talented you are. It really is all about getting people to take notice of you, and many dancers become successful after being in the right place at the right time. Earnings also are generally low because dancers’ employment is irregular. They often must supplement their income by taking temporary jobs unrelated to dancing or teach dance to students. Hence, it is advisable to go for regular course in Psychology and pursue dance classes alongside this.
Dr Vibha Gupta, a feature writer, is a Ph.D. in Mathematics from IIT Roorkee. Her book Careers: A Pathfinder and articles in various publications are an attempt to guide students in choosing a career according to their natural strengths, talents and skills.