How to Become a Professional Choreographer
If you love dancing and expressing ideas through movement, then a career as a professional choreographer may be right for you. Choreographers design dances, teach, perform and have the ability to be creative and imaginative under pressure. If you think this competitive career is for you, follow these steps to learn more about becoming a professional choreographer.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Challenging
Instructions
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1
Learn a classical form of dance as young as possible. Focus your dance training on a specific style of dance and begin intensive training in that style as a teenager. Begin auditioning for dance troupes and performances when you are 17 years old.
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Join a summer training program where you will work for a dance school company. Candidates are often chosen for admission to regular full-time training programs from these summer programs.
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Attend a conservatory or university with a well-known dance program. A degree isn't required to be a professional choreographer, but a broad education is desirable. Knowledge of music, literature, history and art inspires choreographers and helps them better interpret feelings and ideas through movement.
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4
Get practical work experience. Apply for an apprenticeship under a choreographer in your style of dance who you like and admire.
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Obtain a college degree in dance and education if you want to work as a choreographer/teacher in a college, high school or elementary school. While schools sometimes accept performance experience, universities and conservatories typically require a graduate degree.
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Keep dancing. Your reputation as a dancer is most likely to lead to opportunities for choreography work in dance schools, universities and dance companies. Choreograph anything and everything that you can in order to get your name and ideas in showcases and platforms.
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Tips & Warnings
High tech choreography may be the wave of the future, with choreographers mapping out dances on computers to get a feel for how the dance will look.
Other areas of university study for a choreographer are dance composition, dance history, movement analysis and criticism.
