Explore careers

Useful experience for dancers includes:

• physical activities such as athletics
• dance
• ability to play a musical instrument
• acting or any other kind of public performance.

Dancers may do some or all of the following:

• attend dance classes to rehearse movements and learn techniques
• exercise daily
• research and identify what areas of their body are prone to injury, and work to prevent this
• combine movement with musical accompaniment
• audition for dance companies and dance roles
• study and practise roles
• complete tasks set by choreographers
• perform in front of an audience or camera.

Few opportunities for dancers

It is difficult to find full-time work as a dancer in New Zealand, so dancers often have other jobs as their main source of income.

According to the Census, 150 dancers worked in New Zealand in 2018.

Dancers typically have short careers

A dancer's career can be quite short due to the physically demanding nature of the role, and the risk of long-term injury. As a result, many dancers go on to work as dance teachers or administrators in the arts industry.

Dancers may also retrain in another area of work when they finish their dancing career.

Few employers of full-time dancers

The Royal New Zealand Ballet, which consists of 16 male and 16 female ballet dancers, is one of the few employers of full-time dancers in New Zealand. Other employers of dancers in New Zealand include:

• New Zealand Dance Company
• Kahurangi Māori Dance Company
• Black Grace
• Footnote New Zealand Dance.

Dancers may work on contract for corporate events, musical productions or contemporary dance companies.

New Zealand School of Dance

(04) 381 9252 - dance@nzschoolofdance.ac.nz - www.nzschoolofdance.ac.nz

Unitec Institute of Technology

0800 10 95 10 - study@unitec.ac.nz - www.unitec.ac.nz

University of Auckland

0800 61 62 63 - studentinfo@auckland.ac.nz - www.auckland.ac.nz

Dancers can move into:

• dance production
• choreography
• teaching dance
• arts administration.

They may also progress to become artistic directors or set up their own dance studio.

• Artistic director job information

Dancers may specialise in a particular style of dance such as:

• ballet
• contemporary
• Latin
• ballroom
• jazz
• tap
• burlesque
• kapa haka (Māori cultural dance).

Dancers need to be:

• creative
• motivated and disciplined
• able to pay attention to detail
• punctual and reliable
• adaptable
• good communicators.