Sure, it’s hard for lots of people in a down economy, but for some dancers, this year has been a career killer.
For many of them, training begins practically in toddlerhood, and after a decade of preparation within the four walls of a studio, they have but a slim window of time to pursue a career before injuries and age catch up with them.
Unfortunately, dance being the brutal, youth-oriented business that it is, new hires are most attractive to company directors in their late teens, or possibly early 20s. An unemployed dancer with several years of company experience under his or her belt may face slim prospects of finding another gig.
And these days, unemployment is the sad case for more than a few.
The numbers are grim: Among the larger companies, New York City Ballet has let 11 dancers go, Miami City Ballet has laid off seven dancers in addition to getting rid of live music, and San Francisco Ballet has laid off six dancers.
Crystal Hartford, 24, lives in Denver and had danced with the Colorado Ballet for four years when she was pink-slipped this winter.
“They let me know Feb. 17,” said Hartford, who recently auditioned with the Cincinnati Ballet. “I’ll never forget that day.”
Artistic director Gil Boggs said attendance and ticket sales were up this season, but a drop in contributions led him to lay off four dancers.
Hartford’s first thought: “My career’s over, especially given the way the economy is right now.”
To make matters worse, the timing of the bad news meant that she had already missed out on many of the annual open auditions typically held by ballet troupes in January and February.
Hartford had to finish the season with the Colorado Ballet and couldn’t begin looking for another job immediately. Once performances ended in March, however, she began mailing out tapes of herself, calling everyone she knows in the field and flying around the country to show off her arabesque to whomever invites her to take a company class. So far, all she has come away with is “we’d love to have you and just can’t afford it,” she said.
Dancer salaries vary according to the size of the company, the dancer’s rank and experience, and the number of weeks for which he or she is paid.
A new member of a company the size of the Cincinnati or Colorado ballets (25 to 30 dancers) usually earns $460 to $550 per week for a contract of 33 to 35 weeks. A principal dancer earns around $1,000.
“It’s very scary right now,” Hartford said. If she doesn’t land a full contract, her Plan B is to market herself as a free- lancer, dropping in for guest- artist gigs in the odd “Nutcracker,” for instance. Dancing has been “my dream since I was 3 years old,” she said. “It’s hard to think that maybe you could lose everything you’ve worked for for so long.”
Meanwhile, teenage graduates of professional training programs are having a hard time landing that first dance job. Companies “are just not hiring dancers,” said Susan Jaffe, the former American Ballet Theatre star who runs the Princeton Dance and Theater Studio.
