r/BALLET • u/fairly_forgetful • Jul 18 '25

Constructive Criticism can i dance professionally, rule request?

This is sort of a meta post, hope this is ok!

I have noticed a lot of posts in the last few months from dancers of varying levels (many yet to begin!) wondering if they could ever dance professionally. The answer is almost always "it depends", or if it's being asked in a strictly ballet, join a company kind of capacity, if you're old enough to ask here and you aren't already in a pre-pro track it's almost always "no".

Can we maybe have a rule added or something in the sidebar or in the pinned post with a paragraph or so summarizing this? Because I see it so often, and I think many of us who comment here regularly are growing less patient with it, and it is not the fault of the poster, but it is a bewildering request, and one that I don't think many other professional athlete forums are fielding. (Unless the users in the basketball subreddit are getting asked often if they have a chance to play professionally...)

The reality is just for so many dancers, you just need to take class (it is so so often somebody asking who has not even started dancing yet) and see what the reality of dance is- and then talk to the teachers who are above you. Real life teachers, not internet teachers. The people watching you dance, who know your technique and your body and your drive. Once you are a few classes in you realize how big the mountain is ahead of you, and you get to focus on enjoying your hobby.

I'm not sure if it is because part of ballet is the ease/effortless look of good dancing that makes people think they could pick it up- or the idea that good turnout or having the right kind of feet somehow magically turn you into a really good dancer. But I see these posts so so often and I never want to be discouraging to someone who truly has not even taken their first class yet, but it is confusing and a little strange and even maybe belittling to pro dancers that so many people seem to think they could pick up a professional career from zero training within a year or two.

and sorry if this is too meta- I have seen these posts a lot and I wanted to jumpstart a discussion about it.

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148

u/Roshers Jul 18 '25

PLEASE!!! If someone is a random prodigy who rocks starting at 17 and can have a ballet career, reddit strangers will not know!

At the very least can we have an automod response? It’s exhausting and I agree weirdly belittling to ask before you’ve done any of the hard work. Maybe you won’t even like ballet once you realize you’re just going to be doing plies and tendus and not grand allegro for a little while haha

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u/PavicaMalic Jul 18 '25

I think an automod response is a good idea.

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u/Caitables Jul 18 '25

I agree! Besides even if someone is a 17 year old prodigy on the first class, there’re so many other aspects to whether or not you’ll make it beyond perfect technique. Can they handle the pressure of multiple roles? How quickly do they pick up choreography? Do they work well with the people in the front of the room? there’s no way anyone can give a valuable answer to some stranger asking for feedback

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u/PavicaMalic Jul 18 '25

There's also such a range of reactions to performing before an audience. Some people thrive on it, others become paralyzed. I knew a couple of young dancers from a superb academy in DC (now closed) who were ill with stage fright at their first YAGP regionals. They knew their variations and were solid, but they had never been before a large audience. One overcame it and was energized, the other quit not long afterward.

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u/LazyRiverGuide Jul 19 '25

Has that random 17 year old prodigy existed yet?

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u/RubOk5135 Jul 22 '25

Actually yes it’s this girl on TikTok who claims she only did ballet for 2 years before going pro, (she’s a apprentice)she def had previous experience as a child and quit/ came back type of situation.

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u/LazyRiverGuide Jul 22 '25

Where is she an apprentice and what is her name? I’d love to learn more about her journey.

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u/Auzurabla Jul 23 '25

I've read a few biographies of girls starting at 12 or 13 and going pro. I knew a few men who started at 17-18 as contemporary dancers who ended up in companies. So you do never know.

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u/LazyRiverGuide Jul 24 '25

If you know their names I would love to learn more about their stories. Also, I probably should have specified “women”. I truly don’t believe there have ever been any women who started at 17 and made it to a paid contracted position dancing at a professional company. And I mean a professional company that is on the Dance Data Project list of top 150 companies. I could more easily believe it for a man who already had some dance adjacent training (like gymnastics or ice skating or diving).

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u/Auzurabla Jul 24 '25

Evelyn Hart from Royal Winnipeg ballet started at 12.

The men I knew were getting apprenticeships at contemporary companies after 2-3 years of training, which was extremely aggravating (the women all had 10+ years of course). There weren't a lot of men but the ones I knew had all but 1, interestingly, done years of karate, and they were mostly gay from homophobic small towns who actually couldn't take class until they moved to the city. I guess that's tangential to your question, but I really want to keep sharing their stories.