How to become a backup dancer: best tips to follow

Backup dancers provide assistance for well-known recording artists during concerts, tours, and music videos. They are renowned for their adaptable skill set, great technique, unflagging stamina, and vast live performance experience.

Performers from a variety of backgrounds can work in this gig-based industry, from highly educated dancers who have been trained since birth to relative newbies discovered in clubs and colleges.

But that doesn't mean this industry is merciful; the backup dance one is a fast-paced, cutthroat industry, and those who choose to pursue it professionally must put in a lot of effort to be competitive. Keep reading for our best tips on how to become a backup dancer.

Take several different dancing lessons and cross-training

It's better to become comfortable with many sorts of dancing since you never know what kind of dance will be requested of you at each audition. Enroll in ballet, jazz, hip-hop, contemporary, and other lessons so that you can handle everything.

Enroll in a ballet lesson if you don't know where to begin. You will benefit from ballet as an excellent foundational class for all other forms of dance. You may prepare for any performance by attending dance classes once a week and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

To increase things like your flexibility, endurance, and strength, it may be quite beneficial to engage in different types of exercise and training. To become even stronger, enroll in a yoga class, go for a long swim, or spend a few hours at the gym each week.

Get stage experience to better prepare for backup dancing

When you start working as a backup dancer, this will make it easier for you to get used to dancing on stage. If you're taking a dance class, try out for a dance team or perform onstage in recitals to gain valuable experience dancing in front of an audience.

See if there is a talent show being held at your school or a nearby community center that you may perform in. Join a community acting program or a theater club at your school to gain experience performing in front of an audience.

Find auditions

The only way to get employed as a backup dancer is through an audition, which can be either open or closed. Open auditions are available to everyone and are consequently crowded and time-consuming.

Closed auditions are only available to those with strong connections or a stellar reputation. Open auditions, where backup dancers compete to stand out over the course of as many as three 10-hour days, place a premium on stamina, cleverness, and charm.

Make a dancing résumé

Your dance résumé should detail all of your prior dance-related experience, much like a conventional employment CV would. List any further dance-related employment you may have held, along with any degrees or training in the discipline.

Include your work experience and unique abilities in the résumé's format as you would for a typical job application. Your dance résumé would list any commercials or movies in which you performed. Indicate if you attended a dance school, and include the names of the dance studios you attended for your training.

Take headshots that are professional-looking

To give them a clear impression of your looks, you must bring a headshot to the audition. Ask a friend or professional photographer to snap the pictures, focusing on your face.

You want the viewer to solely focus on you, so smile genuinely in the photo and try to make any clothing and surroundings as basic as possible.

Hire an agent to assist you

Find local dance or talent agencies and ask if they would be interested in collaborating with you. Find local talent agencies by performing a fast web search, then get in touch with them by phone or email to inquire about their availability for new dancers. Send them a video of yourself dancing along with your dance résumé and photograph.

An agency may link you with people you might not otherwise know and will be aware of local dance audition opportunities. If you compete in dance contests, this might be a great opportunity to meet talent agents since judges for competitions are frequently talent agents.

Think about moving to a bigger city

If you're having trouble getting auditions, it's possible that there aren't many options for backup dancing in your city. Consider relocating to a bigger city with a strong dance community.

Expand your network

Find out about auditions through making friends with other dancers

Since these folks will be looking for possible openings as well, this is the best method to learn about potential backup dance chances. To build a network of excellent contacts, get to know the people in your dancing lessons as well as the people you meet during auditions.

Attend different dance classes in different city

Try taking a new class at a different studio or traveling to another city to visit a dance studio there instead of exclusively dancing at one facility all the time. You will experience various dancing settings, movements, and individuals as a result of this.

Get their contact information, such as their name and phone number or email address, since they could turn out to be fantastic dance contacts in the future.

Be active on social media

To promote yourself as a dancer, use social media. The ability to upload images and videos of your dancing on social media will enable you to be found by possible employers or agencies.

This is the finest technique to demonstrate your dancing abilities to everyone. When you've perfected a dance routine, videotape yourself doing it and post the video to a website like YouTube. More viewers will be able to see your films if you make them easy to view and get to.

How to become a backup dancer - Conclusion

As long as you are aware of the realities of the profession, backup dancing may be a pleasant and exciting vocation. With hard preparation, passion, and a determination to find employment through social media and other channels, perhaps you might be the inspiration behind a future musical hit!

Please visit our blog area if you liked this post and want to read more advices about dancing and general information about the music business.

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Written by CalypsoRoom Editorial Team
The CalypsoRoom Editorial Team is a skilled and diverse group of writers, researchers, and industry specialists who have access to Calypso's data and information in order to give you broad knowledge about the music industry as well as helpful advice to help you manage your music and dancing career.

Updated January 2023