IN such a competitive profession, how do you hold the line on pay and conditions when there are other dancers lined up to take your place? It is a slippery slope for pre-professional and early career dancers.
According to Julie Englefield, from Ausdance Queensland, dancers are the lowest paid profession within the performing arts. This just simply does not tally with the years of training, hard work, perseverance and dedication it takes to “make” it. But what happens if “making it” becomes a nightmare? One young dancer and graduate from a full-time pre-professional dance program has come forward to share her experience of what happened when she asked questions about her contract and stood up for herself in her