How Does Someone Become a Professional Backup Dancer?

For you, as parents reading this, you might have an idea in mind that your kids love dancing with us so much that they might want to keep doing it far into the future when they are older. So much so that maybe, just maybe, they consider it as something to take on as a profession. One of the biggest professions that dancing provides is becoming a backup dancer for a big musician, for example. You’ve seen it before; lots of musicians have backup dancers in their live sets and their music videos. So, how do these people land the job? That’s what we are here to explain if your kids are ever interested in this as their future job.

In this blog, we will explain how someone can become a professional backup dancer and take you through the step-by-step process.

Understanding What Makes a Backup Dancer

Before stepping into the world of professional dance, it’s important to understand what a backup dancer actually does. They are supporting players for a lead artist in a concert, music video, TV show, or movie, or they might show up in a commercial that involves dancing (example above with Taylor Swift). Their job is to help elevate the choreography and visual storytelling of dance to make it look as in sync and impressive as possible. It’s not an easy job and one that takes a lot of rehearsal and practice.

Background dancers are meant to be highly skilled performers who can work hard enough to combine the technique, stamina, and stage presence that the person they are following has as well. You have to be able to find a flow in a group dance that makes it look seamless. It’s physically demanding and requires a lot from you. A backup dancer must be a quick learner and adapt to change. If you can pick it up quickly, this career opportunity can be exciting! That’s what we want out of our students every day.

The Step-By-Step Process of Becoming a Backup Dancer

Training and Building a Strong Foundation

Any time you participate in a sport or other physical activity, you need proper training and a sense of foundation to bring you back to what built you up. For most professional dancers, this process takes years and years to develop and perfect. If you’re a professional dancer who specializes in multiple forms of dance, it’ll take even longer than just training for one. These core dance genres include ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and so much more, all of which help build versatility, help improve your resume, and are all forms that we teach at Dansations.

Consistency is key! In addition to all of that, keeping yourself in good shape is helpful for long-term effects. These performances are a strain on your body in many different ways, and if you don’t keep up with improvement, you may be doomed to fail. You must be able to know your limits from that perspective, and if you don’t believe you can meet that, then this profession may not be for you, but we believe in you to exceed all expectations if you are up to the task.

Gaining Good Experience and Education

We talk a lot about how big training is to your success, but that’s not always the case. You still have to learn when not on your toes. Lots of arts schools take you through non-dance-based classes. You have to learn the history of dance, study from past professionals who shaped that industry, and much more. At the end of the day, we’ve all learned from someone in the past, whether it’s someone in our personal lives or someone famous who rose to become one of the best.

You gain good experience from that, but also take yourself through many different avenues of dance in your off time. Build up your own resume through competitions, school dance programs, or your own independent project; that’s all you, and you use it as a reference for experience. These are all helpful for the next step in the process, which is the biggest one of them all.

Auditions and Building Connections Through Networking

After everything we just discussed, there’s only one thing left to do, which is to show yourself off to the world and to those who will hire you. There are two main types of auditions for you to get involved with: closed auditions and open auditions.

For an open audition, anyone is allowed to attend, hence the name. Close auditions are where you are personally invited to perform in front of someone who found you through industry connections. Open auditions might last several days cause there are more people to review. Judges will be looking hard at you to see if you perform with confidence and you give them a reason to consider you.

We alluded to it, but getting these opportunities because of industry connections you made through networking yourself is so vital. You can’t show yourself off if you don’t meet people and give them a reason to see what you can do. Talent alone rarely guarantees success! Building a relationship with people in the industry, like dance choreographers, agents, and so on, will lead to great things.

For us at Dansations, building up your kids is our goal every day when we teach them. Becoming a professional backup dancer is built on years of dedication, training, and networking experiences. Each step plays a crucial role, and if you leave out even one of them, it might all fall apart.

Thankfully, we’ve got you covered! Dansations has all the resources your kids need to start as early as possible. Everything from our regularly scheduled classes that you should sign up for, to what we are planning to do this summer. We have a great lineup of summer events that will keep your kids busy. Everything from our regular summer classes to pop culture summer camps based on media IP’s like Frozen and K-Pop Demon Hunters.

So much fun awaits, so if you have any questions about this blog topic or our classes, summer camps, and other important dates, reach out now through our contact form, and we will get back to you as soon as we can!