Career Development Plan - How do I join a ballet company?

by Monique
(benicia)

Career Development Plan - How do I join a ballet company?

i'm 15 almost 16 in 2 months i started ballet when i was 13 and i'm in ballet 5/6 i'm not in pointe yet i'm in pre pointe class . how long does a person usually stay in pre pointe class before they can get pointe shoes? . my second question is how do i join a ballet company? i'm not sure how i know i started very late but i really want to try and join one. My 2 most favorite ones are san francisco ballet and the joffrey ballet chicago. So how do i do this ? :) by the way i'm a girl and i'm working on my flexibility everyday and i am a student at benicia ballet studio .

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Reply by Odette
To:- Career Development Plan - How do I join a ballet company?

Hi Monique,
Thank you for contacting me it's great to hear from you. It is a good start that you are on pre-pointe, I would say depending on your class and teacher it shouldn't be too long before you can get pointe shoes. However, it is all fantastic preparation so don't feel you should rush this stage. You can also ask your teacher how you are progressing which will give you a better idea to when you move onto pointe.

If you want to be even more prepared, then take a look at the video above. This is by dancer Lisa Howell and she has designed an ebook especially to help young dancers like yourself for pointe.

To join any ballet company, it takes tons of preparation and research to be considered for an audition in a ballet company. You have to write a CV and build up a portfolio with professional ballet photos of yourself, then contact each ballet company you wish to audition for. It is certainly not an easy process and you do not always get accepted to audition for certain ballet companies.

You should take a look at my dance auditions page, where I explain more about how to join a ballet company and what you have to do to reach that level.

Keep up the hard work and take one step a time!

Best wishes,
Odette