Professional performing careers in ballet are usually quite short, averaging about seven years. They tend to be longer if one is in musical theatre. With an undergraduate degree, dancers have several options when it comes time for transition. Dancers from our programs have found work as artistic directors of companies, freelance choreographers, and as dancers in Broadway and other musical theatre productions. Many have gone into the area of dance publicity and development and work as publicists or marketing directors for university and non-profit arts programs, including the National Endowment for the Arts.
Large numbers go on to teaching careers in conservatories and private schools of dance.
Several ballet alumni own and direct their own schools. For some students who enter the program at the upper-division level, it is possible to graduate in three years, particularly if the dancer has an opportunity to dance professionally during the senior year. Other students have been successful pursuing a double major or minor in another subject area. Dancers often come back to school after performing careers seeking to finish B.F.A. degrees if they left before graduating or they wish to enter graduate school in preparation for teaching and choreographing on the university level. The faculty in the Ballet Department encourages you to explore the many possibilities open to you while you are on this campus.