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115. ENCORE: Side Gigs I've Had as a Professional Dancer
53 Plays6 hours ago
It’s no secret that many dancers in the industry are underpaid and overworked. And while we’re pushing for change, the reality is that many of us will take on side gigs to support ourselves financially, especially when we’re first starting out.
I found it necessary to have a side gig during my entire professional ballet career in order to support myself. Of course, some of these gigs were better than others and eventually I fell into my dream job!
Have you ever wondered what kind of side gigs might work for a professional dancer? Tune in to this encore of one of my most popular episodes as I dish about the ways I supplemented my income throughout my professional dance career.
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Questions/comments? Email me at caitlin@thebrainyballerina.com
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Transcript
Caitlin's Introduction and Podcast Purpose
00:00:05
Speaker
I'm Caitlin, a former professional ballerina turned dance educator and career mentor, and this is the Brand New Ballerina podcast. I am here for the aspiring professional ballerina who wants to learn what it really takes to build a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry. I'm peeling back the curtain of the professional dance world with open and honest conversations about the realities of becoming a professional dancer.
00:00:29
Speaker
Come along to gain the knowledge and inspiration you need to succeed in a dance career on your terms.
Financial Realities for Dancers
00:00:39
Speaker
Welcome to the Brainy Ballerina Podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Sloan, and I am here today with a solo episode talking all about my various side gigs that I've while working as a professional dancer.
00:00:51
Speaker
Now, it's no secret that many dancers in the industry are underpaid and overworked, and while we are working for change, we're The reality is that many of us will take on side gigs to support ourselves financially during our dance careers, especially when you're first starting out. As many of you know, the entry point into a professional dance career is very often an unpaid or low-pay traineeship or apprenticeship. And so, especially during that time, side gig may be necessary.
00:01:20
Speaker
I found that I had to have another job during my entire professional ballet career in order to support
Caitlin's Side Gigs Journey
00:01:28
Speaker
myself. I danced for smaller companies. And while I felt like I found so much fulfillment in that and I made that choice very consciously, it also did mean that dancing in a smaller company, i knew that I had less benefits. I had lower pay. And so I did have to take on other work to support myself.
00:01:50
Speaker
And so today I'm going to talk you through all the different side gigs I had and give you just my input on what maybe you should be looking for and a side gig and what might be helpful for you as you're trying to figure out this part of your career.
00:02:05
Speaker
I had a few jobs in high school, but I'm going to start with my job that I took on the summer I graduated from college as I prepared to move to Arizona to dance as a trainee with Ballet Tucson. Once I graduated, I got this contract in June and I knew it was unpaid. So once I decided to take that and I was going into the season and I believe our season started a little later. i think it didn't start till end of August, maybe beginning of September.
00:02:30
Speaker
And so i had a little extra time in the summer to really work a ton and save money. And that was pretty much my game plan was that I was going to work as many hours as I could over the summer before I moved to have a savings that I could use during the season.
00:02:48
Speaker
I knew I'd have to get another job as well, but I wanted to have something to start with. I had had some waitressing experience in high school, and so I decided to go that route. I felt like that was going to be the most bang for my buck.
00:03:01
Speaker
And I was going be able to get pretty good hours. I don't even remember why I ended up applying for this restaurant, but I applied for a job at Cheeseburger in Paradise, which was like a Jimmy Buffett restaurant in Metro Detroit.
00:03:14
Speaker
And I got the job on the spot and worked there all summer. For me, waitressing was not my all-time favorite side gig, but there was some pros for sure.
00:03:25
Speaker
It can be pretty fun if you're working with the right people. I really
Moving for Dance Opportunities
00:03:29
Speaker
truly believe that every single person should work in the service industry at some point in their life. I think it really opens your eyes to what your servers, your cooks, all the people working are going through so that when you're going out to a meal and you've had that experience on the other side, you understand how much goes into it and how any mistakes are often not your server's fault, but they're the one taking the brunt of it. There was so many times that I didn't get tipped for something that was out of my control. One thing that's tough about working as a server is that your income is not consistent. So you're not making the same amount of money each time you go to work. Whereas like for retail, you probably have an hourly wage and then you...
00:04:12
Speaker
You'll know if you have this many hours, you'll make this much money. So you can plan a little bit easier. Waitressing is not that consistent. It all depends on the tips you make that day, how busy the restaurant is, how many people come into your section, what the turnover is like.
00:04:26
Speaker
So it can really vary, but the potential is much bigger. And I hope that people know that when you're waitressing, I'm sure this is higher now because this is in 2009. But when I started waitressing in 2009,
00:04:39
Speaker
I was paid $2.65 an hour. That was minimum wage for waitressing. And then the bulk of your take-home pay is from tips. So if you haven't worked in the service industry, please remember this, that your servers are working for a next to nothing for the most part. They are making money from tips. So if something happens, I understand the inclination to leave a bad tip or not want a tip. But no matter what as a customer now, I always make sure to leave at least a 20% tip and more if they go above and beyond. Because
00:05:09
Speaker
I know what it's like to have a table that doesn't tip you at all. And maybe you did make a mistake and sometimes it's out of your control. But either way, now your take-home pay is really going down and we all make mistakes no matter what job we have. So just give your servers a little bit of grace.
00:05:25
Speaker
Okay, but getting off of my soapbox there, I was able to save quite a bit of money working all summer Cheeseburger in Paradise. And then when I moved to Arizona, I did not have a job lined up going in.
00:05:37
Speaker
One thing that was interesting about our contract – was that we were not allowed to teach dance at any studios outside of the company within a 50-mile radius, I believe. So I really wanted to teach dance, but that was not an option per my contract. So I decided to stick with the waitressing. and I felt like that had been working out pretty well for me. I was able to make pretty good money. The hours were complementary to my dance schedule.
00:06:02
Speaker
So I looked into that. When i first danced in Arizona, our schedule was kind of interesting. We did four shows a year and we danced four or five weeks on. Then we had four or five weeks off. So we would rehearse for like a month. We'd do the performance, and we'd have a full month off. We would come back to do the next round of shows. So I needed to find a job that would really be flexible and work with me on this schedule. Because the other thing I was dealing with was I had about two days a week that I could actually work at a paid employment with my dance schedule. We danced Tuesday through Friday, 10 to 4.
00:06:37
Speaker
and then we danced pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday. Our only day off was Monday. So we had Mondays off. I always had that day free to work. Ideally, I would have not had to work and be able to recover and relax that day, but that wasn't my reality. So I always worked on Mondays. And then as a trainee, I also had evening
Balancing Multiple Jobs and Dance
00:06:55
Speaker
classes Tuesday, Thursday. And we had rehearsals with the company Friday nights. because we incorporated dancers from the school.
00:07:02
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So if you're doing the math here, you'll see that my only days to work were Monday and Wednesday afternoon. When we were dancing, those four weeks we were on, I only worked a couple of days a week. I was making next to no money. I was dipping into all my savings. And then when we were off, I'd be able to work a lot more.
00:07:17
Speaker
So I would be able to get more hours. So I found a job and it was really funny because I went on Craigslist. I don't know if Craigslist is still a thing, but the time... That was like my main way to find a job. So I go on Craigslist and I found a listing for a new restaurant opening up called Burger City and they were looking for waitresses. I went to a hiring event they had and the owner was immediately – Very impressed by my resume. Happy Cheeseburger in Paradise on it. He was like, oh, you must know a lot about burgers, which I don't think was really true. But, you know, he thought that was very impressive and hired me on the spot again. Unfortunately, the restaurant was just in the beginning stages of opening and they weren't ready open when they said they were going to be. and they also had to end up changing their name because of a lawsuit. So.
00:07:59
Speaker
They changed the name from Burger City to Monkey Burger and they opened it a little bit later. So that very first month that I was off, I actually had nothing. i had no work and I probably should have gone out and gotten a different job, but I was already committed to this.
00:08:13
Speaker
And I just kind of said, okay, I'll just wait it out until they open. Because it was kind of like every week they would say, oh we're pushing it a week back. We're pushing it a week back. I didn't really have the full picture of how long that was going to last. for. But I was probably about a month and then I started working there and I really am grateful that I waited because they were so, so kind to me. It was a small local business and they really worked with me and my schedule and making sure that I could get more hours on the months that I was off, that I had my schedule worked out for when we had performances. They were very, very accommodating and that was wonderful. Another great thing was that it was kind of more of a fast casual restaurant as opposed to sit down service. So we were paid a higher minimum wage.
00:08:53
Speaker
But we still did get quite a few tips because we were really hands-on. So I felt like the take-home pay was pretty good from that. And we didn't stay and crazy late. So the hours weren't terrible. I felt like it was a really good place to work. If you listen to episode five with Emily Baker, you'll hear us talking more about our experience working there together because we both danced in the company and worked at Monkey Burgers together, which was super fun. After my first year dancing in Arizona, i ended up moving home for the summer because we had about five months off. And so I was really trying to save money on rent. So I moved back to Michigan for the summer. Knowing I would go back, I actually had an aunt who lived in the area. So I was able to leave my car there with her and fly home for the summer, borrow my parents' car to go to work. So this summer, between my two seasons in Arizona, I went back to working at Cheeseburger in Paradise a little bit. And again, they were very accommodating to me were
00:09:45
Speaker
really great about letting me kind of work a few weeks on and then not come in for a while. So they were really great about that. But the main job that I did during this summer was work as a chaperone for the ABT Detroit Summer Intensive, which was awesome. I will say the
Teaching Dance and Achieving Stability
00:10:00
Speaker
pay wasn't significant, but it was a paid job and I got to take free classes in the intensive, which was huge. And I got obviously free room and board. So I wasn't paying for any food. I wasn't paying for housing. i got to take free ballet classes whenever I wasn't on the clock. We had kind of like shifts.
00:10:18
Speaker
So if you weren't one of the chaperones that was supposed to be transporting people or being on hallway duty, then you were able to go take classes, which was awesome. So I was doing that for about a month. And then in between I was also working at Cheeseburger in Paradise, again, saving money. i was really glad I decided to the chaperone gig because it really helped me stay in dancing shape. I felt like the summer before with waitressing so much, I was barely getting in class. So when the season started, i was definitely like zero to 60. With this gig, I was able to take class quite a bit so that when I went back in the fall, I was so ready. I remember getting cast pretty well actually in that first show because I came back like raring to go. So that was a really great gig that supported my dancing and also paid.
00:11:01
Speaker
I also made a lot of really great connections and I had attended the ABT Detroit intensive as a kid. And so it was really cool to go back a few years later and get to be a chaperone and be on the other side of it and just really be there for the dancers who are attending, make some really great connections and have a really enjoyable summer. And then I went back to Arizona, went back to working at Monkey Burger. also picked up a babysitting gig, which was kind of crazy. i wanted to start babysitting. I had met this family. I can't remember how I got in touch with them, but they were looking for a sitter to come over in the morning while the mom was getting ready for her day to watch the two kids. There was a military base near us and they lived in the military base. The dad was in the military. And so
00:11:41
Speaker
he had pretty crazy hours and she wanted someone to come watch the kids while she got ready in the morning, which I remember thinking at the time, like that's kind of a weird reason to hire a babysitter. But now that I have kids, I totally get it. i would go over there and I would babysit from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. m I would go to rehearsal 10 to 4 and then I work at Monkey Burger 430 to 9. And that was most days because at this point going back my second season, I was an apprentice and I was no longer taking evening classes with the school. And so that really freed up a lot of my schedule to be able to work more.
00:12:12
Speaker
and so i was working 14-hour days at this point, which was a lot. And it was definitely not sustainable. But I kind of pushed through because i knew we had a month on and then a month off. So I'd have a little bit of leeway once we got through. Looking back now, I did get a pretty serious injury. And I wonder how much overworking myself contributed to that probably significantly.
00:12:35
Speaker
So looking back, I probably shouldn't have done so much, but the same time, I didn't really feel like I had a choice because I didn't have enough income to support myself. I needed to generate more income.
00:12:47
Speaker
I also qualified for food assistance through the state of Arizona. So that was really helpful too. So just a hint for dancers, if you are in the beginning stages of your career, if your income is very low, something to look into through your state to see if you qualify for food assistance because I think I was able to get $200 a month. you know I had a debit card and it was automatically loaded to my card on the first of the month so I could buy groceries and that would last me for a while too. So that was super helpful. When I finished my second season in Arizona, i I told this story in the very first episode of the podcast, but I flew from Arizona, left my car there and it was completely packed. like I knew I was leaving, but I didn't know where I was going yet. So my car was completely packed with all of my belongings and it was in storage.
00:13:35
Speaker
And I flew to Missouri and I got my job in Missouri and then I flew home. And then my friend Emily, who I mentioned earlier in the episode, was coming for one of our other friend's weddings. Two of the dancers that we danced with in Tucson were getting married in Michigan. She was coming for the wedding. So she and her boyfriend at the time drove my car from Arizona back to Michigan, which was amazing and I still cannot thank her enough for doing that. Anyways, I didn't have my car for like the first half of the summer and I was kind of a little bit adrift because I was in between these jobs. I was moving from Tucson.
00:14:08
Speaker
I was back in Michigan. Then I was going to Missouri. I didn't really know what I was doing as far as my summer plans. I really didn't want to go back to Cheeseburger in Paradise. I really appreciated working there. But I was just so over waitressing. I'd been doing it for, I guess, only two years, which is not that long. But for me, it felt like it was forever. I was like, I need a break from this. To be quite honest, people can be very, very awful when you're in the service business, which is why I said earlier, I think everyone should take a stab at working in the service business at some point in their life so they understand. But it was wearing on me. And so remember I was home and I hadn't found a job yet and I wasn't wanting to go back to Cheeseburger in Paradise. my mom was like, well, you got to get a job.
00:14:47
Speaker
You can't just sit around all summer. You need to make money, which was very true. And i remember being at my sister's dance convention and we were in the hotel room and we were talking and I kept saying, i don't want a waitress anymore. and she's like, well, what else do you like to do? and I was thinking about it and I remembered when I was in high school, my neighbor, Melissa, had a landscaping business.
00:15:07
Speaker
And I had worked for her kind of sporadically. Like she would just kind of call me up if she needed someone for the day, if she had a bigger job. And I would go work for her for the day. And I said, I really loved doing that. I loved being outside. I just really liked being in nature. It was fun. And she was like, well, let's look for a job. So once
Finding Enjoyable Side Gigs
00:15:25
Speaker
again, i went to Craigslist and just searched for landscaping jobs. And I found a company called the Bloomingals. It was a all-female landscaping business.
00:15:35
Speaker
And I thought that looks kind of cool. So I sent an email to the owner and and actually the owner was male, but the rest of the crew was female. And he hired me on the spot and I spent the entire summer working for Blooming Gals, which I absolutely adored.
00:15:50
Speaker
I just thought it was the best job ever. I love weeding. i did not like mulching. i could have done without mulching, but I really love weeding, planting flowers, just getting my hands dirty It was really enjoyable and being outside all day.
00:16:05
Speaker
The only downside was that If it was raining or bad weather, we didn't work and then we didn't get paid. So that was kind of a bummer, but the hourly pay was great. Hours were long. mean, we worked every day for probably 12 hours, but I didn't mind. I wasn't dancing. You know, was summer. I was taking class here and there, but it was the only thing I was doing. And we had the weekends off. We worked Monday through Friday, unless there was like a really big job. But with that, it was kind of like, are you available? Do you want to work? We had a choice there. But yeah, I just really enjoyed doing that. And it was a great way to spend my summer.
00:16:38
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:17:45
Speaker
And then in the fall... I moved to Missouri to start my career with Missouri Contemporary Ballet, and I was really pumped because the schedule was Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and that was really amazing because it meant that I could have another job and still have time to actually relax and have a day off.
00:18:05
Speaker
So that was huge to me, and one of the big reasons I was really excited about going there, and I was really excited because they were opening a school that year. So I knew that I was going to have an opportunity to teach in their school. And one of the dancers, Carrie, I've talked about her before. She's my dear friend. She was transitioning into the role of school director for the school that was opening. And so she had been teaching at a number of local studios around the town.
00:18:27
Speaker
And she was looking for someone to replace her. So fortunately, I got that gig. So I was teaching at three studios, two that were more competitive and then at MCB, which was a ballet-based school. It was really interesting because the vibes were very different at every school. The one school was very competition-focused. And ballet wasn't one of their main things that they were working on, but they were really diligent about having ballet class. They did take it seriously, even though it wasn't their favorite because they saw the results. They saw that when they put the work in a ballet class and improve their technique and improve their scores for competition. and so they really
Embracing Career Flexibility
00:19:03
Speaker
worked hard. I really enjoyed working there and I got to know the dancers and the parents really well. And they were very welcoming to me and to their community. i felt like I was part of a team.
00:19:13
Speaker
It was a really cool environment to work with. I also taught at a studio that was about but half an hour away, and I didn't end up staying there for quite as long mainly because of the commute and also because i was teaching hip hop, which is not something I should be teaching. But I was the only person who was willing to teach it, and I had been on my college dance team, so we did jazz hip hop poms. I was very unqualified to teach that. I don't think I did anything like harmful in teaching that. But it wasn't really hip hop. After one year, I decided to take a step back from that position because I really wanted to teach ballet there, but they already had a ballet teacher. So that's kind of though how it goes when you first get into teaching. You'll get more hours if you are willing to teach anything.
00:19:53
Speaker
And they didn't have another hip hop teacher. There wasn't like there was somebody else I was pushing out. They really needed someone to teach these classes. So I said, OK, I'll do it. But as my teaching career went on, of course, I started to stick to what I know as I became more qualified, as I got more confidence. But starting out, getting your foot in the door, the more you're willing to teach, the more age groups, the more styles, the more hours you're going to get. And then for MCB, I was teaching the little ones. And then I was also teaching open classes for adults. So I had a huge variety of teaching in my schedule. I was probably teaching 20 to 25 hours a week, which is great. And I was getting paid really well. And I was actually able to support myself. Another really cool thing about working at
00:20:37
Speaker
The competition studio was that a lot of the dancers were very motivated to do more private lessons because they had their solos, they were competing, and they really wanted to work on the technical aspects of it. And i sort of became the technical go-to person at the studio. So if the
Community Engagement and Encouragement
00:20:53
Speaker
director wanted one of the dancers to work on the technique, she would say, you know, schedule a private with Caitlin.
00:20:58
Speaker
So I ended up having a lot of private lessons, which you can charge more for. You should charge more for because you are working one-on-one with a dancer. That was incredible. And I, for the first time in my dance career, I was still not getting paid to dance in the company, but I was supporting myself. I was living on my own. I didn't have roommates. I was in a one-bedroom apartment. And I was able to pay for was paying all my bills. I actually was filing a place where I was like, I'm making this work. And that felt really, really good. And it also felt really good to be doing it through all dance-related things. Because at this point, I had thought to myself, I really want to just be in the dance industry. I want to be dancing. I want to be teaching. I want this to be my career.
00:21:39
Speaker
And so even though teaching was sort of my side gig, it meant way more to me. And I really enjoyed it just as much as I did dancing. So it didn't feel like a burden or like another thing I had to do. It was an exciting part of my day. And it really motivated me. And it gave me something more than any other job I've ever had. And it's interesting because I do know a lot of dancers in the company. I would say MCB, it was about half and half of us wanted to teach or did not want to teach. We all had the option to teach in the school, which was really cool. And so about half of us
00:22:10
Speaker
like I said, would teach in the school and also supplement other places. And then there were some people who were just like, that is not for me. I don't want to teach. And they, for the most part, still had other jobs, but they were doing something totally different. And a lot of the dancers waitressed or bartended something along those lines. And they really enjoyed it.
00:22:30
Speaker
And for them, it was kind of like their escape from dance. You know, they didn't want to be within the same four walls all day long. They wanted to go out and do something totally different. talk to different people, is a different part of their brain.
00:22:43
Speaker
And so we always talk about how important it is to have things outside of the dance studio that are important to you that you enjoy doing. And for some dancers, that can be your side gig. That could be waitressing. and That could be bartending. That could be whatever and else it is that you want to do. There's nothing wrong with doing that. I think there's a stigma people have that that's negative or they look down on someone for having that kind of side job. But if that's what makes you happy and you want to do it, great. And you can make really great money and really support yourself with that. That's something to really think about and be aware of. For me, being in the dance studios and being totally enthralled in teaching and dancing felt really good. And then I had the other things in my life that were important that I did outside of those things. But for some people, they need more time away to be able to come back into the studio rejuvenated. So knowing yourself and knowing what you need is super important. Some other random sad gigs that i picked up while I was living in Missouri was I did a lot of house sitting.
00:23:36
Speaker
My director had quite a few friends who were looking for either a house sitter or a dog sitter when they were traveling. So I would go stay at their house and watch their dog or their cat or just their house. And that was really fun. i did a little bit of babysitting, but not much because it just never seemed to work out with my schedule when they needed me. had one family that I absolutely adored working for.
00:23:55
Speaker
But at some point, they had asked me, I think, so many times in a row to sit, and I just couldn't do it. And it just kind of tapered away because I just got so busy. But I really adored babysitting for them.
00:24:06
Speaker
and I found those jobs through care.com, I believe. So that's another great way to find jobs. I also worked for a company called Bar, and it was founded by two professional dancers from Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, and they had these delicious like whole food bars. So one day, our director of operations came into the dressing room, and she told us about the company and said they're looking for a product rep to go out to Clover's, which was our like natural food store in town, and set up a table, give out samples, kind of spread the word about these bars. So I signed on to do that, which was great because it was really flexible. Like I could choose how many hours I wanted
00:24:45
Speaker
And I could choose when I was going to go. They really preferred you to do on the weekends because there's more traffic. But I could set up the hours I wanted. It was just a couple hours at a time. I would go and do that. And I got free bars. They were really yummy. So that was cool. But I realized pretty quickly that I don't know why this didn't occur to me before. But I am a very big introvert. And having to flag people down and make small talk and get them to try a sample is actually my worst nightmare. So I actually had a lot of anxiety any time that I had to go and do this gig. And so i think after about six months or a year or so, I pass it on to one of the other dancers, my friend Elise, who you heard in episode two. And she was amazing at it and she can talk to anyone.
00:25:28
Speaker
That was a much better gig for her than for me. But it was just another way that I could supplement my income, you know make a little bit more money so that I could have a more comfortable life and feel secure.
00:25:41
Speaker
and then after my first season as an apprentice the MCB, I was promoted into the company and then I was paid to dance. So at this point now I'm getting paid to dance and I'm also still having my teaching load. So I'm feeling pretty comfortable. And also the cost of living in Columbia, Missouri was very, very low. So overall, I was just really happy to have found a place where I felt like was was doing what I wanted to do. I was dancing. I was teaching. i was supporting myself. I wasn't constantly worried about being able to buy food or gas. I knew that I was going to have enough and I was going leftover to start saving, to be able to do fun things with my friends. And that felt really, really good. So for me, that was when I felt like I really made it. That to me felt like I was really successful. And so I think for a lot of dancers, you get to this point where you think I have to be only dancing if I have a side gig that I've not yet made it as a professional dancer. And that's not true. You can make this job however you want. And it's okay to have a side gig. There's nothing wrong with it. I just encourage you to figure out something that you enjoy doing. Within your company, there might be options.
00:26:46
Speaker
I felt really fortunate at that not only i was able to teach in the company, but eventually I was promoted to school director. And so I moved into that role. And that was so fulfilling for me. I absolutely adored being this director of the school.
00:26:58
Speaker
And so there was career advancement options also. So there might be other things you can do for your company, whether it's teaching or choreography, costuming, social media. We had a dancer who did some grant writing.
00:27:10
Speaker
There are so many different things that you can do. And if you have these other skills, That's huge for your company because they might not have the option to hire a full-time person for one of these things, but they could still hire you to do some of these extra tasks and extra jobs that need to be done in a company but that small companies don't have as many resources for. And they're working with you as a dancer who – and you know what the company needs. You get it.
00:27:35
Speaker
You're able to really provide this service. So there are so many different ways to make this career work. As I've said before, it comes down to finding a side gig that you enjoy doing. And there's no shame in having a side gig. It's okay. Would I prefer that all dancers get paid a living wage from their dancing career?
00:27:54
Speaker
Of course, obviously. But it's not always the reality. And for me, it was worth it. Having these side gigs is worth it. Now, would I have been able to continue doing my waitressing job for that many years? Probably not. It might not have been worth it for me to do that for that long. But being able to transition into teaching, into other things that I enjoyed, or even the gigs like dog sitting where it's pretty low stress and high reward. I mean, you get to stay in people's nice houses and pet their cute dogs. That's awesome. For me, finding these other things that I enjoy doing that could help support me and help me continue dancing was huge. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
00:28:32
Speaker
So just a reminder that you can make this career anything that you want. And if you're interested in something, if you're passionate about it, if you have a skill, go for it. I know so many dancers who have other jobs related to the dance industry, whether they're a writer and they write for a dance magazine or they're a dance photographer or...
00:28:50
Speaker
They do makeup, stage makeup, or they choreograph. They do commissions. Whatever it is, there are so many different things that you can do if you want to stay more fully immersed in the dance world. That's a choice you can make and you can cultivate those skills. And what I always say to dancers is just reach out. Just ask someone. If you see someone doing something that you're interested in doing that you want to try, ask them how they did it. Get some advice.
00:29:16
Speaker
Ask your company if you can get involved in doing something. You never know until you try if you're going to enjoy it. It's worth finding out. Don't limit yourself. We are multi-hyphenates. We can do so many things.
00:29:29
Speaker
And it's great to have these skills because as we all know, our career is shorter than the average person's career. It's great to have something that you love and a skill that you have worked on and built so that when that day does come, you don't feel so lost. You know that you have something else. I feel like having the skill of teaching and having the passion for teaching made my transition from professional dancer a lot easier. Was it still really hard? Yes, of course.
00:29:56
Speaker
But it really helped that I had another skill and another passion that I was excited to move on to. And starting this business has helped. There's so many things you can do. So I hope this has given you some insights into different kind of jobs that dancers might have, different things you could do and just got you thinking a little bit about how you might make this career your own.
00:30:22
Speaker
Thank you for tuning in to the Brainy Ballerina podcast. If you found this episode insightful, entertaining, or maybe a bit of both, I would so appreciate you taking a moment to leave a rating and hit subscribe.
00:30:35
Speaker
By subscribing, you'll never miss an episode. And you'll join our community of dancers passionate about building a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry. Plus, your ratings help others discover the show too.
00:30:48
Speaker
I'll be back with a new episode next week. In the meantime, be sure to follow along on Instagram at The Brainy Ballerina for your daily dose of dance career guidance.