Ballet companies depend on the patronage of sponsors, donations, and gifts, and they often struggle for money. As a result, dancers work on contract and aren't paid well. They dance because it's their passion, not for the money, writes Cosmopolitan. Elice McKinley, a dancer with the Carolina Ballet, notes that she was on food stamps when she first started there; she was also paid at one level below what she should have been, due to budget constraints. Rich sponsors are a big part of why ballet companies are able to continue running, writes HuffPost.
Most professional dancers make less than $25,000 a year, according to HuffPost, and many have side jobs, either teaching or looking for guest spots with other companies, in addition to their work with their company (via Cosmopolitan). A survey in Washington, D.C., reported dancers have an average of four side jobs.
A few American companies offer regular salaried work throughout the whole year, but most dancers end up taking unemployment in the summer months (via HuffPost).HuffPost also raises the possibility that dancers are infantilized and not considered as serious artists, making it easier to rationalize paying them badly. After all, working multiple jobs as a starving artist is a rite of passage, right?
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