Perfecting Your Dance Résumé
Does the thought of creating a dance résumé give you stage fright? You’re not alone! A résumé is essential in every career field - including professional dance - but sometimes it feels impossible to fit all of your experience and accomplishments onto one sheet of paper that stands out.
When you apply to colleges, dance training programs, auditions, and professional dance studios, the casting directors will likely request a copy of your dance résumé. This single sheet of paper is your opportunity to give them a clear and impressive snapshot of your dance experience so they can make the decision to accept you. No wonder it can be such an intimidating task!
Just because it’s intimidating, though, that doesn’t mean you should avoid it. Having a polished and complete résumé will keep you prepared to apply for new opportunities that become available at any time. If you find yourself freezing up whenever you try to complete your dance résumé, we created some tips to help you perfect it.
Problem: You don’t know where to begin.
You’re ready to apply for your dream summer dance program, and you’ve already uploaded your dance reel, headshots, and portfolio photos. You’re just about to click “submit,” when you notice you forgot to attach one file: your dance résumé. You thought it’d be easy enough to whip one up, but you find yourself staring at a black word document thinking, now what?
Solution:
Start with the basics by including the following information in your dance résumé:
Contact Information - your name, age, address, email, phone number, dance website, etc.
Experience - performances and roles, choreography experience, etc.
Education - school information, dance training, etc.
Other - awards, special skills, involvements, etc.
Problem: Your résumé is too short.
Your résumé should only be 1 page long. If you’re a younger dancer or you haven’t gained any professional experience yet, you may find that your experience doesn’t fill the page. Don’t be discouraged, just think outside of the box!
Solution:
List other involvements that helped shape your character and skill level, such as:
Awards from school, dance classes, etc.
Dance camps and summer intensives
Volunteer or community work
Problem: Your résumé is too long.
On the flip side of things, if you’ve been dancing your entire life and your summers and evenings have been filled with a variety of dance classes, you might be able to fill 3 pages with your experience. Don’t. Remember, your résumé should only be 1 page long. Whoever is reviewing it will likely have several other résumés to look over, so having multiple pages will make your résumé stand out - but not in a good way.
Solution:
Focus only on recent and relevant experience. Here’s how:
Tailor your résumé to the role you’re applying for. Think of the qualifications that the casting directors of each specific production or training will want to see in a candidate.
List your most significant dance experience. You may have received a wide range of training, but which classes shaped your dance career the most? Which performances were the most challenging for you, or the most impactful to your expertise? Which choreographers did you work with that are well-known in the industry? Narrow your experience down to those.
Use recent experience. You don’t need to list every bit of experience you’ve gained since you started dancing at the age of 3, for example. Consider keeping your résumé up-to-date by only adding experience from the past 5 years or so.
Problem: Your résumé doesn’t stand out.
When you review your résumé, something about it should scream “Pick me!” If you’ve used your résumé to apply to different opportunities, but you usually aren’t accepted, that doesn’t always mean you’re underqualified. It may mean that your résumé isn’t giving a good enough representation of your experience as a dancer.
Solution:
Be specific and descriptive!
Instead of simply listing the name of a summer intensive, add who the facilitator was, where it took place, and what techniques you mastered while there.
Highlight your special skills. Are you fluent in a second language? Are you involved in other related sports, such as gymnastics, yoga, or figure skating?
Remember to tailor your résumé to the specific role you’re applying to!
Problem: Your résumé looks messy.
If the casting director reviewing your résumé has over 100 résumés to review that day, yours should be easy on the eyes and laid out in a manner that naturally highlights the most relevant information they’d be looking for. If your résumé has paragraphs of descriptions and no clear flow, anyone who reviews it will have to make an extra effort to figure out how qualified you are. This is not a good thing.
Solution:
Make your résumé easy to read by enhancing its layout. Here’s how:
Start with your contact information. Your name, location, phone number, and email address should be at the top of your résumé, making it easy for the casting director to refer back to if necessary.
Organize your résumé. Using separate headings and sections, your education, performance experience, professional training, and involvements should each be labeled and categorized throughout the page. Be sure to put the most relevant sections, like performance experience and training, first.
Use bullet points instead of paragraphs to provide brief descriptions under each header.
List items in reverse-chronological order, keeping the most recent or current experience first.
Other Tips
Have someone proofread your résumé. Send your résumé to a trusted friend or mentor so they can offer feedback on its content, layout, and effectiveness.
Do some research online for samples of dance résumés. Doing so will give you guidelines as to how yours should look.
Consider adding a headshot to your résumé. Note: While this can add a nice touch to your résumé, it is usually not required, and sometimes not accepted. Be sure to review the résumé requirements before submitting each application.
Never add experience that you did not actually earn. Lying on your résumé is the quickest way to disqualify yourself and give yourself a bad reputation in any career field.
Add your social media handle to your contact information only if your page is dance-related.
Related: A Quick Guide to Revamping your Dance Social Media Profile
Do you have any tips for creating the perfect dance résumé? Tell us in the comments below!
For more tips on how to enhance your professional dance image, visit our Brown Ballerina Blog.