Secrets to Enjoying Your Dance Career with Justine Menter
If you see someone doing something better than you, it means they failed at it more times than you.
Network. Keep your options open. Oddball jobs. Build trust and reliability with other artists.
You have to LOVE IT and you have to hustle HARD. It’s a journey. It’s tough. It’s so worth it when you do what you love. It’s unexpected and filled with lots of magic you never knew existed.
Develop a thick skin and be prepared for a great deal of rejection. You’ll get more no’s than yeses. Be okay with that and PERSEVERE.
Create healthy boundaries and DO NOT put up with toxicity.
Give yourself timeblocks to do things in a sustainable and attainable way.
Learn specifically early on and take direction exceptionally well. Paying attention to choreography and staging exactly as a choreographer gives it versus what you wish it was only makes the process easier for you and your entire cast.
Often times, there is something a person or institution is looking for and you may not fit that and that’s okay.
Heal yourself first then help others. The more of us working to make the change the better, healthier, and stronger the dance community will become.
Don’t give up - there IS a place for YOUR talent.
Apply yourself and you’ll find the most success when you’re being your authentic self. Being scared or in your head and trying to fit into molds you think you have to in order to book are the times you’ll book the least. Being your own agent is crucial. Waiting for opportunities to pop up for you as opposed to seeking them out yourself will only leave you feeling discouraged and out of work.
What’s meant for you will be for you.
Learn from many teachers and realize that becoming comfortable as a teacher takes time. There are many things out of your control but you can control what happens in the studio when you are teaching. That small amount of time can make a difference in your students’ lives.
Don’t limit the possibilities there are to work. Don’t allow comments or advice from mentors to sway you away from certain jobs because it’s not “conventional.” Conventional in the sense of having to get jobs that satisfy others’ opinions and views of what a “real” dance job is. There is no real dance job. Go for the unconventional. Make the industry for you. Everyone has a niche and a special path.
Staying true to you, your beliefs, your quirks, and your character will help the universe build a path for you as an individual in this industry.
Start before you’re ready!
