Asked By: Lauren - 2/17/2012

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

To become a professional dancer, you need the body, facility and musicality required for a career in dance. Then you need years of intense training and luck. Six years off is a real problem. I suppose it is possible but highly improbable. It takes 10 years to "make a leg" in dance and although contemporary dance companies would hire a dancer your age, you haven't danced in 6 years. With luck and lots of training and with talent if you have it, you might find a place for yourself in a small company but not likely to make a living at it. Only 10?f the best trained dancers get work and only 10?f them can make a living at it. There are dancers who trained at Juilliard who do not have jobs. There is so little work and you have so much catching up to do. To get up to speed and to be able to take the require 15 plus hours of dance a week you need to be competitive, you would have to have a lot of money put aside for this to pay for classes. You would also have to set aside about 10 years to get ready with no guarantees.
If you love to dance, then go for it. You never know where it might take you. But realistically speaking at your age and 6 years off, it is not very likely to say the least. Your competition for work will be younger and have much more training than you have. About 6,000 hours or more training than you will have. It is not like they will stop training so you can catch up to them. Most professional contemporary dancers have been trained in conservatory/university programs where they network with cutting edge choreographers so they can get work when they graduate. Ideally that is the best environment for you to stand a chance for this.
The best advice I can give you is start back with ballet and then take a codified modern program too. See if you can move to NYC and take class at Alvin Ailey or Martha Graham or the Limon school or Cunningham school. That will give you a better idea of the level of dancer you will be up against and see if this is a possibility for you. Perhaps you have a lot of talent you might make it. I wouldn't know not seeing you dance. You cannot really judge by ABT SI programs unless you were in the NYC location SI because the others are farmed out and basically just money makers that accept almost every student who auditions.
Remember that you don't have to get paid to enjoy dance. Dancer's are paid poorly, their careers are over in a flash and then they have the rest of their lives to figure out what to do with it. Starting back at 24 after 6 years off you will be starting almost from scratch again. At least for quite a while. It will take years to get to the level you were before but you have to get well beyond that level to be successful. Becoming a professional dancer is hard enough for anyone even if they were born with all the gifts for dance and the best non stop training available.
Dance for the Joy of Dance and dance can always be a part of your life eve if you don't earn your living by dancing. Good luck and keep dancing if it gives you joy.

Answered By: mintchips49 - 2/17/2012