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Starting out: these dance program grads made the leap to professional life with persistence, training, and luck.

Article Excerpt
Some call it tunnel vision. Others speak of good timing. Many describe it as a matter of hedging one's bets. Bellamy F. Eure's journey from student at Philadelphia's University of the Arts to professional dancer with Philadanco involved all of the above. Raised in a business minded family, Eure began weighing her professional options before puberty. At the University of the Arts, where several Philadanco artists teach, Eure came to realize that she was doing more than earning a degree. She was auditioning--over the course of four years--for a company that is salaried 52 weeks a year. Three months after graduating, Eure signed with Philadanco. Her employment strategy worked, but its outcome could have been very different. "If you don't get the jobs then you don't go to the [next] auditions," Eure said of some of her peers. "You get caught up working as a waitress and making money."

Last November Eure and five other dancers who recently graduated from pre-professional programs across the country discussed how they stayed focused while pursuing a career in dance. Each understood her success as an ability to dance different styles, a capacity for hard work, and a willingness to try anything. "Women are the backbone of the industry," said Eure, musing about how much more difficult it is for women than for men to break into a dance career. Being the "cream of the crop" at school, she added, doesn't necessarily translate into a contract for a woman. Networking and presenting a can-do attitude at every class, audition, rehearsal, and coffee break, however, could make the difference between...

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