Hint: Your first year in a professional company |
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In some cases there could be more rehearsal weeks in your contract than actual weeks of performances. Often you can experience a long layoff before the weeks of rehearsals start or maybe short layovers between actual performances. Be sure to go to class. If you have any injuries, this would be a good time to have them taken care of and above all keep in shape.
Every company has a different schedule of performance weeks. In Europe for instance, it is a very different routine than in America. Dancers are engaged for 52 weeks a year plus holiday pay. However, that system does not exist in America. In European Opera Houses, ballet performances are scheduled along with the opera and sometimes they may have three in a row and then a short break
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Some companies will let the dancers do guest performance is the layoff periods. This applies more to the experienced dancers rather than the first timers.
In closing, I would like to say a little something about the value of competitions. I personally found them very helpful, not if you actually win, but the preparation. Winning a competition does not always mean that you will be given a company contract. You may have won with a sensational performance of the Don Q pas de deux, but be prepared to stand in the back of your companies performance.
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