What does a Backup Dancer (Concerts and Tours) do?
Known for their flexible skill set, excellent technique, tireless stamina, and copious live performance experience, backup dancers support major recording artists in concerts, tours, and music videos. A Backup Dancer (Concerts and Tours) applies specialized creative, technical, business, or organizational skills in the music and performing arts.
At a Glance
Backup dancers have a wide range of backgrounds and aspirations. Some train their whole lives, while others discover dance as young adults. Some see backup dance as a way to pay the bills, while others are aiming for the limelight, seeking to emulate the backup-dancer-turned-star trajectory charted by people like Jennifer Lopez. A number cross over from working as theatrical ensemble dancers. Regardless, all but the luckiest dancers must start by proving themselves in the battle royale of open auditions. Those who land gigs and perform well gain access to new opportunities and connections, until eventually they spend more time in closed auditions than open ones.
Auditions are the sole way to get hired as a backup dancer, and they come in two varieties: open, which means accessible to all and therefore crowded and time-consuming; and closed, which means only for those with solid connections or a great reputation. Stamina, cleverness, and charm are key in open auditions, in which backup dancers seek to distinguish themselves over the course of as many as three 10-hour days. Websites like Backstage can be useful for finding open auditions.
- Quick to pick up and memorize new choreography
- Takes direction well
- Experience with live performance and touring
- Exceptional fitness and strength
- Collaboration (esp. synchronization)
- Verbal communication
- Networking
Backup dancers are in many ways defined by their flexibility, curiosity, and persistence. Constantly learning new skills and improving old ones in order to broaden their capabilities and be more appealing to choreographers, backup dancers rarely sit idle.
Most backup dancers are freelancers who split their time between the road and wherever they call home, most often Los Angeles or New York City. Touring is divisive: a major career perk for some, who relish the opportunity to see faraway places, while a serious downside for others, who dislike the lifestyle it entails. When not touring, most backup dancers take on one-time gigs, which come in at all hours of the day and often have a quick turnaround.
