Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · Holland code ARS
Dancers
Perform dances. May perform on stage, for broadcasting, or for video recording.
Also called: Ballet Dancer, Company Dancer, Dancer, Soloist Dancer, Ballerina, Ballet Company Member, Ballet Soloist, Belly Dancer.
O*NET 27-2031.00
At a glance
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
- 45% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 3 of 5
- Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Prepare pointe shoes, by sewing or other means, for use in rehearsals and performance.
- Study and practice dance moves required in roles.
- Harmonize body movements to rhythm of musical accompaniment.
- Train, exercise, and attend dance classes to maintain high levels of technical proficiency, physical ability, and physical fitness.
- Perform in productions, singing or acting in addition to dancing, if required.
- Coordinate dancing with that of partners or dance ensembles.
- Develop self-understanding of physical capabilities and limitations, and choose dance styles accordingly.
- Perform classical, modern, or acrobatic dances in productions, expressing stories, rhythm, and sound with their bodies.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Active Listening3.3 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.0 / 5
- Speaking2.9 / 5
- Monitoring2.9 / 5
- Reading Comprehension2.8 / 5
- Active Learning2.8 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Fine Arts4.5 / 5
- English Language3.5 / 5
- Customer and Personal Service2.9 / 5
- Mathematics2.6 / 5
- Transportation2.5 / 5
- Sales and Marketing2.5 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic64
- Investigative7
- Artistic90
- Social44
- Enterprising36
- Conventional10
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- performing arts school dance instructor · DE Lehrkraft für Tanz an einer Hochschule für Darstellende Kunst · FR professeur de danse/professeure de danse
- dance teacher · DE Lehrkraft für Tanz und Bewegung · FR animateur danse/animatrice danse
- dancer · DE Tänzer/Tänzerin · FR danseur/danseuse
- circus artist · DE Zirkusartist/Zirkusartistin · FR artiste de cirque
- street performer · DE Straßenkünstler/Straßenkünstlerin · FR artiste de rue
- variety artist · DE Variétékünstler/Variétékünstlerin · FR artiste de variétés
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Higher education teaching professionals (2311)258,500 employed
- Dancers and choreographers (3414)14,700 employed
- Actors, entertainers and presenters (3413)58,500 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Japan
Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “音楽家，舞台芸術家”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.
- Median monthly pay
- ¥318,100
- Middle half earn ¥262,200 to ¥449,900 a month.
- Workers in the category
- 31,660
- Regular employees in firms of ten or more.
Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €61,714 |
| Germany | €59,529 |
| Ireland | €56,877 |
| Austria | €55,374 |
| Netherlands | €53,595 |
| Sweden | €43,567 |
| France | €41,515 |
| Spain | €35,735 |
| Italy | €33,649 |
| Portugal | €26,072 |
| Poland | €14,380 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the lower third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -2.67. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (27-2031).
Related careers
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