Dance Industry in Boston, MA
By: Gabriella Celona

Are you a Boston based dancer looking to break into the industry, but having a hard time doing so? There’s so much talent in Boston that goes unnoticed and it’s really hard getting into the industry being around here, but it is possible. The toughest part for performers is finding opportunities or getting signed by an agency. We know now is when to start, and you’ve probably known for a while why you want to start. But the real questions are: Where do you start? How do you start?
Are you wondering what the difference between the dance scenes are in Boston versus other locations; for example Los Angeles or New York? How has Boston evolved, or should I say de-evolve?
In California for example, the pool is much larger, but training is easier due to how many choreographers train students around the Los Angeles area. The older, big Boston dance studios are no longer around, such as Green Street Studios, Jeannette Neill Dance Studio and Studio 550. We now have Zello Dance Studios, Funk Phenomenon, The Dance Complex and Boston Dance Studios. “There are a few places that dancers can still rent space but most are not adequate for dancing,” said Jeryl Palana, a Boston based dancer since 2012.
This article is going to answer all of those many thoughts that are leaping around in your dancer brain.
Within the dance world, there are dancers who have been in Boston for years, who are new to Boston, who may have left Boston and came back. Hearing different opinions from different people in the industry is important as a dancer because you are able to make your own assumptions and choices based on not only your own experiences, but others along with that.
Adrienne Hawkins, a very well known and respected choreographer all over the world, who started teaching in Boston in 1973, says that the dance industry in Boston has become more commercially based than when she first started. At that time, the dance world was more focused on being weird and moving in different ways; all of the money that was given to artists at the time was to develop new ways of moving. With the influx of hip hop and breaking, the dance industry around Boston has become more commercialized.
As a choreographer who has taught at multiple colleges and universities in Boston and in the United states, she explained that with the different colleges in the Boston area, the dance community is very isolated. Dance teams don’t interact with each other through different colleges, and they don't interact with other dancers in the Boston area outside of the colleges. On top of that, the dance teams seem to not have training in a broad range of styles-– the modern dancers don’t typically interact with the hip-hop company, nor the contemporary company, etc.
HOW TO BREAK INTO THE INDUSTRY IN BOSTON!
Some ideas on where to start would be getting super involved with the Boston Dance community by putting yourself out there by taking different open classes at different dance studios in the area. Create connections within the dance world.
Some advice for dancers:
Every artist I spoke with says the same thing; and it may sound repetitive, but GO TO CLASSES! Get as involved as you possibly can. Support events and other dancers! Don’t be afraid to reach out to other people. Ask for advice. Being intentional with the classes you are taking, and what you would like to focus on. Learn new things through your teachers and I can not stress this enough– you learn so much through your peers too! You make so many friends through dance classes. Everyone comes together to enjoy something you all make time for and care about. Dance classes are a place where like-minded people can connect. Be kind. Be non-judgmental. Be supportive and others will support you. Jeryl Palana says, “the community will form naturally,” as will friendships and hard work to get to where you want to be professionally. “Dance is for everyone, but not everyone can dance at a certain caliber without putting in the long, hard hours and years of work for it.”
Adrienne Hawkins shared some wise words, as students have asked her what she has done in her career. “Create your own path, do not give up because it gets hard. Keep pushing. Better to reach for a star and fall short than to look at a star and say you can't get there. You never know what you will run into on the path there.”
FREE-LANCE DANCING
Being a free-lance dancer can be complicated. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication. You are fending for yourself as a dancer, making an unsteady income depending on what jobs you can book. It's the business. There was a controversy involving the NFL, when Super Bowl LVI halftime performance dancers were not getting paid for their craft. After fighting for it, they ended up getting paid minimum wage. Unfortunately, dancers will take jobs like this even if they aren't being paid because they will have the experience as well as another gig to put on their resume.
This is also another important reason as to why making connections and going to classes is important. "Freelancing is not just about talent and hard work – it's also about relationships. Nurture your existing relationships and seek out new ones” (How to survive as a freelance dancer, Francis).
Freelance dancers are responsible for finding their own work which is why it’s important to know how to network. On top of this, freelance dancers also have to manage for themselves; managing their finances, contracts, and tasks. This takes a lot of time and energy on top of dance training and all of the other struggles that dance entails.
WHAT HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS?
Most people in the dance industry in Boston believe that over the years the dance community has been more split up– especially between the older and newer generations.
Jenny Oliver is a Boston based dancer, choreographer and educator has been dancing in the Boston Community since 2005. She says that a lot was changing in Boston before she came here and it continues to evolve.
Oliver spoke about her thoughts on the age gap in choreographers right now in the dance community, especially since the pandemic. Due to the age gap in choreographers in response to the pandemic, there is a younger teaching crowd. This is great for younger choreographers because they are starting early enough to mold and create their own approach for the classroom. From Jenny’s point of view, she believes this can be hard for some of the more well known, established choreographers and dancers. “For someone like me, that's really hard. I'm already over the threshold of taking that kind of risk [and getting injured by being someone’s guinea pig]. This idea of this new ‘phase’ is that it is also invigorating because there's a lot of opportunity for creativity, creativity in the classroom, but also to create work and bring it to the public. To collaborate with artists and with other spaces in ways that those organizations and older institutions were not doing before. It's an interesting time to be here as a creative and a challenging time to be here as a young dancer trying to train because there’s not a lot of opportunity to train,” Oliver said.
A long time ago, Boston was known as the hub for dance the same way we view New York or LA now. To train here “there were lots of influential people and choreographers doing innovative work and thinking about dance in creative ways and activating communities in neighborhoods that were actually affecting change,” Oliver said.
Once Jenny came to Boston, there were a variety of older teachers that had a very “polished pedagogy and approached methodology to the classroom so you can learn and train in a way you were being pushed but there was something illuminating about the past that was still coming into the present.”
Right now, Boston based dancers are going to New York for gigs, because it’s easy to travel there and there are a lot more opportunities there. In spite of this, there are also a lot more dancers in New York, meaning more competition and the need to be on top of your game every time.
With the pandemic ending, most teachers who have been teaching for multiple decades and have traveled the world working with artists and important people are no longer doing that, and are not coming back to the studios because they have done their time.
Adrienne Hawkins mentioned how once the COVID pandemic hit, it was harder for their generation to hold as many open classes. She says that it is hard to be a dancer that wants to increase their skills and technique because during COVID, the system changed, and now those technical teachers are no longer teaching. Before the pandemic, lots of dancers would decide last minute to come to classes, if they could make it after a long day of work or school. It became harder for their generation to teach because the system has changed, and now you have to register for classes which made things more difficult. Dance teachers couldn’t depend on people who they think might come to class at that point. Another example she gave was about her wonderful ballet teacher colleague Rosane. Rosane and her husband, who played the piano for her classes, would drive up from their home in Maine to teach. It became difficult for them to drive all that way for a class that people may or may not show up to with all the restrictions happening at the time. It just wasn’t worth it for them at that point.
Jeryl Palana believes that the hunger for training in foundation and culture has become more rare. “The increase in wanting to leave class with a class video has made the overall intentions of taking class change from going to learn, to going to get something to post on social media. Overall, the balance of the two isn’t there anymore.”
As a dancer, I can honestly say that I agree with this statement. I also do believe that videos can act as a positive as well. There are many different upsides of having in-class videos; personally I like to have in-class videos because I am able to look back at how I did during class and know what to improve to better my training and technique as a dancer.
As times have evolved, we have to adjust to the day in age. Social media is a big part of the world now and gaining exposure as a dancer can be very beneficial to their careers. “Videos after classes give dancers a chance to see their “final result”. Apart from appreciating the hard work they put into learning the choreography, videos are a great learning tool. You are able to watch your work over and over again, giving you a chance to correct or experiment with new ways of doing the choreography,” Serena Petruzello, a Boston based dancer who moved out to LA to pursue her dreams, said.
Although this may be true at times, it does break the balance as people can get overly caught up in the influencing and posting aspect of it all. There does need to be a balance between the two and not forgetting the focus of training in the dance industry is to become a well rounded, overall better dancer.
Boston’s dance community has had its ups and downs, but it is slowly getting back on its feet. Some of the newer training studios are able to get there by train, which hasn’t been as accessible since other studios have closed before the pandemic. Convenience and having a successful way to get to a studio allows more access and opportunity for a larger group of people wanting to train. Palana says, “Sometimes we forget that the people who are hanging back and staying local are really the ones holding down the fort. With classes and events like this, the other half of their success is now dependent on if people are comfortable going back into class after the pandemic, and if people are willing to attend the class. Without students these classes will not continue to run.”
COMPARISON TO OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD
Dance is a universal experience; where all get to enjoy and experience dance in different ways, for different reasons and in different cultures. Adrienne Hawkins and Jenny Oliver have traveled the world to choreograph and dance in countries such as Iceland, Denmark, Belgium, Japan, Australia, Netherlands, Germany and Paris. Both believe that one thing dance has in common all over the world is, “We all want to express ourselves and it's beautiful to see language come out physically. Some of the differences are some of the support that we have on a societal level,” Jenny Oliver said. Unfortunately, dance isn’t as appreciated in certain countries compared to others. Jenny gives an example of this. In Germany, you are actually able to dance as a full time career, whereas here in America it is very rare to have dance as your one and only career. “They value it in a way to live that life to feel fulfilled and here in the US society does not allow dance to be the central job in your life because most of the time dancers need other jobs to support their careers in dance in the US.”
Adrienne gives some insight as well on how she really enjoyed traveling to Japan and Denmark because there were never any gender barriers when it came to dancing. The art was the same whether it was shown on a boy or a girl. “Denmark as a society didn't have any kind of gender filter so I could do something feminine and there would be these really masculine men that would do it exactly the way I would do it; and vice versa. Everybody did it the same- they encompassed the movement in anything I did. Very open. Japan was the same way. There was such a respect for the culture I was bringing to them.”
Sources
Francis, R. (2013, December 3). How to survive as a freelancer. Dance Informa Magazine. Retrieved May 2, 2023, from https://dancemagazine.com.au/2013/12/how-to-survive-as-a-freelancer/
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