The challenge of choreography
As with dance performance circles, the circles of choreographers are equally as difficult to enter, yet provide their own challenges for those who wish to hone their craft as the next generation of choreographers. Starting a career as a choreographer can be tough, with little information as to how to do this or where to start. It can be hard to get your work seen by audiences and the 'right' people in order to kick-start your choreographic success, and it can take a long time of working for free or against your artistic vision in order to present your work in the way you would like and be paid to do so.
It is important to be resilient as an aspiring choreographer; apply for every opportunity you find in order to get your name and your work out there. Use community dance and free opportunities to present what you are working on, and opportunities like scratch nights are the perfect way to hone your work in progress. Lots of dance communities have venues and programmes that support emerging choreographers, and others even offer prize money, in addition to free or low cost performance space and technical support. Keep an eye out for calls for choreography, and even create your own platform for your work if opportunities are hard to come by.
When you have the opportunity to present your work, make sure you present it in the best possible way. Good quality images and video will enhance this and maintain your professional image, and be vital for digital marketing and future application submissions. Creating a website for yourself and your work is also important, even to provide a log of the work you have created. Use social media alongside this to connect larger audiences with your work, such as by sharing rehearsal footage or short performance trailers. Advertising on social media can be very low cost and sees wide-reaching results: it also enables you to create new connections and build a bigger audience to share your work with.