When the curtain rises on American Ballet Theatre’s Swan Lake, the audience falls under the spell of the dancing, tragic romance, and moonlight. What they don’t see is the backstage sorcery that makes the magic happen, an elaborate choreography carried out by an ace crew of nearly 80 costumers, dressers, makeup artists, carpenters, property masters, lighting operators, and stagehands—the unsung heroes of the story.

Instead of relying on cattle call auditions, dancers starting a professional career are increasingly using online platforms like job board sites and social media to find work in performing, as well as choreographing, teaching and arts management.

When you’re in rehearsals it can be easy to forget about costume changes, so we asked pros for tips on tackling quick-changes.

Looking for dance work? Browse these casting calls for dancers, courtesy of Backstage. Dancers with disabilities for a talent series Casting for a digital series. A well known YouTuber will meet up with various dancers with disabilities to get to know each other, and collaborate on an epic dance performance together. They’ll exchange stories and […]