What do Ballet Companies pay attention to most when choosing new dancers?

Question:

What do Ballet Companies pay attention to most when choosing new dancers?

How do they judge the new, eagar dancers??

Years of experiance?

The grace of the movements?

The attitude of the dancer? (like.. smiling brightly while dancing as opposed to keeping a stern face)

Creativity in the audition? (I heard that you have to make up your own solos when you audition)

The source of Training (such as being trained at a world renown studio as opposed to a small, privately run school)?

College? (Do they pay more attention to people who went to special dance colleges or do they treat all degrees and diplomas and stuff the same?)

Heigh and weight?

What is it that companies pay the most attention to? I am really curious to know =)

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It depends on what the director's looking for. For the really big name ones, the most important things are your dancing (both technical ability and your stage presence - you don't need to have Margot Fonteyn's stage presence, but you need to be able to having your dancing catch the eye of a jaded professional) and your overall appearance (not just height/weight, but your overall attractiveness as well). A lot of times, they have a certain idea in their head, and if you fit it, swell. If you don't, you have to be AMAZING for them to reconsider. Even then, they might not take you - there are a lot of companies that like a uniform look to the corps, and if you don't fit that, you don't fit that.

For the non-big names, the quality of your dancing is much more important. Your grace, your technique, how well you catch the eye... those are very important. There's more leeway about appearance here, but if you're too far from what they want, you'd better be a whole lot better than the competition.

As for the other factors... having a famous teacher will get them to watch you, but if you don't meet their expectations, you're worse off than if you had a non-famous teacher because they'll remember being disappointed. You might also end up trying to impress someone who knows your teacher from back when they were in the corps together and has hated them for decades as well easily as someone who adores your teacher. Years of experience and college degrees seem to mean squat (and again, they can count against you if you don't meet the expectations they create), although you need to have enough experience to have the basics down well. Attitude is a sorta issue. If you're horrible, don't be surprised if no one wants to work with you, but you're being judged on your dancing more than your personality. The only important personality thing is that you should seem attentive at all times. Not every audition will make you choreograph something (most of mine didn't), but then it's more of a bonus than the main thing. Make sure you make something that will highlight your strengths and downplay your weaknesses, because your solo is your time to shine.

So, really, a lot of it is about your talent (dancing, stage presence, acting, ability to learn quickly) and how well you match up with what they're looking for. The second part is really important to remember if you're auditioning - if they're looking for petite girls and you're six feet tall, it probably wasn't your dancing that was the problem and someone else might want you.