Average Salary: $40,000
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $1,669,920
Though famous prima ballerinas like Nina Ananiashvili can make $30,000 in one performance, your ordinary, non-prima ballet dancer (who still isn't all that ordinary) makes roughly the same hourly rate as a kid flipping burgers over the summer. That's usually between eight and fifteen dollars per hour, depending on the ballet company that hires them.
Larger and more prestigious companies in metropolitan areas pay more than smaller ballet companies, which is to be expected. After ballerinas audition and are hired by a company, they're then paid for the number of weeks in that season, which can range from roughly $900 to $1,300 per week (source).
A season tends to be between thirty-eight and forty-two weeks, with a break for the summer. It's like being back in school...except you can't go running to mommy and daddy if you run out of money to feed yourself in the summer when you aren't working.
That's why so many ballerinas find ways to supplement their income through teaching or intensive summer programs that (fingers crossed) pay a decent wage. In general, a professional ballerina cobbles together anywhere between $25,000 to $55,000 per year, depending mostly on what teaching stints or gigs at kids' after-school programs and fitness centers she can find.
Being a member of the American Guild for Musical Artists, which provides insurance, helps too. But if you're after an easy life with a steady income, this isn't a career to sing and dance about.
