Career spotlight: Contemporary dancer

Three dance professionals, from Bangarra, Australian Dance Theatre and Sydney Dance Company, offer advice for aspiring dancers and shed light on the challenges and quirks of their careers.

Bangarra’s Tara Robertson. Photo credit: Daniel Boud.

Success as a professional dancer depends on a number of factors, including talent, determination, fitness, flexibility, and artistry – including the ability to embody and interpret a choreographer’s instructions and convey a range of emotions through precisely articulated movement.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts