Now that you decided to join a ballet company, after years of training in your home town, "what do I do now?" You now have to audition for that ballet company. Have you decided which company?

Here are a few questions and some answers you have to find out;

*Have you picked a dance company you want to join
*In which City/State
*Is the dance repertoire classical, moderen, Jazz or a combination of all
*How large is the company (dancers), how many boys/girls
*Are there corps de ballet, soloist, principal ranks or is it grouped into onelarge dance company without any ranking
*How long is their season (in weeks)
*How many performances are there during a season
*Does the company tour the states, for how many weeks
*Do they pay a salary, how much and for how many weeks
*If you have a lay-off can you collect unemplyment insurance
*Does the dance company provide ballet and pointe shoes, costumes, tights,

(most all do, but make sure)you provide your own stage-make-up

These are some of the questions you have to find out BEFORE your first audition.

Being in a professional ballet company at an early age is a feeling of pure magic and fantasy as well as joy of accomplishment. Not too far from the time when you were a child and saw your first ballet performance. One of the more popular ballets to see for the first time for a child or parent is the "Nutcracker". To dance in it is MAGIC, FANTASY, ACCOMPLISHMENT! You also will get a feeling of mixed emotions just before and during your dancing on stage for a LIVE audience and will experience these emotions every time you dance on stage.

These feelings are very different from rehearsals in a studio. No comparison. Rehearsals can be very hard, hours of intensive work, repetition of the same steps, choreography, day in and day our and even for several weeks, perfecting everything that needs to be done BEFORE the curtain opens to a paying public.

Your reward is only by the amount of applause from the audience you hear as the curtain closes. You may even hear BRAVO!. That can be considered as the ultimate reward giving you praise for your ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

Enjoy your dancing whether it be in a studio or on stage. The MAGIC is there and there is nothing like a live audience applauding your dancing.

Don't forget to take care of your Pointe Shoes. They are your magic shoes, just like the famous movie called THE RED SHOES.

Questions about pointe shoes are at www.ballet-feetfirst.com Happy dancing!

Nick Polajenko

NICHOLAS POLAJENKO A native of New York City, Nicholas Polajenko was trained by the famed Russian teachers Anatole Vilzak & Ludmilla Schollar. Soon recognized as dancer of exceptional technique and acting versatility, he rapidly rose to the rank of Principal Dancer with such companies as the Metropolitan Ballet, Ballet des Champs Elysees, Ballet Roland Petit, London?s Festival Ballet and the International Ballet Marquis de Ceuvas.

Before going to Paris France in December 1948 he was in two Broadway Musicals. Music In My Heart and Annie Get Your Gun.

Between 1951 and 1968 he performed every major classical role, partnering such outstanding ballerinas as Tamara Toumamova, Marjorie Tallchief, Alexandra Danilova, Toni Lander, Yvette Chauvire, Svetlana Beriosova and Rosella Hightower. He has worked with such brilliant choreographers as Anton Dolin, Nicholas Beriosoff, Harald Lander, Roland Petit, Leonid Massine, Serge Lifar, Bronislava Nijinska and Alvin Ailey.

Mr. Polajenko also made numerous guest appearances with companies around the world. As a Guest Artist with the Harkness Ballet of New York, he was invited to perform at the White House before President Johnson. His biography appears in a number of dance books and in the International Who?s Who.