Concert dance is most often seen in a theater setting. Most professional dance companies, college dance programs, and ballet schools focus on creating concert dance. The focus of a concert dance piece is the telling a story through movement. Examples of companies that would fall under this category would be Hubbard Street Dance and American Ballet Theater. A common track for a dancer pursing a career in concert dance would be high school training, followed by a degree in dance or acceptance into a professional ballet school, auditioning, and ultimately a contract with a company.
Commercial dance is most often seen on TV and in venues like arenas and cruise ships. While these dances can still tell stories, the main focus is pure entertainment. Examples of commercial dance would be professional dance teams, music videos, and most of the numbers on SYTYCD. A common track for a dancer pursuing a commercial dance career would be high school training, moving to a city where there are a lot of commercial opportunities (most are happening in LA), continuing to train and take class, attending auditions and maybe getting an agent, and ultimately booking gigs or projects.
Why does this matter to dance students and parents? If your child is interested in pursuing dance after high school it is extremely important that they are exposed to both types of professional dance. This can help them to develop goals within their current training and also make sure their training is supporting their long term goals. While strong technique is extremely important to both tracks it is going to look a little different.
In my performing career, (in modern and jazz companies) I have never been asked to do more then a double pirouette on stage or a jump more complex then a simple leap. I try to remind my students of this whenever they aren't focusing enough on the details or frustrated that something is "too easy". Concert dance becomes a lot more about the quality of what you are doing and the message your are conveying to your audience. If students aren't exposed to this or taught why this has value, college dance in particular can be really disappointing. They are going to have a hard time transitioning without the bells and whistles of their high school training. Most college programs focus on modern and ballet, so goodbye pop tunes and crazy jazz combos. If they have been exposed to concert dance they are better able to handle this transition and can see it as an opportunity to dive a little deeper into their training and ultimately become more than a technician- but an artist!
It is hard NOT to be exposed to commercial dance these days. Dance is everywhere...which is an awesome thing! Commercial dancers need amazing technique, but they also need to build upon the skill set they developed in high school and add skills and tricks that can make them more diverse and more likely to get booked. Most concert dance companies hire dancers for a season where they will perform several or many times throughout the year. Most commercial opportunities are for specific jobs or performances and will end when that performance is over. While some choreographers will use the same dancers for multiple jobs, most dancers are going to need to have a diverse training background in order to book work. It may be beneficial to get training in hip hop, break dancing, acro, and even circus arts. I don't think most college dance programs would adequately prepare students for the commercial world of dance (there are some..but they are not the norm). They may be better off moving to the city they want to work in and taking as much class as they can.
Whichever direction dance takes your student, one thing I can recommend is an open mind. Post high school, the sooner they can get rid of "this is weird", or "this is different", the better! All choreographers, regardless of what world they work in, want to work with dancers that are able to commit fully to what the choreographer is asking. I would encourage parents to seek out studios that support all styles of dance as valid and offer students opportunities to perform both types of work. In the future I think that the lines separating these two worlds will continue to become more blurred..it is important that our future dancers are prepared!
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