Ballet Dancers Wait Tables, Pet-Sit and Bake Through Layoffs

Atlanta Ballet dancer Georgie Grace Butler has spent the last two summers working as a restaurant server in Juneau, Alaska. She is one of four professionals featured by Pointe Magazine who use dance layoffs — the unpaid gaps built into most American company contracts — to work outside the studio.

The vast majority of American ballet companies do not offer 52-week contracts, so dancers face substantial layoffs throughout the year, including long summer stretches. Staying in shape is a given. What to do with the rest of the time is less defined.

"It's really important for all dancers to know or try to find who they are when they're not dancing," Butler says. Taking a pause and diving into another industry "allows for a little bit more space for that," she says. It "helped me get to know myself."

Feeding Tourists in Juneau

Butler's colleague at Atlanta Ballet, Carraig New, returns each summer to his hometown of Juneau. A few years ago, Butler began joining him. Last summer the two — who recently got engaged — worked together at a waterfront restaurant serving tourists disembarking from cruise ships.

"These restaurants get absolutely slammed" during the summer, says Butler, who had previously worked in fine dining in Atlanta. The foot traffic makes the gig lucrative, and staying with New's parents spares them a second rent.

Busing tables and running food was New's first restaurant job. "It's nice to step away and get perspective" from the all-consuming nature of a dance career, he says. Butler adds that the mental reset of different work amid Alaska's natural beauty helps them return to Atlanta with "even more to give."

Their advice: "Don't be nervous about trying new things," says New. "It can be intimidating to go into another field. But the reality is, you're a lot more set up than you might think." Dancers can draw on the ability to pick things up quickly and adapt, just as they do when learning choreography or touring. "Build who you are outside of the ballet studio," says Butler. Ask, "What am I good at? What do I enjoy?"

Pet-Sitting, Producing, and Pitching In

Pacific Northwest Ballet soloist Leah Terada keeps several jobs running during the summer. She teaches dance, takes occasional guesting gigs, and picks up pet-sitting work through word of mouth and the Rover app. Terada, who grew up on a farm just outside Dallas, has cared not only for dogs and cats but also ducks, and even a goat. She also works the register at a friend's cafe, Baskette, in Seattle, and is preparing to produce and market an event as part of Seattle's fall Art + Culture week.

"When I'm not dancing, I'm very interested in a lot of other people, and I'm interested in being in a lot of different spaces," Terada says. "Asking 'What else can I be inspired by?' is revitalizing to me." She draws energy from pet care, which offers companionship and reasons to get outside, and from making customers a sandwich, asking about their day, and really listening to their replies.

Her advice: "Plan your summer so it makes sense in context with your season," in terms of both inspiration and rest. She listens to her body; if she is exhausted, booking too many dance gigs might mean she doesn't "get to recover and then build up again" before the next season.

"Different is good," says Terada. "It's also just a summer, so go try it, and if it doesn't work, then that's okay. You learned something."

Starting a Baking Business

When Jordan Fry left home for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's graduate program, she decompressed in the kitchen. "Baking was always kind of my stress release," she says. At Ballet West, she became known for bringing in treats, and when colleagues started getting married, they came to her with cake requests.

Those favors grew into Ballerina Baker, a business she launched in 2017 and ramped up every summer during Ballet West's layoffs, which conveniently coincided with wedding season. Fry retired from dance in 2021 and turned to baking full-time.

"Looking back, it's been such a gift," she says. "It became the most perfect career transition for me." Even if she had not pursued that exact second act, the experience gave her a confidence she could have carried into any number of careers.

Her advice: "It's easy to get caught up in roles and casting," but "it's good for dancers to get outside of your bubble," she says. "Start looking at yourself and recognizing your gifts and your talents, as well as the things that ballet has taught you, and how those might be able to translate into something else."

"As dancers, we know that our career is not going to last forever," says Fry. So "shift your mindset to focus on 'How can I use this time to my benefit?'"

For dancers facing this summer's layoffs, the pattern across these four careers is clear: off-season work, chosen deliberately, can fund the gap now and build the foundation for whatever comes after the final bow.