Ballet Resume Construction, Part 3: Digital Portfolio

In today's modern world of technology, a digital portfolio is not only a must, but easy to put together as well in order to compliment your resume submissions.  In some cases, you would use a digital portfolio to submit for audition purposes as requested by the company or summer program if they aren't holding auditions in your area or you missed them.  In these situations, they may provide specifics as to what they want to see on video (again, never deviate from these specifics), however, there are needs to have a digital portfolio ready and available without being given specifics.  The content of your digital portfolio should include the following: 

Barre Work

You want to include basic barre work to show technique.  This should include demi and grande plies in first, second, fourth and fifth positions.  Be sure to adjust your camera angles from both side and frontal shots to provide a clear depiction of your technique.  You want to also include a tendu, deggage, rond de jambe, fondu and frappe exercises.

Center & Across the Floor

The center work should include grande battements, center tendu and pirouette exercises, a short adagio and petite allegro, with and without battu, depending on your level.  Across the floor should include a travelling pirouette exercise and grande allegro.  The last bit of the "class portion" should include coda exercises, such as fifth position pirouettes, piques in a circle and/ or fouettes (unless this is already part of one of your variations, don't duplicate for the sake of time).

You will want to have your instructor, coach or professional dance resume coach present to facilitate/ video your class portion.  They will provide the best exercises and correct your technique to ensure your best work comes across on video.  A professional dance resume coach will be able to do this as well as combine the best angles to shoot the video.  Always wear what you would in an audition for your class portion; pink tights, black or dark colored leotard, hair tidy and no jewelry or junk.

Classical Variation & Contemporary Choreography

Include a classical variation that shows you off well and should be one that you have had in your repertoire for awhile (a year or more to be really polished).  Next, include a contemporary piece that is as opposite to your classical variation as possible.  This is to demonstrate a diverse performance capability with only two dances.

For this portion, you may add a ballet skirt, or practice tutu, depending on the variation, or in some cases a costume; but only if you are able to shoot the video on a large scale, as on a stage.  Full costume can distract from the dancer in the studio for videoing purposes.

Depending on the goal of your digital portfolio (summer programs vs. a company contract position) you may want to include a pas de duex section as well.  This can be from a variation and/ or some basic partnering with turns and lifts.

All in all, your digital portfolio should be no longer than ten minutes, and I recommend to keep it right around eight minutes.  It may be difficult to select content for such a short amount of time, as most dancers have several pieces of choreography and variations to choose from, but remember this is "just a taste" of what you have to offer, and you can always use your social media content to demonstrate your other performance material and class work.  The goal of your digital portfolio is to make the recipient want to see more.