Dance Call Tips for Actors Who Don’t Dance

You found the perfect musical audition. The role fits, the song is in your book, and then you see the last line of the notice: “Please be prepared to dance.” Your stomach drops. You took two jazz classes in college and spent most of them watching the person in front of you.

Here’s the good news. A dance call for a show isn’t a ballet company audition, and you don’t have to turn like the dance captain to give a good account of yourself. Much of what makes a non-dancer look ready in that room is something you can control tonight.

The short version: learn how the call runs so nothing surprises you, dress so they can see your body and you can move safely, learn the combination in chunks with your own counts in your head, and when you lose a step, keep going in time with a face that’s still telling the story. Our rule of thumb: a missed turn hurts you far less than stopping.

How a dance call actually runs

“For ensemble dance roles, auditions usually begin with a dance call,” writes Seth Rudetsky in his overview of musical theater auditions, He describes the usual shape: you audition in a group, learning a dance taught by the choreographer or an associate. Afterward, they call out the names of the people they want to stay. Some are kept to sing; some are asked to dance a different combination.

The room is usually a rehearsal studio with a pianist and mirrors on the walls, so you can watch yourself while you learn. Often the room is split into smaller groups to perform it.

How long do you get? It varies, but the union gives you a sense of scale. Actors’ Equity’s 2023 audition protocols require a dancers’ chorus call notice to say how long each group will take to learn and audition with the combination. In a worked example in its 2023 in-person protocols, a group of 15 dancers learns and auditions with the combination in 60 minutes, teaching included, so quick pickup matters.

Dancers, and singers who move

Big musicals often split the calls. One posted Equity chorus call notice for a Broadway show listed a dancer call and a separate call for “singers who move well.” Dancers were told some might be asked to stay and sing after everyone had danced. If you’re not a dancer, the singers’ call is usually your room, though you may still be asked to move.

Principal roles with some dancing work the other way round. Rudetsky notes you sing (and maybe read a scene) first, and then you may be asked back for a dance call built for that role. Read the notice twice so you know which kind of call you’ve signed up for.

What you can control as a non-dancer

You can’t turn yourself into a trained dancer by Thursday. What you can do is show that you learn quickly, keep up, stay in time, and look like you belong on stage while doing it. Think of these as questions to ask yourself after each run.

None of them is about the hardest step. They’re the basics:

• Pickup. Did you get the structure of the combination, even if a detail slipped?
• Timing. Did you land on the music, and come back to it after a mistake?
• Commitment. When your group performs, did you go full out rather than marking it?
• Story. Did your face and focus belong to the number, or to the person next to you?
• The room. Were you easy to teach, and kind to the people around you?

Those are performing skills as much as dance skills. You already have the last two. The first three are what the rest of this guide is about.

What to wear and bring to a dance call

The notice usually tells you. The Equity chorus call above asked dancers for “jazz shoes or sneakers, and comfortable clothing,” plus a picture and resume and a short song cut. Follow whatever the notice says first; it’s the clearest signal of what the team wants.

Beyond that, aim for clothes that let the panel see your body move and that you don’t have to adjust. Fitted (not baggy) tops and pants or tights, hair off your face, nothing that swings or slips. Choreographer and teaching artist Piper Lindsay Arpan, in the Denver Center’s dance audition tips, says knowing the show can affect how you dress for the audition. Our own rule of thumb: a hint of the period or style is fine; a costume is not. For the rest of your audition wardrobe, see our guide on what to wear to an audition.

Bring more than one pair of shoes. Arpan’s reason is simple: you never know what the floor will be like. Sneakers you can turn in, character shoes if the show calls for heels, and whatever the notice names. Add water, a snack, and your book of music, because the singing can come right after the dancing.

Learn the combination in chunks, with your own counts

The single most useful habit is one Arpan puts in three words: “Do NOT follow.” If you copy the person in front of you, you’ll be one beat late all day, and when your group goes up and she’s not there, you’ll have nothing. Keep the counts and the step names running in your own head from the first time it’s taught.

Here’s a method built from advice in Dance Spirit’s memory tricks for picking up choreography and Arpan’s tips:

1. Watch the whole combination once before you move. Get the shape: where it travels, where it turns, where it stops.
2. Chunk it. Split a combination into three or four short sections and tie each to a beat or a word in the music.
3. Name the steps in plain words. “Step, step, ball change, turn left, arms up on six.” Say the steps out loud to yourself if you learn by ear.
4. Test yourself. Close your eyes and see how much you can recall. The gaps you find are the parts to watch closely on the next demonstration.
5. Mark while you wait. When another group is dancing, go through it small at the side, and run it full out a couple of times to check you have it.

Why marking helps you learn

Marking isn’t laziness. In a study published in Psychological Science and summarized by the Association for Psychological Science, dance students learned two routines, rehearsing one full out and one by marking. Judges rated the marked routine higher. The researchers suggest marking may reduce the load of learning choreography, because you’re not also spending effort on full control of the body.

The authors were careful to say they don’t know how far it extends to other kinds of dance. Still, it gives you good reason to walk through it small while you learn, then go full out when it counts.

If you’re an actor, this will feel familiar. It’s the same idea as learning lines by saying them quietly and testing yourself without the page, then playing the scene full out once the words are solid. Our guide on learning lines for a musical covers the script side.

When you lose a step, keep going

You will lose a step. Everyone does, including the dancers. What you do in the next two counts is the part you control.

• Don’t stop, don’t apologize, don’t laugh it off. Stay on the music and keep your face in the number.
• Jump to the next landmark. Skip the lost bit and come back in at the start of the next chunk. That’s why chunking matters: you always know where the next door is.
• Simplify, don’t freeze. If a turn won’t come, do a clean step-around on the count. A simpler move done on time and fully reads better than a hard move done late.
• Finish strong. Hit the last pose and hold it until the music ends, so the run ends looking finished.

Arpan’s advice to stay in the moment matters here. The mistake already happened. The only count you can still win is the next one.

The night before and the morning of

You can’t learn the combination in advance, but you can show up ready to learn it fast. A simple plan:

• Research the show and choreographer. Watch footage of the show or the choreographer’s other work. Notice the style: jazz, tap, contemporary, a period social dance. Knowing the vocabulary makes the teaching faster.
• Take a class this week. Even one beginner jazz or musical theater class reminds your body what counts and step names feel like. Arpan’s advice is to keep learning between auditions.
• Prepare the rest of the audition fully. Your 16 bars, your song in the right key, and any sides. If you’re kept after the dance, you want the singing and acting to feel easy.
• Arrive early and warm up. The dancers’ call notice above asked them to “be warmed up and ready to dance when the call begins.”
• Stand where you can see. Not front row if you’ll panic, not the back corner where you’ll copy. Second row, with a clear line to the choreographer.

That third item is easy to under-prepare. If you’re up for a role with a scene, you may get sides with little notice, and you want the words solid enough that your attention is on the other person. If you have sides, running them out loud with Offbook, where voices read the other parts and wait for your line while you hide your own lines, is a quick way to test yourself the night before.

If you only need the words in a hurry, our free line memorizer turns a speech into first-letter cues, no account needed. And for the song side of the day, our guide to building a musical theater audition book covers what to bring.

After the dance: singing, sides, and callbacks

If your name is called to stay, switch modes. Shake out, drink water, and walk into the singing room as an actor, not as someone who just survived something. The table already knows you can move enough; now they want the reason to cast you.

If you’re cut, it isn’t a verdict on you as a performer. A dance call is a fast filter for one kind of ensemble. Note what tripped you up (the turns, the speed, the style), take a class in that, and go again. Every call you do makes the next one easier, because the format stops being a surprise.

If you get a callback, you may get a longer combination or a role-specific dance, plus sides. Our guide on how to prepare for a callback covers the rest.

Questions actors ask

What happens at a dance call for a musical?

A choreographer or associate teaches a combination to a group, usually in a mirrored studio with a pianist. Often the room is split into smaller groups to perform it. Afterward they call names to stay; some are asked to sing, some to learn another combination, and everyone else is free to go.

What should I wear to a dance call?

Whatever the notice asks first. Otherwise, fitted clothes that show your line and don’t need adjusting, hair off your face, and more than one pair of shoes (sneakers or jazz shoes, plus character shoes if the show calls for them). Bring water and your book of music.

How do I get through a dance call if I’m not a dancer?

Stand where you can see the choreographer, keep your own counts instead of copying, chunk the combination, and mark it while other groups go. When you lose a step, stay on the music and come back in at the next section. Commitment and timing matter more for a singer who moves than a perfect turn.

Can I sit out the dance portion?

If the notice lists a separate call for singers, go to that one, but expect you may still be asked to move or come back for a dance call. If the call requires dance for everyone, do it at your level: a simple version done fully is better than sitting out.