NOC 53120: Dancers

Dancers are employed by ballet and dance companies, television and film productions and nightclubs and similar establishments. This unit group also includes dance teachers who are usually employed by dance academies and dance schools.

Express Entry eligibility

• Skilled work (TEER 0 to 3): yes, TEER 3.
• Canadian Experience Class: counts as skilled Canadian work (1 year in the last 3 years).
• Federal Skilled Worker Program: counts as skilled work (1 year of continuous work in the last 10 years).
• Federal Skilled Trades Program: not one of the eligible trades.
• High-wage occupation (from November 3, 2026): no. No high-wage add-on, and a job offer in it earns no CRS points.

TEER 3: Occupations that usually need a college diploma, an apprenticeship of less than 2 years, or more than 6 months of on-the-job training. Every program has other requirements too, such as language test results and, for FSW, a points test.

Category-based draws

NOC 53120 is not on any of IRCC’s occupation category lists. You can still be invited in general, Canadian Experience Class or other program draws.

Category lists checked on canada.ca on 2026-10-17. IRCC category-based selection

CRS points for work in NOC 53120

Skilled Canadian work in this occupation earns the standard points, the same before and after November 3, 2026, with no high-wage add-on:

See Canadian work points and the median-wage rule.

Main duties

This group performs some or all of the following duties:

• Dancers
• Practise and rehearse dance routines under direction or instruction to achieve desired interpretation and presentation
• Perform dances as soloists or as members of groups before live audiences or for film or television
• Train and exercise to maintain the required levels of ability and fitness
• May choreograph their own performances.
• Dance teachers
• Teach dance technique and artistic interpretation to amateur and professional individuals and groups
• Teach the techniques, cultural origins and symbolic meanings of Aboriginal, ethnic and folkloric dances
• Teach recreational dancing lessons such as ballroom dancing
• Prepare dance students for specific auditions and performances.
• Dancers may specialize in specific types of dance such as ballet, ballroom, folk, jazz or modern.

For Express Entry your duties must match the lead statement and most of the main duties above.

Example job titles

• ballet dancer
• ballet teacher
• ballroom dancing teacher
• dance instructor
• dancer
• folkloric dancer
• interpretative dancer
• tap dancer

Employment requirements

• A university degree or college diploma in dance or Graduation from a private dance school or academy may be required.
• Talent and ability, as demonstrated during an audition, are important hiring criteria.
• Dance teachers usually require experience as dancers.
• Membership in a guild or union related to the occupation or type of performance may be required.

Similar jobs with a different code

• 51120Choreographer
• 55109Other performers