The socio-economic trend of professional dance becoming a class marker as it has in the West is accelerating. Back in the "old days" of the PRC, the kids were functionally drafted, scouted out of millions by the teachers themselves for promising physical attributes and their
training 100% funded by the state into well paying government sinecures. The intake system is completely different now having been for the most part privatized. Initial classes for a 6 year old aren't particularly a major expense, 300 rmb per month. However to pursue it as a
career you need more than an hour of class a week. More like 30 hours of classes a week from teachers in either small classes or individualized instruction. This is where the expenses begin to really ad up. The professional secondary art schools are heavily subsidized, with even
the Beijing Dance Academy only charging 4000 rmb per year in tuition at the secondary level and 8000 for undergraduate level and another 1k in room and board (This is in Beijing mind you) with another few thousand in books and costuming. The trick is in getting in which requires
the students and their families compete with one another and the training, shoes, costumes, competition travel etc which are private and unsubsidized all add up to more than the average middle class family can realistically afford. The return on investment as it were is a brief
maybe 20 years as a professional performer and a 10k rmb per month salary at best, or perhaps a chance to get scouted by the television/film industry while most will default to dance teaching. As a livelihood it doesn't make much financial sense so it is entirely driven by either
passion for the art or a parent's thwarted dreams of stardom and those can only be funded by a parent's deep pockets.
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