I'd take this further: practically all of the professional dancers and
choreographers I know have very low incomes, zero job security, and spend a
lot of their time and effort doing other jobs to make ends meet.
Historically, appreciation of the arts has been generally held to be a
middle- or upper-class thing (although that's been changing in some
enlightened European contexts - just see who goes to the art galleries in
London and Glasgow). I don't know how much this is true of the creation of
the arts. Historically, the great composers (well, the ones we remember)
moved around in elevated classes, but I don't know how many of them could
be described as priviledged or affluent, apart from those with benefactors.
On the other hand, Dance does seem to have a cloistered, slightly parochial
culture for reasons which I've never been able to completely fathom.
Perhaps it's a sense of attrition in the face of a middle-class media which
seems to elevate it out of reach of the common man?
Anyway, I thought that America didn't have priviledged classes? :-)
Nick Rothwell, CASSIEL contemporary dance projects
http://www.cassiel.com music synthesis and control
years, passing by, VCO, VCF, and again, and again