Each week we explain how to look for work experience. This time, performing arts

Working in the performing arts would be a dream come true for many students. Whether you're into dancing, singing or acting, a career in performance would be exciting.

And even if you have two left feet and can't sing a note, there are plenty of other ways to be in the arts without ever setting foot on a stage. Theatre management, administration, casting and teaching are just some of the other directions you may take. Competition is strong, however - for work experience as well as for jobs.

The National Performing Arts School (NPAS), a private institution in Dublin, has more than 1,200 students taking classes in everything from ballet to break-dancing. "TY students attending one of our courses will always get preference for work-experience placements," says Jill Doyle of the school. "We are inundated with applications, so this was the fairest way of doing things. We physically couldn't give placements to them all.

"On a work placement here we give students the chance to observe classes they've never experienced before, work the phones, update our Bebo site, do inquiries, all that kind of thing. They are usually amazed at just how much planning and organisational skill is needed to run a school of this size."

There are other options, too. Marian Lennon, a ballet teacher at Inchicore College of Further Education, suggests contacting dance teachers to see if they would let you shadow them for a week or two.

"In relation to dance, I think students should ask their own teachers to help them. I've had TY students work as my assistant in classes," she says. Once again, though, you need to have shown an interest in performance before you start applying to any schools or teachers.

"I'd say most teachers would generally take their own students on," says Lennon. "But it's a very good learning experience for them. It gives them the opportunity to see things from the teacher's perspective."

Some schools and colleges of dance also offer places to talented TY students for the whole year. This would be on a full-time basis, so is subject to your school's authorisation.

The College of Dance in Monkstown, Co Dublin, offered 18-year-old Claire O'Connell a placement. "I did my work experience in the NPAS, and I teach there now," she says. I've been dancing since I was about four, and nobody knows better than I that it's a difficult business. You have to be very disciplined and want it really badly, especially nowadays - it's gotten so hard. Every day it's getting more competitive, and there are more and more auditions."

But at least that means there are more places to try for work experience.