JQuery - Get select value
var nationality = $("#dancerCountry").val(); should work. Are you sure that the element selector is working properly? Perhaps you should try:
var nationality = $('select[name="dancerCountry"]').val();
val() returns the value of the <select> element, i.e. the value attribute of the selected <option> element.
Since you actually want the inner text of the selected <option> element, you should match that element and use text() instead:
var nationality = $("#dancerCountry option:selected").text();