Dancers and Change | This Dancing Life

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Movement is everywhere, atoms spinning constantly through the dancing universe. Everything changes – how could it not? Your career too will change. Extraordinary things can happen in your dancing life (and probably will).

“If you are not dancing, you’re dead“. —Lisa Alpine

Maybe the next director wants new dancers, and your contract’s not being renewed. This can be distressing, but it happens — accept reality and find another company. For everyone’s sake, stay amicable and professional. The dance world is small — news of interpersonal problems spreads fast, not the sort of baggage you’ll want throughout your career. Most directors know each other; your next company is only a phone call away for your present boss. Help him to help you.

Then again, perhaps you’re staying put. Even so, time passes, and your body will gradually change. You probably look and feel great, but the clock is ticking. Physically you may not be as breath-taking as before, but you’re still performing brilliantly and managing your aches and pains. Mornings may be rough, but you cope, you warm up carefully, and you know the survival techniques. It’s all still good, really it is…

“A dancer, more than any other human being, dies two deaths: the first, the physical when the powerfully trained body will no longer respond as you would wish. After all, I choreographed for myself. I never choreographed what I could not do. I changed steps in Medea and other ballets to accommodate the change. But I knew. And it haunted me. I only wanted to dance.” — Martha Graham

This can be a wonderful time. Your knowledge, experience, physical intelligence and maturing artistry are huge assets, not available to younger colleagues. Among several nice things that may happen are character rôles, which are perfect for you at this stage — you can carry on dancing them for years without having to bully your aching bones through every show. I’ve loved performing Dr. Coppélius, Carabosse, Drosselmeyer, and the others. Even so, a question will be slowly forming in your mind – what (eventually) are you going to do next? Not now, but sometime…

“Like everyone else, I want to go on dancing forever, but I know the day is going to come when I will have to be doing something else“. — Karen Kain

This is frightening. Dance is your life. Not dancing would be unimaginable, like bereavement, hard even to think about. Nonetheless, delight in dancing decreases as physical pain increases. Minor hassles happen more regularly these days, only now they’re not so minor. Bunions, osteoarthritis in knees, ankles, hips or spine, a neck regularly smothered in liniment, shoulder impingement, other wear-and-tear complaints — they all combine to leave you feeling pretty battered. Sometimes you secretly wonder, wouldn’t it be nice not to hurt quite so much, so often?

Some wonderfully sympathetic organisations can smooth this painful transition, as we shall see. Unless you’re exceptionally talented, lucky, or very thrifty, dancing hasn’t made you rich. True, money can’t buy happiness. It buys some things, though, and you can’t really manage without it. Let’s take a deep breath and look at your choices.

“Dancing is like breathing — missing a day doing either is very bad“. — Vera Ellen

How were you at school? Probably you wanted to dance all day – for some people, school’s easy, for others, an irritating distraction from dancing. Not everyone can boast impressive scholastic laurels.

“Don’t think you are going to go on forever because you are not, and begin to plan something that will compensate as you reduce your capacity to leap or turn on this or that or the other, begin thinking of something else“.
— Katherine Dunham

Fortunately, even without academic honours, you can get into higher education. Some universities accept “Accredited Prior Experience and Learning” (APEL); in lieu of school certificates. For decades you’ve been a high-powered, elite professional; you’re attractive to them. Interested in Dance History? You’re exactly what they want. This also applies to other fields (Art, Physical Education) — you have more choices than you think. Many ex-dancers become physiotherapists, orthopaedist or surgeons, join the syllabus institutions, or qualify in Arts or Theatre Administration.

Teaching dance is fascinating and rewarding, as engaging and intense as performing. Be warned, though; it’s hard, both physically and professionally. Just because people were good dancers, they aren’t automatically teachers. Teachers qualify by serious study at teacher-training colleges. The Royal Academy of Dance® offers teacher training for professional dancers, allowing participants to combine study with their active performing careers; its graduates are extremely sought-after.

Notation is another stimulating, specialised job. The principal methods are named for their inventors, Rudolf and Joan Benesh, and Rudolf Laban. Both notate movement at individual body segments, writing sequential symbols connecting movement in time. Laban is vertical, while Benesh uses a horizontal “staff”, notating the movements of head, shoulders, waist, knees and feet as seen from behind.

Benesh is widely used in Europe — several companies employ notators who transcribe each new piece. Benesh Movement Notation (BMN) is taught at the Benesh Institute, under the RAD®. BMN applications include protecting choreographic copyright, teaching rôles, staging ballets, operas and musicals, archiving and recording repertoire, dance history research, anthropology, teaching, technical sports or dance analysis, therapy, and dance communication across language barriers. Properly transcribed, it’s the most precise option for recording movements as their creator intended them. Video is useful, but only records from one angle, on one occasion. Errors risk being enshrined as correct, especially if the performer was having an “off” night, or was injured, or the tempo was wrong, mistakes crept in, and so on. Also, video can leave something important out of shot, causing problems for subsequent revivals. Clearly, the notator is essential to preserving repertoire; for an ex-dancer, it’s a great second career. Information is available from the Royal Academy of Dance, 36 Battersea Square, London SW11 3RA, UK, info@rad.org.uk +44 (0)20 7326 8000 or from Liz Cunliffe, lcunliffe@rad.org.uk +44 (0)20 7326 8031.There’s also a Benesh centre in Paris, at Centre Benesh,117 Boulevard Richard Lenoir, 75011 Paris.

Labanotation, and Kinetography Laban, are under the Dance Notation Bureau, 111 John Street, Suite 704, New York, NY 10038, +1 212 571-7011 (phone), +1 212 571-7012 (fax) dnbinfo@dancenotation.org. Like BMN, Labanotation and Kinetography Laban are used worldwide, in new choreography, staging and archiving of repertoire, movement analysis, research, clinical care and robotics.

Other options include Dance Science, Sports Science, coaching, rehabilitation, osteopathy, or dance therapy. You can study on a part-time distance-learning basis, while you’re still performing. The direction and the union will try to help; everyone recognises how important this is for you.

How can you pay for it all? British dancers benefit from Dancers Career Development, which, provided you’ve danced professionally for long enough, will help cover some (or all) re-training costs following your performing life. They’re funded through contributions from companies, and by the DCD’s own fund-raising activities. Many countries operate similar systems. Britain also offers grants, bursaries, loans and financial assistance for mature students, some for tuition, others for living expenses while studying. Different countries will offer different options.

Maybe you can change jobs in your theatre. You could study costume construction, or design, or work in Wardrobe. There’s make-up, wigs, stage management, box office, front of house, catering, merchandising, the stage door, the sound department, props or electrics. You could learn lighting design, or work in Administration, IT, Human Resources, Publicity, the Ballet Direction, the planning office, or the Orchestra Direction. Dancers have orderly, detailed minds — they make great opera production assistants, and with so many different operas every season, each with a different team, that could be a possibility. What about programme notes? Maybe the theatre needs a dramaturge. Can you still sing? What about the chorus?

Could you be a choreographer? Your director might want to develop you as the new house choreographer. Get other directors to see your work – if they like it, you might get future productions there. You need to network, expand your range of contacts. Enter (and, if possible, win) choreography competitions. Contact people who commission commercial, or fashion, or industrial exhibition, or film, or television dance. (You may need an agent for this — chasing people eats time). A choreographer’s career is filled with dance. There’s pressure, though, and travel, so think about it.

Some dancers become rehearsal assistants, and morph into ballet-masters. I followed this path, and it can be extremely fulfilling. One day I’ll write about the ups (there are many) and the downs (yes, a few of those, too) of the dancing life of a ballet-master in a professional company.