Dance as a career entails an extraordinarily high level of commitment, passion, extensive periods of training, and a brief professional life.
Dancers usually receive oblique indications that their time is up, for example not being cast for roles they once danced, seeing younger dancers chosen in auditions or getting an unwanted injury.
This is a turning point for every dancer in the world.
“a dancer dies twice – once when they stop dancing, and this first death is the more painful.”
– Martha Graham
Some may feel as they have lost their ‘identity’ and if unprepared, dancers can find themselves making unwise choices simply out of insecurities, financial necessity or a lack of time and information.
But dancing is much more than the ability to dance. Dancers are disciplined, intelligent, creative, hard workers, team players and stress resilient. During their career they develop an enormous set of skills that are very useful in other areas.