Career Counseling Workshops- on tour!

Career transition for dancers is taking their services on the road. First stop Pittsburgh, PA then Minneapolis, MN (September 21-22) & Dallas (October 5-6). Remember that there are constantly offerings at the LA and NYC Career Transition for Dancers Offices. Check the website here.

From the CTFD newsletter:
National Outreach Projects bring our services to you. Career Transition For Dancers is taking it's programs & services on the road.

Whether you are a pre-professional, professional or former professional dancer, you are invited to attend our national outreach projects free of charge. Be sure to tell your friends.

Upcoming National Outreach Project

Pittsburgh, PA at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre

Sunday, Sept. 14 - Monday, Sept. 15

For more information or to reserve a place, call us at 212 764 0172 or email nationaloutreach@careertransition.org

Dancers trying to save the day- and their livelihoods.

Texas Ballet Theater, under the direction of Ben Stevenson, is currently in major financial stress. An article from guide live.com cites that TBT needs to raise over a half billion dollars within the next 60 days to survive. TBT needs to raise between $1 to 1.5 million in the long term.

Unfortunately this is not a new situation to the dance world. We have lost numerous companies over that last five years including Ballet Internationale, Ohio Ballet, Oakland Ballet and many others. Ballet Florida just overcame a half million dollar deficit last spring.

The most interesting thing in the case of TBT is that the dancers have been afforded the opportunity to get involved and help raise awareness and funds to keep their organization afloat. Here is an article focusing on the 39 dancers of TBT.

If you, or anyone you know can help, "now is the time!"

Off season. Part III

Here is a picture of my students from Mid- Atlantic Ballet in Newark, DE. I have guest taught and performed with these students for nearly five years.

So I am basking in the moment of another summer intensive program's completion. The past two weeks I have earned my living teaching young dancers in Delaware and Michigan. It has been very rewarding; full of sweat and profound improvements.

Teaching is a great way that many dancers sustain themselves and give back. I still don't really consider myself an expert in the field of dance, but I have made a great career of it and have ways of working with my body, sewing pointe shoes and presenting myself. I forget that these are all learned skills that in many ways are still very analog. (Although more and more students are realizing that YouTube! offers variations for them to learn).

This week in addition to ballet and pointe, variations and improv classes, we had a pointe shoe workshop and working lunches watching videos. The growth through the week was astounding and most importantly we all learned from each other. The students questions and struggles force me to reassess my theories on technique and artistry as well as how I communicate.

Although being a dancer in America usually means a fair amount of layoff time, I am finding that the outlets where I earn my living are varied and rewarding.

Managing a dancers life- an article.

Below is an article on a west coast choreographer managing life in the arts. The excerpt is from a downloadable pdf publication called CROSSOVER: How Artists Build Careers across
Commercial, Nonprofit and Community Work by Ann Markusen | Sam Gilmore | Amanda Johnson
Titus Levi | Andrea Martinez. This is out of a great series of research papers from the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs; the business school of the University of Minnesota.

They have compiled a number of economic arts impact articles over the past decade and although current conditions are vastly different than ten years ago, the information is relevant and packed with interesting stuff.


Sarah Swenson Pg. 64

Choreographer Sarah Swenson faces the unique challenges of running a commercial
dance company based out of Los Angeles. As co-founder of Sarah Swenson & Vox
Dance Theatre, she balances the demands of being a commercial artist with being a
nonprofit dance teacher. While the teaching supports both herself and her
company, it keeps her away from her own creative work.

In 1976, Swenson moved from Boston to attend New York University, but she
left after two years to focus on performing as a dancer. Early on in her
career, she worked with Jubilation Dance Company and Alvin Ailey’s third dance
company in a piece entitled Northside. In 1984, she began
studying at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and eventually started
teaching, working in repertory and performance coaching. Teaching provided stability
and allowed her to make a living exclusively in dance through teaching, dancing, and making
new pieces.

While still on the East Coast, she began to choreograph, earning a positive review in the New York Times for a piece she developed in 1990. By 1995 she had cofounded Seraphim Dance Theatre with the
late Raymond Harris, performing in New York venues such as the Aaron Davis Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the United Nations. A few grants trickled in, including support from the Brooklyn Arts Council.

After burning out on New York, Swenson came to LA. She decided to attend graduate school at California State University-Long Beach, where her choreography blossomed. “It was there that I started doing important work, when I was sure I had something to say as an artist.” After finishing her MFA, she landed
a job as a choreographer with The Long Beach Opera for a performance of Euridice by Jacopo Peri. She gravitated toward the stability of academia, taking a job at Missouri Valley College, in Marshall, but
resigned after two years and returned to Los Angeles.

With Sarah Swenson & Vox Dance Theatre, she has choreographed several pieces, some of which have been
produced in festivals, such as the Festival Under the Stars in Palm Desert, the South LA Contemporary Dance Festival in Torrance, and most prominently, the FIDA International Dance Festival in Toronto, which invited the company to return for a performance in the summer of 2006. Some of these appearances provide artist fees, and some awards. In each case, payments tend to be small.

Even so, Swenson makes it a point to pay the dancers most of the money to help cover their expenses.
Funding the project is a pressing issue. Swenson harbors reservations about becoming a nonprofit organization. “For me to be competitive I ought to have a nonprofit organization, but doing that will
probably make my life even more impossible than it is, and I’m not sure what I’m going to get out of it
because there is so much competition for so few grants.” In addition, she doesn’t see a clear path to
attracting corporate sponsorships, although Adobe has contributed support. “And I would have to
change my style, my choreography, who I work with, my contacts… everything. These worlds aren’t compatible.”

She covers her living expenses teaching courses at Cal State-Long Beach, Loyola Marymount University, and
Saint Joseph Ballet. But this hardly keeps her head above water, especially as she continues to do the basics of promotion and incurs expenses for website design, renting rehearsal space, buying sets and costumes. “I
spend a huge amount of time and money on how I am presented.”

This leaves her between a rock and a hard place: “I could teach more, but I’d be in a panic because I couldn’t keep the company moving.” She’s considering working with a dance agent in order to help focus her
marketing, publicity and organization efforts. And somehow, amidst all this, she continues to work as a dancer, most recently in a performance of the works of Rudy Perez at REDCAT.

Dance USA memberships.

Professional Dancer Flier - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Professional Dancer Flier

Here are the new fliers for Dance USA memberships for dancers. It is really a great organization that opens many doors to new ways of thinking in respect to a dancer as a business as well as an artist. (We all need to eat right?).

In brief, if you are an employee of a company that is already a Dance USA member, you can apply for a membership for free. If you are a freelance dancer, or your company is not a member, there is a significantly discounted dancer rate of $30/ year (likely tax deductible). The benefits well outweigh the costs, so get involved!

Company Dancer Flier - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Company Dancer Flier

Look what I did.

Well, this is the second and final incarnation, but I created a website for my GYROTONIC® business. I have recently been certified and am trying to promote my business.

The first incarnation of my personal website is the true resource. Weebly is a free online website creator and host. The drawback is that the free web address involves having .weebly in the domain. But you can upgrade at a very reasonable rate. There are many templates to choose from and quickly design your site. And for those wishing to market themselves either for guest work or auditions, the online accessibility is convenient and shows very well.

Enjoy.

A little too personal perhaps...

This blog is not intended to be a journal or diary, but rather a resource of links and thoughts for dancers pursuing a life in dance. However this blog is a creative outlet for my current thoughts and issues on my path as a dancer.

That said, how as dance artists do we serve the art beyond our selves? How throughout the sometimes painful and arduous process do we remain open and giving?

Dance is a very strange process. There is no check list, no finite time of completion (other than each curtain of each show) or ladder to climb. The process of dance is all encompassing and very personal. Growth in the process occurs through a series of critiques from an outside source as well as reflections from within. But with those external seemingly negative forces, how do we stay true to the inside motivation to dance?

On the other side of the scenario, how do we as artists humbly accept the praise of the audience post performance? Of course the praise feels great, but in order to fully serve the art, it is not about commendation. Approval is an ugly beast that deludes us. Success of one piece or show does not mean that the next venture will provide such results. And is it really art if in the end it is only created for the approval of an outside force?

Life needs art, my life needs to dance; without dance as art I can hardly speak.