New careers after ballet

[Estelle]

The following article by Raphaël de Gubernatis deals with the problems of finding new careers for retired ballet dancers:

http://www.nouvelobs.com/articles/p2103/a263619.html

It mentions some special projects about it, especiall aDvANCE by Philippe Braunschweig (foundator of the concours de Lausanne ), and also a few companies which help their dancers during a transitional period, like the Ballet du Grand-Théâtre de Genève, the Ballet de l'Opéra de Lyon and the Ballets de Monte-Carlo.

Some of the new careers mentioned in the article are quite unusual, for example an orthodox pope in Greece (!), a specialist in deaf sign language, a ski instructor, a cook, and even a judge (who managed to get a law degree during her dancing career).

[Pamela Moberg]

Thanks Estelle, for the article! My French is not the very best, but I read quite OK.

Yes, I do agree,what to do after an active dancing career.

The obvious is teaching. But, having done that myself, how satisfying is that? Of course, if you can teach advanced pupils I think it is very satisfying indeed. But, I have some friends who have schools for once a week lessons, doing a kind of "play and plie" lesson for toddlers. I admire those people. Myself, I do not have the patience.

As for myself, I solved my ballet abstinence problem by starting to study dance history. It soon developed into theatre history, opera and plays. It worked quite well, bearing in mind that the readership is limited - yet, I did a number of talks on the radio, participated in TV programs and wrote a number of articles for both the daily press and magazines.

I remember an interview with a retired air force colonel (he was 45). He said (sadly) "Well, in the future I can only fly desks". Indeed, I can now only dance on the keyboard, but life has its different phases, and if I can bring knowledge to people about dance in say the year of 1799, is not that a good thing?

OK, I am aware that not everybody likes to go through old tomes and search library archives for old documents, but at least I think I have found my niche in the non-active dance world. And I also think that knowledge of history is very important for everybody.

[Estelle]

Hi Pamela, I hadn't read you for a while !

Your career is an interesting example indeed. I wonder if there are many examples of former ballet dancers who became dance historians ? Also I guess that it might be difficult to earn one's life that way, depending on the country one lives in...

You wrote:

OK, I am aware that not everybody likes to go through old tomes and search library archives for old documents

Personnally I couldn't imagine a more pleasant activity, but I've always been "un rat de bibliothèque" ;)

[chrisk217]

Very interesting article, Estelle. I'd just like to clear up a little detail:

Some of the new careers mentioned in the article are quite unusual, for example an orthodox pope in Greece (!),

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You must mean priest (papas) not pope (papas). Pope in greek and english is the head of the Catholic Church, in french it also means orthodox priest.

[Estelle]

chrisk217: thanks for the correction, I had used the French word by mistake.

[dirac]

I remember an interview with a retired air force colonel (he was 45). He said (sadly) "Well, in the future I can only fly desks".

At least the colonel probably had a little pension to fall back on.