How to persevere in a ballet performance career: exploring personal wisdom of retired professional ballet dancers

ABSTRACT

Despite the well-documented challenges of professional ballet dancers and anecdotal report of premature retirement, no research has examined what professional ballet dancers do to persevere in their performance careers. This study drew on the perspectives of retired professional ballet dancers to address this question. We conducted narrative interviews with nine retired professional ballet dancers and identified four themes using thematic analysis. Findings show that to persevere in a performance career, dancers need to: (1) Look After Mental Health and Self-Worth; (2) Be Proactive in Navigating Career; (3) Grow as an Artist; and (4) Live as a Whole Person. We suggest these thematic findings illustrate attitudes and behaviours of career adaptability and draw attention to the needs for mental health support and mental skills training, and mentorship and career advice, for helping aspiring and professional ballet dancers persevere in a performance career. Findings have implications and applications for ballet dancers, research, ballet management, dance educators, and dance counsellors.

KEYWORDS:

• Ballet dancers
• perseverance
• performance career
• mental health
• career adaptability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes on contributors

Heejin Kim

Heejin Kim completed her pre-professional training as an aspiring ballet dancer in the Department of Dance at Kaywon High School of Arts in South Korea. She moved to Canada to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology from the University of British Columbia while performing and competing as a member of the UBC Ballet Club. Upon completion of her BA, Heejin pursued a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from the University of Victoria (Canada) with a research focus on perseverance of professional ballet dancers. Currently, Heejin works as Mental Health Clinician at Vancouver Coastal Health and as a Registered Clinical Counsellor at Light the Mind Counselling & Psychotherapy.

Susan Louise Tasker

Dr. Susan Tasker is Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria (Canada) in the graduate Counselling Psychology Program. Susan received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from McMaster University and is a Professional member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. Her research investigating the health and well-being of siblings of young homicide victims is one of the first Canadian studies to examine the immediate and longer-term experiences of the brothers and sisters of homicide victims. Ballet has always been a big part of Susan's life and she taught ballet (R.A.D.) for a few years in South Africa before immigrating to Canada where she pursued and academic career.

Yan Shen

Dr. Yan Shen is an Associate Professor at Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria (Canada). She brings a passion for helping organizations and individuals understand the impact of globalization on the changing career landscape and the importance of building high quality relationships for career and personal development. Her primary research interests include careers across cultures, expatriates, and mentoring and developmental networks.