AFTER THE BALL IS OVER

Abstract

In 2000, the Research Center for Arts and Culture at Columbia University’s Teachers College was approached by a board of persons knowledgeable about dance and the International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers (IOTPD) to provide data about the challenges and realities of dancers’ career transition. This first study of its kind became a coordinated inquiry into the career transition of professional dancers in eleven different countries, culminating in a report written by William Baumol, Joan Jeffri, and David Throsby. The major areas of concern are: information that confirms what the field has always known about career transition, but did not have the numbers to support; and data that surprised the researchers. Our findings show that, in many instances, expectations of current dancers and realities of former dancers sometimes differ widely, providing important information for policy makers, funders and supporters interested in furthering continued employment of artists.

KEYWORDS:

• dance
• dancer
• dancing
• career transition
• artist
• employment

Notes

1. This article is based on the initial report entitled Making Changes: Facilitating the Transition of Dancers to Post‐Performance Careers (Baumol et al. 2004). Special thanks to Project Coordinator Lauren Tehan for her perceptive editing.

2. While it is common among artist‐researchers to define professional artists in a variety of ways (some of the most common include income, full‐time employment, formal education and professional recognition), use of this term can be extremely narrow. Differences by country, level of government subsidy, employment and educational opportunities and dance form (classical, modern, etc.) make it impossible to arrive at a universal definition.

3. Dance in Germany country profile in Making Changes compiled by Pia Hartmann, Harmann Nagel Art & Consulting, Germany.

4. Dance in the Netherlands country profile in Making Changes prepared by Paul Bronkhorst, figures from the Dutch Ministry of Culture.

5. According to the United States Census Bureau (2001), the average poverty threshold for one person under 65 years of age in the United States in 2001 was US$9,214.

6. Cross tabulations presented here and elsewhere in the article were calculated as whole numbers (not to the tenth decimal point.)

7. In the full report, an appendix lists a variety of transition initiatives, including partnerships between dance companies and universities; preparation programs in schools and companies; programs initiated by service, labor and membership organizations; and government initiatives and model schemes for pensions like the one in the United Kingdom.