Helping dancers through a difficult transition

Dancers may think they choose their profession. More accurately, they have been called to it. Dancing is thus not a job but a vocation. It requires passionate commitment. As in general, the decision to become a dancer often defies the rational considerations that inform people’s career choices.
Generally, except for a fortunate few, the dancer’s career is insecure and badly paid. Dancers face regular periods of unemployment, often without insurance, and may have to supplement their income with other work.

Worst of all, the dancer’s performing career rarely endures beyond early middle age. Aside from injury, which can put a premature end to a promising career, most dancers are routinely expected to relinquish the stage by the time they are 40, an age when many other performing artists are just entering their best years. Only the most exceptional dancers succeed in prolonging their performing careers beyond this point. Instances where companies have emerged to present and celebrate the still admirable expressive talents of mature dancers are all too rare.
Dancers, enabled by a culture of silence and denial that included teachers who had suffered personal withdrawal pains, preferred ...