Is there life after 35?

Most people know that dancing, and ballet in particular, is kind of hard on your body. It requires, if not unnatural, at least the maximum possible movement of certain joints, and as you grow older, your body tires easier, and the central elements of ballet gets harder and harder to perform.

Most ballet-dancers are able to dance professionally until they are in their late 30′s, maybe even slightly pass 40, if they didn’t have any injuries during their career. I say during their career, not at the moment, because old injuries tends to bother you when your body gets older. A young dancer might hurt his knee, get surgery or medical treatment, and after re-training the muscles in the joint, he or she might not feel any pain or discomfort with the knee for years after, it’s working as it should. But as you get older, that knee has been doing a lot of bending and stretching, and it starts complaining again. This is the kind of thing that can make a dancer have to quit his career earlier than he would have done otherwise.

This is a fact all dancers has to relate to; Sooner or later, the swan is going to die for the last time. So what do we do, then? When the curtain falls on your final performance, it is the end of the first part of a dancers life. But typically, this dancer is not even in the middle of his or hers life on the planet. What to do with the second half?

Many retiring ballet dancers starts teaching

The opportunities for a retired dancer are both enormous, but limited, at the same time. On one hand, you have a life behind you, but still time to start another one. You can take an education in almost anything, and try yourself in any field imaginable, a second chance. Many dancers has a unique sense of discipline, and use that to become good, respected and successful in other fields, completely unrelated to dance. I know former dancers that are today working as engineers for offshore oil-drilling, CEO’s and limo-drivers, to mention a few.

On the other hand, learning something new and entirely different are not as appealing to all. Many retiring dancers don’t want to leave the world of dance, which has been their whole life so far. Some might have stayed so long in a theatre, they know how most everything works there. Those often transcend into other jobs inside the theatre, and it is often a fluid change, not something that happens over the night. They do administrative jobs, work with costumes, lead rehearsals or might even direct the company. Many companies also keeps some “senior soloists” on the payroll after their retirement as active dancers, to perform character roles in the ballets. Roles like Don Quixote, the Montague and Capulet, Coppelius and Giselle’s mother are all performed by character dancers. I think it adds a whole dimension to a performance, having all kinds of people on stage, not just the young and beautiful.

A “natural” way to go is to start teaching, and a lot of dancers do. But getting a job can be hard, and it is hard work, as well. If you are going to work in a state-funded school, you need an education to teach, which many of us don’t possess (considering our short career, most dancers don’t want to “waste” any years of their active careers). You can of course do this after your career, but then, it was that issue of going back to school again, not very tempting for some. Private studios may hire retired dancers as teachers without a degree, but the competition can be high, especially in bigger cities. You must also remember, moving around, maybe working several jobs, is not always as promising when you are 40. You might have a house, kids, things that make you less flexible, and in the need of a secure job.

Some theaters also has programs for educating their senior-members into other fields. This is a great opportunity for retiring dancers, but it costs a lot of money. For theaters already in hard times, this is not a very common treat for the retiring dancer, even though it has shown very good results where done.

Bottom line is, there is no “right” way to go, once done with the gracious, but unforgiving art of ours. Most dancers think about what to do before they are at the roads end, some even start educating themselves while still dancing. On the other hand, it is not something all dancers wants to face, and it can be a hard admission to say: “I am done, I cannot do this anymore”. Some try longer than others, but a fact is still a fact, you can’t fight your body forever.

This post was written as a result of an idea sent to me by one of the readers of Tights and Tiaras. Do you have a topic you’d like me to cover? Any comment, or an addition to my posts? All response is welcome, in the comments field below, or, if you’d like to keep it private, you could always email me… I’m ready for anything! Try me

Until next time,

Ta-ta

H