Life as a Modern Dancer

A Letter to College Seniors

Dear College Seniors,

Hello and Happy Spring! Here's to your final weeks within school and to your exciting journey ahead. 

You have been on my mind a lot lately. In the field, we are excited to see where you go, what you create, and how you keep experimenting and innovating in dance. We are curious and hopeful.

Today, I share a few helpful ideas I have gathered or created myself. I hope that the information is useful in the coming months or your first year post-college. Please share widely with family and friends.

 

Jill Randall

Blog Director, Life as a Modern Dancer

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FIVE IDEAS FOR COLLEGE SENIORS

City Guides

Where are you headed next? Curious about a new community within the United States? Thirteen dance artists around the country have written city guides for modern dancers. Find out about email lists, Facebook groups, how people get performing and teaching gigs, and much more.

http://blog.lifeasamoderndancer.com/2015/09/eleven-city-guides-for-modern-dancers.html

Going Home

Considering moving back to your hometown? Artist Debra Knapp shares some important ideas here:

Go Home - by Debra Knapp

Piecing It Together: A Dancer's Schedule

Are you still feeling unsure about how a dancer pieces it all together - teaching, training, performing, and commuting? Over the past year, 15 artists have shared their schedules on the blog to offer a window into the work. Reading these posts can be very informative. Find them all here.

Key Memberships: Dance/USA and NDEO

While you are still a student, sign up now for memberships to Dance/USA and NDEO (the National Dance Education Organization). These are the two main ways to find out about jobs and auditions all over the United States, as well as to find out about internships, grants, conferences, and much more. Get connected!

Dance/USA: $30/year

NDEO: $50/year

Advice on Teaching: A Pocket Guide/Journal 

Dance Education Essentials is a simple but valuable book for college seniors brand new to teaching children in preschool-12th grade. In this book, 55 ideas are shared as you launch into teaching. Each page has ample space for notes and ideas for your first year of teaching. Purchase on amazon.com for $7.99.

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For College Students and Recent Grads: Now Next Dance This Summer

On Tuesdays we dance in and through Support, including the simple and powerful counterbalance. Photo by Alison Waldman.

By Ashley Thorndike-Youssef, PhD

Think SUMMER!

Seven years ago, I decided I wanted to make a contribution to dance summer study and I thought to myself:

1. What’s the point of summer study?
2. What do dancers need?
3. What can I offer dancers that’s different from all the other amazing, life-changing programs out there?

Here’s what I came up with.

1. Dancers can use summer to make deep connections with peers and artists and get a taste of the “real world.”
2. Dancers need to be able to teach movement in any context.
3. I can offer a psycho-educational model for dance pedagogy. In other words, a framework to articulate and facilitate the physical, cognitive, and emotional aspects of learning in the dance studio.

After eleven successful programs, we launch our twelfth and thirteenth programs this summer in Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC. That’s right, we are teenagers now.

Here’s what I see that we do.

• Reframe what it means to be a dancer: After Now Next Dance, you’ll have a broader, clearer understanding of the many ways that dance can guide, or fit into your life post-graduation.
• Network: Dancers who have been through our program stay in our network and are able to connect with our community of artists across the country.
• Inspire: We all forget that dance is simply amazing. Or as we put it at NND, #completelyinspired. At NND the focus is both receiving and giving (the now and the next). If you are burned out, or afraid, or single focused -- come join us and remember the simple magic, power, and bravery of running across a room.

At our programs college dancers (or recent grads) spend their mornings in company-style classes with professional dance artists and their afternoons team teaching and mentoring youth using our innovative leadership-based curriculum. Lunches are spent in mentoring sessions with the artists, discussing topics surrounding how to make a life in and through dance -- after college.

This summer we are featuring Annie Kloppenberg & Company from Boston at our Baltimore site and Dante Brown | Warehouse Dance at our DC site. Both programs will be intense and invigorating.

Join us! Our priority application deadline is approaching - April 15. Apply. Spread the word. Reach out. Join us.

www.nownextdance.org/college-dancers 

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Related posts:

Leadership in Dance 2016: Ashley Thorndike-Youssef

Blog Series: Career Counseling for College Students

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Career Counseling for College Students: 10 Tips from Craig Berman

I was just re-reading Craig Berman's wonderful artist profile from January 2013. Today I am reposting his final advice for college students. Craig is a physical therapist and has performed with Momix, Pilobolus, and Cirque du Soleil. To read his full artist profile, click here.

Photo: Danielle Arico

Advice to young dancers - Craig's Top 10 List:

10. Side projects are a great way to keep up your psych.

9. You will have good days and bad days. Make sure you have more good ones than bad ones. If not, change something.

8. Always have food with you. I always keep a Clif Bar in my backpack.

7. Try to work with people that you like, not just choreography that you like.

6. Learn from your mistakes and don't let your boss ever hear you complain.

5. Against the advice of many of my past teachers, I recommend that you focus on your strengths not you weaknesses.

4.Take chances.

3. At an audition, show personality not just technique.

2. Be willing to laugh at yourself. 

1. Friendship and family are #1 for your success and happiness.

 

Career Counseling for College Students: Eight Ideas from Laura Everling Mulchay

Today I was re-reading Laura Everling Mulchay's artist profile from November 2012, and her final advice for young dancers is so well-written. I wanted to repost it today for college undergraduates everywhere. To read Laura's full profile, including about her time dancing for Cirque du Soleil, click here.

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1) Let modern be your launch pad. If you learn modern, you can do anything, because modern teaches you a language of all of the basic elements. Modern training is also unparalleled in making good choreographers. The difference is amazing.

2) Practice auditioning. Auditioning can be a really damaging process, and I am honestly no good at it, myself. The casting process can seem very cold. Don’t just go to the one audition you have your heart set on. Go to a few to get used to it. Besides, you never know what will happen when you put yourself out there in an environment in which you aren’t attached to the outcome….

3) Go upside down. Choreographers now seem to all want dancers who can do basic acro. I strongly recommend adding some basic gymnastics into your training. Aerial skills are an added plus.

4) Make taking class and being fit a lifetime commitment. Don’t ever stop taking class, and perhaps more importantly, don’t let yourself get too out of shape. A friend of mine says there’s no such thing as “I used to be a dancer.” You either are, or you aren’t. Much better to realize that, and live by it, and stay in shape to begin with rather than letting yourself get out of shape and then have to work your way back! Besides, we dancers can’t stand sitting still. In the office I felt like a plant with no light. I had to move. 

5) Think about your future. If you are in school, finish school. When I started grad school, I hadn’t gone to a performing arts high school. I’d been a gymnast and a diver and only started learning about dance in college. At that point, I could have moved to NY or LA, I could have given it a shot without going to grad school first. I gave up 3 of my young performing years to finish that degree, and it was a hard 3 years, and it was an expensive undertaking!! My parents talked me into it, and I can’t tell you how happy I am to have it now. It’s an amazing feeling to retire as a performer and already have an MFA. I have no idea how I’d even begin to start a grad program at this point in my life. And also, what I learned in grad school really did inform my professional work. None of it was wasted. 

6) Resist the urge to question your decision to choose this life path. In other words, Don’t Give UP! For me, time and time again in periods of my career where nothing was working, and I was broken and bruised both emotionally and physically, my mind would immediately go towards getting myself out of this career. I would start questioning why I was putting myself through all of this and go looking for other jobs. Then, after a bit of time, things would resolve themselves and life would go on, without me taking any of those other jobs. I could have saved myself a lot of mental angst by just believing in my career path, by waiting, and by realizing that things happen in their own time. It’s a lesson in patience. The bad comes with the good, and I have always envied people who calmly relaxed through the bad and didn’t add into the mess any self-identity issues!

7) Be a nice person to work with. That diva legend is so outdated. No one wants to work with people who are high-maintenance, no matter how talented. I have time and time again seen really talented performers not get work because someone on the artistic team will remember them from a past project, and how hard they were to work with. Be generous. Give compliments and be genuine about it. Show up on time (and at least, when  you’re starting out, be willing to stay late). Talk to people and actually listen: don’t be that person who always has to talk about him/herself. When you go to see someone’s show, don’t feel that you have to tear it apart in order to be the smartest person at the coffee shop. By being this way, you’ll have a long career, you’ll surround yourself with great people, and good things will continue to happen. 

8) Enjoy the journey! These days, good and bad, will not last forever. Cherish them. Keep a journal. Describe your days so that you will remember them, and so will your kids, if you have them. I so vividly remember a conversation I had with my mom one day, about my 2^nd year into my time with Diavolo. I used to call home and incessantly vent about all the ridiculous and annoying things that happened in this world of arts and entertainment. I think that at first, it was novel to hear about all of the behind-the-scenes bs. Finally, one day, she’d heard enough. She said, “Look, Laura,  you chose this life! If you don’t like it, choose something else. If you like it, then stop focusing on what’s not working. Be a part of something in this industry that IS working right.” And that was it. I will never forget it. Wise words, Mom. 

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To read more pieces in the "Career Counseling for College Students" column, click here.

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Multiple Perspectives: When to Begin Graduate School

From Blog Director Jill Randall:

This fall, we have invited masters programs around the country to share some of the details about their program offerings and application deadlines. The blog is pleased to be a hub of information, including about graduate study.

Today, I looked back through the 100+ artist profiles from the past few years, specifically looking for perspectives on graduate studies. Pulling from eight artists' stories, you will read here about different paths and timelines for graduate school. Some artists waited 15 years to attend school; others started graduate school shortly after completing a bachelors degree. 

Daniel Charon

Daniel Charon - MFA CalArts

Graduate school proved to be a very important stage for my artistic development. I think it was really valuable to do this later in my career, after I had worked professionally for about 17 years. It really served as a time of growth where I was able to put my needs and desires first. This was different than dancing with a company where I put my main energy toward the organizations I was working with. It came at a good time in my career journey as well, after I had freelanced for a couple of years. I really saw it as a retreat and a time to concentrate and question my own work and what I was trying to say. It was wonderful to not have the distractions of the run around in New York. It felt like a stepped out of my real life and entered a time of reflection.

Colleen Thomas - MFA University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, low residency program

UWM was the perfect place for a returning professional like myself. At 34 years old I was the average age for my class at UWM. I was scared to death to go back to school, but honestly, I’m usually scared to death before I do anything new! I met some of my most admired friends at UWM. I met strong, successful performers who were interested in exploring more dimensions in this career. I was dancing professionally and had a few adjunct jobs. UWM’s program directors Ed Burgess and Janet Lilly knew how to guide me and really inspired the next phase of my life. I worked alongside highly successful artists (innovators still in the field) and exchanged and collaborated with amazing peers and faculty. 

Colleen Thomas

Nina Haft - MFA University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, low residency program

My 30s: I left AXIS Dance Company after a great 10 year run. Kept dancing and choreographing my own work and committed more seriously to being an artist. I began teaching dance technique, and that radically infused my own dancing and performing and choreography with new questions and energy. I started Nina Haft & Company when I was 37. The next year, I went back to graduate school. It was the only way I could think of to spend more time choreographing.

Gwen Welliver - MFA Bennington College

I wanted to concentrate exclusively on my own work. I went to Bennington College and entered the MFA program. This was a magical time. It took two years of improvising for me to figure out where I was. To my mentors: Terry Creach, Dana Reitz, Susan Sgorbati, and Michael Giannitti. I’m still enjoying the momentum I gained from this period of study. 

Graham Brown - MFA University of Maryland

On one hand, grad school was the ticket to eligibility for a faculty position, which I knew I wanted. On the other hand, there were many things I wanted to work on, too many to reasonably sink my teeth into in three years. Specifically I wanted to:

• develop as a choreographer
• build more tools as a teacher, particularly in areas other than improv
• further my pursuits as a scholar (I haven’t talked about this, but by then I had published a few little things and was interested in going further into dance scholarship)
• develop stronger technical and performance skills
• gain skills in theatre
• maintain a foot in the professional world, particularly through performance

I knew this was too much, so I entered grad school ready to see which areas my program would most facilitate. To a certain degree I actually did have experience and development in all of these areas, but choreography became by far my most intense area of focus. Specifically I had the unique opportunity to work within the theatric modalities I was interested, as the UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies put me in direct collaboration with top tier professors and grad students in design, stage management, and dramaturgy, as well as offering faculty mentors in both Theatre and Dance.

Cynthia Oliver - MA New York University; PhD New York University

I didn’t set out to get a PhD. I came to a crossroads in my career. I had achieved my high school dream of dancing with a company (companies) and touring the world early and quickly. I had traveled a lot by my late 20s and suddenly I thought, “Is this it?” So I started searching for other interests. I was going to try arts management. I thought being in front of the curtain would assist behind the scenes. I took a position as manager of Urban Bush for a year. While I made lifetime friends with Jawole and others in the group, it was not an area I was interested in pursuing. I went into an interdisciplinary program at NYU’s Gallatin School and started along a path that led me to Performance Studies, where I found my passion. I went on to a PhD because as I was defending my Masters Thesis I was literally thinking…”I haven’t mastered anything!” SO I kept going and here I am 12 years out from having defended and now am considered a senior professor. Time is funny. My dissertation was a study of pageantry and black womanhood in the Caribbean. I used beauty pageants – which are plentiful in the region, as a means to discuss gender, nation, sexual and economic politics in the history and present of the US Virgin Islands. It also related to the excavations I had been doing choreographically throughout my career – that of exploring women’s worlds, always somehow anchored within Caribbean traditions and practices even if not overtly so. 

Abby Zbikowski - MFA Ohio State University 

The first 5 years after college: This was a rough chunk of time that I would rather not return to, while at the same time it was full of definitive moments for me in my career. For three of the five years in question I was living in Philadelphia, teaching dance part time in a public high school in NJ, working as a home health aide, trying to make work/find places for it to be seen, and lastly trying to be a performer. At the end of those three years, I realized that work (occupation), which has always been a necessity and priority in my life, was not allowing me to really dig deep and seriously pursue choreography. I decided to apply to graduate school to carve out a distinct time and space to really dive into all this information around me I had accrued through the years. The last 2 years of my five years after college graduation were spent at Ohio State University absorbing and exploring and experimenting as much as possible. My first year I was awarded a University Fellowship to attend, then was given a Graduate Associate position teaching major and non-major courses. 

Katie Faulkner        Photo: Adam Shemper

Katie Faulkner - MFA Mills College

The first 5 years post-college: I didn’t study dance as an undergraduate. I chose, instead, to study Theater & Playwrighting, a path I fell into accidentally after being utterly floored and inspired by a playwrighting teacher. After school, I fumbled around for several years enlivened by my theater training but with no real desire to fashion a career as a playwright. I worked in several service industry jobs and non-profit organizations in entry-level positions. I moved back home to NC to raise money and regroup and wound up taking classes back at my home studio. It was there that I rediscovered my love and hunger for dance and the particular community it provides. Soon thereafter, I decided to apply to Mills College in Oakland, CA for graduate school to study dance more rigorously. I entered graduate school 3 years after finishing my BA to pursue a two year Performance & Choreography MFA.

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Career Counseling: Six Questions for College Sophomores and Juniors

Career Counseling: Six Questions for College Sophomores and Juniors

By Jill Randall and Christy Rotman

Welcome back! We are wishing you a wonderful and inspiring fall semester. Here are some questions to consider as you begin…..reflection is a valuable and important activity throughout your years in college.

1. Looking back at last year in school, what were the big ideas/themes for you personally?

What was one "aha" moment you had about your family, your future,  or your interests and talents?

2. What new ideas, questions, or connections percolated for you over the summer?  

What did you find yourself thinking about or questioning over the summer? What did you find yourself dreaming about or longing for? How might your dreams have morphed or shifted?​

3. Looking at your course load for fall, what are you excited about with each course?

4. Inner/outer: How are you feeling about your dancing and/or future career?

How are you processing your thoughts? Who are you sharing these thoughts with? Who might be someone you could pursue as a mentor to help serve as a sounding board and offer her experience - a professor, an advisor, someone in the community, your parents? (Some combination of all of these would be IDEAL!) 

5. If you had to decide today, what do you want to be pursuing after graduation? 

What steps might you take during your senior year? What would your first steps be upon graduating?​

6. What is your growth mindset for this coming semester?

• I want to explore….
• I am working on…..
• I want to continue to…..
• In technique classes, my current focus and area of growth is…..

The growth mindset language comes out of the work of Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck. Her book is entitled Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Here is an article that explains this philosophy:

http://alexvermeer.com/why-your-mindset-important/.

 

We hope these questions can be useful for college sophomores and juniors - reflecting on their own - and they also can be used within a course or advising meeting as well.

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In 2007, Christy Rotman moved west to dance in the Bay Area. While she worked administratively with AXIS Dance Company, she performed with Paufve Dance, Nina Haft, Alyce Finwall, and more. Highlights include the incredible dance friendships she found and touring to New York and Portland. In 2014, Christy began a master’s degree in counseling at Saint Mary's College (Moraga, CA), specializing in College Student Services, and is now eagerly anticipating an academic advising internship at UC Berkeley. She is grateful to the college students that helped her discover this new path and the loving support of her parents, husband, and friends all along.

Jill Randall is the Blog Director for Life as a Modern Dancer. Read her full bio here.

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Career Counseling for College Students: Discussion and Reflection

Aaron Mattocks    Photo: Ian Douglas, courtesy of New York Live Arts

From Blog Director Jill Randall:

Freshman, sophomore, junior, senior......every year is the perfect time to discuss career paths. Today I was re-reading Aaron Mattocks's artist profile on the blog. Aaron is a full-time freelance artist based in New York City. 

Aaron wrote:

There is no map for this kind of life. Even if you try to emulate someone else’s path, it’s not going to lead you to the same place. You might get a grant, you might never get one. You might get a full-time company job, with a big touring choreographer, but that choreographer will age and pass away, and the company you thought you always wanted to join might just shut down next year. The world is changing so constantly--be adaptable even while knowing where you THINK you want to end up. If you would have asked me 5 years ago if I thought any of the things I’m doing now were possible, performing full time, touring with Baryshnikov, nominated for a Bessie, I would have told you you were crazy, because I was sitting at a desk full time as an administrator for Mark Morris (I did that for 8 years!). But things have drastically changed in ways I never could have imagined, because I knew deep down where I wanted to end up, I kept my compass on those goals, and everything I did drew me nearer to the place I wanted to be. I think the best advice I got was from choreographer RoseAnne Spradlin, who said, “Draw your own map, the way you want it to look, and make it lead you where you want to go.” I couldn’t agree more.  

In a college course, or as part of an advising meeting with students, ask students to read this quote and reflect on it. Last year, what were your goals? What has remained the same, changed, grown, shifted? How are the courses you are taking this fall supporting these goals? Looking at this quote and the concept of "adaptability," how are you adapting your vision and path (why and how)?

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Welcome Back to College! A Letter to Seniors in Undergraduate Dance Programs

Welcome Back to College! A Letter to Seniors in Undergraduate Dance Programs

By Jill Randall, Blog Director

 

I am sending you best wishes for the coming year! May your final year be filled with new challenges, new connections, and new dreams for the future. 

Let me begin by asking you a few questions.

• Where do you envision yourself living in a year?
• What are you passionate about in dance right now? 
• Have you discussed these ideas with your advisor in the dance department?
• Have you discussed these ideas with your parents?

I imagine that you have some ideas percolating - now it is time to be in dialogue with the key people in your life who will help make things happen.

If you have not already, completing the self-assessment here on the blog is a valuable tool. Share this with your advisor and parents. Debra Knapp’s writing - entitled “Go Home” - is also important to read and consider. 

Next, I encourage you to spend $80 on two key memberships. You still qualify for the student rate. Please consider joining Dance/USA and NDEO. Why?

Dance/USA ($30) - It is the service organization for dance in the United States - companies, non-profits, and individual artists. They run an annual conference. But most importantly for college seniors, their emails include jobs, auditions, and internships around the country. It is the best resource I know about for these kinds of jobs.

NDEO ($50) - NDEO is the National Dance Education Organization. This membership nicely works with the Dance/USA membership, so that between these two you really will have a pulse on dance in the United States and jobs. Again, the NDEO email list lets you know about dance teaching jobs all over the US - community centers, preschools, K-12 schools, and much more.

Then, if you have not done so already, this blog is full of pertinent, current information for you and your parents - city guides, the Becoming a Teaching Artist Series, and over 100 artist profiles from artists around the United States to offer you a window into a life in dance. 

Speaking of online resources and information, let’s consider your own online presence. If I Googled you right now, what would come up? Facebook? Consider if you want to have your own website by the time you graduate in the spring. Consider if you need photos taken this school year. Check out options such as Popslice to build a simple website yourself (a "pre-fab" site with templates to use). Other free options include: Wix.com, Weebly.com, Yola.com, and Moonfruit.com.

Okay, I have two more topics to bring up here too. 

What are you doing the summer after graduation? Might your family offer you a graduation present? If you have not had the opportunity yet, seriously consider attending one of the iconic dance festivals - the American Dance Festival, Bates, or Jacob’s Pillow. Read more here. This could be an incredible graduation present. As dancer Dawn Robinson shared in her artist profile: 

I graduated from the University of Utah in 1996. The day of graduation, literally hours after getting my diploma, I got on a plane and flew to the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina. That summer changed my life. Although I had been the summer before, this time I had to make a choice, what to do next? I was excited and terrified. The world was open to me. I had a degree from one of the best schools in the country. I knew I wanted to dance, but how and where? Was I ready to head to New York?

In the amazing 6 weeks at ADF, several things happened; 1) I got approached by a dear friend that was teaching at a dance program in Minnesota. She needed someone to take over the program because she was leaving. She recommended me? 2) I got a call from a mentor choreographer whom I had worked with at the University, the late Della Davidson. She offered me a job with her company in San Francisco, California. 3) At ADF I attended an audition for Dayton Contemporary Dance Company in Ohio, and got offered a position. Although overwhelming at the time, these were some wonderful opportunities, and I needed to choose fast. Mind you, none of the choices included going to New York, but I understood that it would be there when I was ready.

After a late night power talk brainstorming session with my ADF friends at a diner, I made a decision. It would be San Francisco. I had never been, but felt excited to work with Della again and be in California. And at the time, I imagined that I would head to LA if SF didn't work out. With very little money, I headed to the Bay. I spent 7 wonderful years, dancing with Della Davidson Dance, Liss Fain Dance, Dance Repertory San Francisco, Company Chaddick and many others. At the same exact time I started my arts administrative career working for the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Brava Theater Center, and San Francisco Ballet to name a few. 

Check out the application and audition information soon for ADF, Bates, and Jacob’s Pillow so that you don’t miss the opportunity.

And, my last idea to offer here is about other jobs that might quickly and easily fit into your life right after graduation. Being realistic, what work can you easily pick up to help earn an income? Securing teaching and performing work takes time. Ideas to consider include:

• Babysitting/nannying
• Working in an afterschool program
• Waitressing/waiting at a restaurant
• Catering work
• Coffee shop
• Retail positions

I wish you well as you begin your senior year. Savor this magical time of life - where you get to dance a ton and are surrounded by friends and teachers every week. Here’s to a great year ahead!

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A Letter to College Dance Majors: Thinking Big Picture This Summer

 

Thinking Big Picture

A shout out to all university dance majors this summer... 

Summer is upon us. Oh, the glory of warm weather and extended daylight hours! These are the months we long for to break from academic classes and focus on earning extra money and/or taking class. What a treat! Hot, sweaty classes where the weather warms our muscles and makes it easy to train. Summer truly is a time to make the most of great teachers, hours of classes, and inspiring performances. 

While all of the things listed above are great, I also want to encourage you to think beyond technique and performance this summer. You see, all too often, undergraduate dance majors equate success with a performing career, spending all of their energy dreaming about which companies they plan to dance for, but giving little to no thought of how they might support themselves financially as they pursue this performance path. Unfortunately, dance programs also tend to emphasize technique and performance-related courses and sometimes forget to help students develop skills they will need in order to support themselves financially. These skills might include grant writing, teaching, or arts administration. Unfortunately, when the coursework overemphasizes performance, I believe a divide is created between studying dance at the university and practicing as a professional. 

So, my encouragement to you is to use this summer to think beyond technique and get in touch with the professional dance world. Below I have proposed three tasks that I hope will help you move in this direction. Depending on where you are geographically, and what the “dance scene” looks like, you may have to get a little creative with these, but since you are a dancer, I know you can.

1. Spend some time reviewing and reflecting on Jill Randall’s “Job Survey/Self-Assessment for Modern Dancers" worksheet (http://dancingwords.typepad.com/files/job-survey.pdf). This tool will guide you in considering your own talents and strengths, and may help you think of positions within the dance field that you have never considered. You’ll notice gray lines separating positions into groups that correspond to the following general categories: teaching, studio work, technical positions, artistic positions, administrative positions, and a dance critic. Identify at least two positions that interest you (or that you are unfamiliar with) and see if you can choose from two different categories. 

2. Now that you have selected at least two dance positions that you are interested in learning more about, your next task is to arrange at least two informational interviews. Do your research and find two people working in these roles. Before you set up any appointments, consider what questions you might ask someone about their experience in the field and what you would like to learn. Make a list of these questions. Some examples that might be interesting are: What do you like about your job day-to-day? What challenges do you find in your job? What challenges do you find in your profession? What advice would you offer someone entering your field? What do you wish you could do differently in college and/or right after you graduated? What have you learned about yourself in this job? After you have created your list of questions to use for your informational interviews, it will be important to give some thought to how you ask people for their time. I would recommend explaining the reason you are reaching out to them. This could include why you would like to learn more about the company they work for, their position and the responsibilities they have, and/or their experience and the lessons they have learned. Now that you have drafted your explanation, it is time to reach out and set up the interviews. While it is possible to interview someone over email, I would encourage you to have as much of a conversational interaction as possible, whether that is in person, on the phone, or on Skype. 

3. While you spend time training and exploring the dance world, it is also important to grow in your self-understanding. I particularly like the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment (https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/Purchase/en-US/Product?Path=Clifton%20StrengthsFinder) which evaluates your responses against 34 possible strengths, pulling out your top five. What is neat about this model is that your combination of strengths will be unique to you and can show up in your life in countless numbers of unique combinations. This particular tool costs $9.99 to complete, gives you access to your top five strengths, information about each one and how you might grow in that strength. I believe it will be worth the cost for you. If you would prefer to use a different tool or delve further into this with other tools, the career center at your school will likely have some recommendations and resources to offer.

So there they are: three recommendations to make the most of your summer! I hope that by completing the “Job Survey” tool, two informational interviews, and a personal strengths assessment, you will feel more connected to the dance world, more informed about paths that dancers have taken within the dance field, and more aware of your own strengths. I am certain that spending time doing these types of activities will empower you as a dancer, set you up for success upon graduation regardless of what career you pursue, and also begin a process of networking, which is a great skill to use in any career. 

Warmly,

Christy Rotman

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In 2007, Christy Rotman moved west to dance in the Bay Area. While she worked administratively with AXIS Dance Company, she performed with Paufve Dance, Nina Haft, Alyce Finwall, and more. Highlights include the incredible dance friendships she found and touring to New York and Portland. In 2014, Christy began a master’s degree in counseling at Saint Mary's College (Moraga, CA), specializing in College Student Services, and is now eagerly anticipating an academic advising internship at UC Berkeley. She is grateful to the college students that helped her discover this new path and the loving support of her parents, husband, and friends all along.

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