Arts Professional Story: Career Transition for Dancers

How did Career Transition for Dancers grow to its current configuration with offices in NYC, LA, and Chicago?



Career Transition For Dancers arose out of a partnership of several foundations and unions, including the National Endowment for the Arts, AFL-CIO Labor Institute for Human Enrichment, and Actors' Equity Association. Under the leadership of Agnes de Mille, this partnership led to the development and presentation of a conference in 1982 at Lincoln Center to discuss the need to assist dancers both during and at the end of their careers.The goal of the conference was to find ways to help dancers make use of their individual backgrounds, talents, and skills on and off the stage.

 

CTFD was founded in 1985 by Edward Weston and was originally administered as an initiative of The Actors Fund in New York City. The program was also supported by Actors' Equity Association, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, American Guild of Musical Artists, and the Screen Actors Guild. The funding provided by these organizations continues today. The original program provided career counseling and scholarship support for the members of these unions who were in the process of transition. In 1988, CTFD became a self-governing 501(c)(3) organization with a refocused mission to help all dancers, not just union members.


Obviously, not all dancers are in New York City. In an effort to help dancers on the West Coast of the United States and to increase the organization's national presence, Career Transition For Dancers—with funding provided by the Screen Actors Guild-Producers Industry Advancement & Cooperative Fund—opened a career counseling office in Los Angeles in 1995. Our Chicago office opened in 2008 to support the expanding dance population in the Midwest.

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Jessica H. Hallam, former modern and commercial industry dancer:



I moved from Los Angeles 18 months ago to redirect my life as an artist both professionally and personally. I recently completed graduate work at Columbia College Chicago this spring (May 2010) with a Graduate Certificate in Laban Movement Analysis (G.L.C.M.A.). In my 14-year career as a performer, my professional credits span Disneyworld, Disneyland, national theme parks, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL), Universal Studios Florida, national commercials, television specials, music videos, Las Vegas Cirque d' Soliel-theme industrials, dancing for a professional sports team. modeling (for BEBE, Redken, and Columbia College), Disney Premiere movie releases, as well as modern dance companies nationally.  



In addition, I have been a certified Pilates and Gyrotonic teacher for the past five years, conducting private training as well as post-surgery rehabilitation in California and Chicago.



I contacted Maryellen for assistance in clarifying where I would like to direct the next chapter of my life as a dancer and educator. I saw her for about four months, during which time she helped me with my resume (teaching and performing), grant writing for my graduate work, personality analysis, (Myers-Briggs), along with general career counseling sessions and supplying me with various contacts in the Chicago dance community. She provided me with consistent support and was able to access grant and funding opportunities for me during the time I was unemployed. That in itself was essential and provided me with the financial means needed to begin my employment search.



The Career Transition for Dancers office in Chicago is a treasure. I hope dancers in the Chicago area are able to access the tools provided by Maryellen to ensure a smooth and successful transition out of the performing arena.

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How have dancers at various stages in their career used CFTD's services? How does CTFD help dancers to translate their acquired skill sets into new arenas?
 


When we first began, dancers only came to us when they were about to retire or were retired. Gradually, dancers who were injured began coming to us too. Over time, dancers repeatedly asked us to reach younger dancers to let them know about our services so that they could avoid a crisis in the future. 



In 2005, we expanded our mission to include pre-professional dancers so that even if they do not use our services right away, they know about us and do better planning. Every study about career transition shows that the more a person prepares, the better equipped they are to transition successfully. Our language changed to encourage dancers to begin exploring their interests while they were still dancing and it has been incredibly successful.

As the dance culture has changed and jobs become scarcer and/or do not keep up with the living wage, dancers find themselves needing us more and more for survival jobs. Our goal is to have them secure positions that they are interested in and may want to do as a career, not just to get by. We view our services as being available for all life transitions such as: college to professional, survival jobs between gigs, summer employment during layoff periods, retirement and even another career if they want to switch years after their first transition after retirement. 

Dancers use our services to explore online degree programs they can complete while on tour or in a company.

Dancers use our services to receive a grant or scholarship or to explore ways of finding outside financial assistance. Really, the list is endless since every dancer is an individual and we help them plan according to their own needs. We can help a dancer develop their business plan to start their own business. The list is endless! Here is a formal list of some ways we help during the one-on-one sessions:

• Exercises to assess an individual's abilities, skills, values and interests
• Help with identifying and examining career options
• Creating an effective plan to pursue a given career path
• Assistance with identifying undergraduate or graduate degree programs and/or specialized certification programs
• Help in locating additional funding sources for education and retraining
• Techniques for networking within a chosen field
• Assistance with resume preparation, job search methods and employment interview strategies
• Negotiating for responsibilities and compensation in a new job
• Discussing the emotional aspects of a dancer's career

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Andrey Kasatsky, former ballet dancer:



Career Transition for Dancers helps dancers understand that EVERY dancer will go through the process of career change sooner or later. It opens the eyes of young dancers to "life after ballet"—the topic that every ballet dancer is scared of. For mature dancers, it's a very helpful guide for "what to do with the future."



I was born and raised in Moscow, Russia. I went to the Bolshoi Theater Academy (8 years) and after graduation started working in Moscow Classical Ballet as a ballet dancer. At the age of 22 I moved to the United States. I danced professionally with Moscow Classical Ballet (Moscow, RUS), Ballet Internationale (Indiana, IN), Cincinnati Ballet (Cincinnati, OH) and the Milwaukee Ballet (Milwaukee, WI).



In May of 2009 I finished my ballet career and decided to pursue my other passion in digital effects and 3D animation. Digital 3D effects are widely used in cinematography, advertisement, architectural visualization, and medical simulation. I moved to Orlando, Fl and at the present time, with the assistance of a grant from CTFD, I'm a student at the Digital Animation and Visual Effects School at Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida.



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What specific programs and services does CFTD offer to dancers?



Maryellen Langhout, our Chicago-based career counselor, notes that in the Midwest, fewer dancers have full-time performance jobs so that they are more likely to already have side or transitional careers, such as teaching dance, pilates or yoga or in fields outside the world of dance. This familiarity with the work world outside of performance makes transitioning out of performance less traumatic, perhaps. 
 


Each office has a career counselor that sees 10–25 individuals per week within a set appointment schedule. Counselors see dancers in-person and over the phone. Since the Chicago office is new and still building its clientele, Maryellen schedules her own appointments and conducts her own client outreach.



We do local outreach projects and National Outreach Projects to let more dancers know about our programs. We have also expanded our reach through Facebook, Twitter, and collaborations with other service organizations. You can view our programs and other online resources at our website.



Does CTFD also offer services to choreographers and dance educators? 
 

Choreographers and dance educators are part of our target community and can receive career counseling and all of our other services. However, professional work as a choreographer or educator does not count towards the eligibility requirements for our grants and scholarships. Primarily, our clients are performers because we do more focused outreach to that population. However, when we go to a school or company, we always distribute materials to the choreographers and educators, when possible.



What do you envision as CTFD's role in Chicago in the future? Are there areas of support CTFD is looking to expand?



We are thrilled that Hubbard Street Dance Center has so graciously and generously donated our office within their complex so that CTFD has a home, as well as a huge presence, in not only the Greater Chicago area, but the entire Midwest (in addition to our offices in New York City and Los Angeles). Chicago has a very large dance population that is extremely conducive to dovetailing  with our mission to enable dancers to define their career possibilities and develop the skills necessary to excel in a variety of disciplines.
 

We are also grateful to The Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago for being a part of the CTFD family. These companies have the farsightedness to understand the complexities of the brevity of a dancer’s career and the necessity to embrace and implement the programs and services we provide. The artistic directors are our advocates and we are so fortunate to have their support.
 


Our Chicago career counselor Maryellen Langhout is currently meeting with our dancer-clients for one-to-one career counseling appointments, and she's also exploring other initiatives to be launched for the benefit of the Chicago dancers. Career Conversations—a series of seminars lead by a panel of experts to explore and discuss "hot topics" relating to the path toward a successful transition—will be launched in 2011 in Chicago.

In 2011, we will introduce our free, all-day career development conference, Stepping into Hope and Change, to the Chicago area. We had a successful debut in NYC in April 2010 with 100 participants, plus an additional 300 people viewed the streaming and archived videos online. Not only did Stepping into Hope and Change showcase the unique career counseling philosophy of CTFD, but it connected our dancers to more than 22 service organizations, businesses, education programs, and agencies that will aid their career development. Through six breakout sessions designed to address the changing economic environment for dancers, CTFD focused on survival work, hot careers and exploration, and finding a passion-based career. 



Dancers of today are much more open to accepting the idea of transitioning and preparing for this inevitability while enjoying a successful professional career. Our mission has expanded to include pre-professionals, students, and apprentices, in an attempt to plant the seed of the importance of transition to possibly avoid a crisis later in one’s career.


In Chicago, it is our desire to continue to expand our one-on-one free career counseling services already in place while introducing new programs like Career Conversations and Stepping into Hope and Change. We can always do more for our dancers. All it takes is funding. CTFD’s Board of Directors has resolved that despite this challenging economic climate, the organization will not cut back on any programs or services. Our dancers need us now more than ever and we will continue to be there for them.



Career Transitions for Dancers remains the only not-for-profit organization solely dedicated to the career needs of dancers. With offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and a mobile National Outreach Project, we have helped thousands of dancers in 47 states take their first steps in discovering rewarding second careers.

This was written with Kaylen Ratto, Gala and Client Outreach Coordinator (NYC), Alexander J. Dubé, Executive Director (NYC), and Maryellen Langhout, Career Counselor (Chicago), including testimonials from former dancers Jessica H. Hallam and Andrey Kasatsky.  It includes editorial support by CAR Dance Researcher Meida McNeal.