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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