 |
| My new work, Diagnosis, premieres this Saturday in NYC (Photo: Eduardo Patino) |
 |
| Teacher4Teacher feature in Inside Dance Magazine |
Speaking
of spring, this season is a great time of renewal. The sun stays out
later, plants and trees begin to blossom, and people generally have a
sunnier disposition on life as their habits move from indoor living to
outdoor recreation. Dancers are no exception to the rules of renewal when
it comes to springtime. If a dancer works for a unionized company, this
is when they will find out if they will be reengaged to dance another season with their company. While some dancers will be let go from their
positions, others may choose not to sign their contracts
in hope of renewing their inspiration, getting a fresh start, or gaining
the chance to progress beyond their current status in the rank-and-file
of their current institution. Whether a dancer wants to leave their
current company or was blindsided by news of non-reengagement, they need to determine how they will go about continuing their career, if
they wish to do so.
Let's
start by talking about possible options for a dancer that is looking to
leave their current company position. First off, a dancer needs to
determine if they are thinking of leaving only if they find a better
option or if they are absolutely moving on whether they get a job offer
or not. When contract time came up my final year at Pacific Northwest Ballet, I already knew I was leaving. I had made the decision to give
up my contract nearly 7 months prior to being offered another year of
work. So, there was no question by the time that I received my letter of
intent that I would not accept a new contract. Most union
contracts require management to notify a dancer of intent to rehire by
March 1st. Once these letters go out, a dancer has until April 1st to
agree to sign their contracts. Typically, a dancer who chooses to look
beyond their current position will start reaching out to other
organizations for auditions beginning in January or February. While many companies
will allow you to take company class or attend a cattle call to audition, most won't tell you if
you are being offered a job until after April 1st, when dancers reach
the deadline to return letters of intent to their employers. Some
dancers choose to tell their director that they aren't returning the
following season earlier than this deadline (like I did), so jobs may
become available before this date. But generally, a director will tell
you that they are interested without making an official job offer until
April or May at the latest. If you are thinking of leaving, but haven't
made a solid commitment to depart, many dancers will just sign their
current contract and continue into the next season. But if you are
determined to change your career path, you may take a risk and let your
boss know that you won't be returning, whether you have a job offer or not. Or, if you are comfortable
enough, you can ask for an extension for your letter of intent, which is much less common.
If you are 100% set on leaving your current company, chances are that you are willing to take the risk to or are already prepared to be a freelance dancer, either for a period of time or permanently. Many former company dancers fall into freelancing for one of two reasons. Either they wanted to change some aspect of their career trajectory by choosing to leave their company and didn't gain full-time employment elsewhere or they were blindsided by non-renewal of their contract. I recently helped guide a dancer with a nice regional company on building a foundation to freelance from after they were unexpectedly non-reengaged from a position with a company they had danced with for 5 years. When presented with the idea that they had no say in this decision, they felt empowered to take full control of their career.
 |
| Ali Block, in my new work, gave up a company position to freelance & attend Columbia University (Photo: Eduardo Patino) |
Either
way, one needs to be prepared to freelance with an appropriate package
to offer to potential employers. A cover letter (expressing your
background and interest in working for employers), CV/résumé, dance
photographs, and a performance reel are a great place to start. Of
course, your package doesn't have to be completed to perfection from the
beginning. But it should have enough information to offer an employer
an idea of who you are. Additionally, each freelance artist needs to
have a short-term and long-term plan in place, whether they ever realize
these aspirations or not. For many dancers that are blindsided by the
loss of a job, their main goal is to use this time as a gap-period
between contracts. They hope to gain greater experience in roles that
were, perhaps, not available to them in their previous work situation to
make themselves more marketable the next time company auditions come
around. For others, freelancing is the long-term goal. Whether common items like answering
to one boss, becoming bored performing works in the exact same
style in every program, or lack of touring were driving forces for a
dancer to seek out long-term freelancing, a dancer needs to have
long-term goals in place. What do you want to dance, where do you want
to dance, who do you want to dance for, how long long do you want to dance, and why do you want to continue
dancing? These are all questions that should be on a dancer's mind as
they enter the wide wild world of a freelance dancer.
One
often disregarded reason that some dancers consider freelancing after
leaving or being forced out of a company is because they just aren't
ready to retire from the art form quite yet. Maybe they have unresolved
expectations, their body can't handle a 40-week workload, they can't admit to themselves that they are through with
their art, or they want to finish their career on their terms. A lot of
us think or used to think that retirement from dance was a
straightforward process. But I can share from experience that I have
seen freelancers enjoy long careers, dancers freelance for awhile and
rejoin companies, dancers freelance for a bit and retire fully, and
dancers freelance for a bit to retire for a period before making a
fascinatingly rare comeback. There is great value in the freedom of
choice and direction that freelancing can bring you. There is absolutely
no shame in using freelancing as a slow end to your performance career.
 |
| Springtime has finally arrived! |
