My Inquiry investigates the possibilities of being able to still have a career within the chosen industry once injured. Whilst choosing who to conduct my interviews with, I specifically chose who I was going to interview as I knew that by choosing randomly I would not necessarily find a variety of different options. In order to conduct this Inquiry fairly I chose people of all different training backgrounds’, job roles and outlooks on the industry.
One person I chose in particular was some who was in the year above me during my vocational training who found themselves injured and overtime managed to change career paths whilst still continuing to work in her chosen profession. She decided to study Theatre Design as she was lucky enough to have the support around her at the time from those who knew how to go about it and the means (financial wise) to be able to go ahead with it.
Whilst I was researching I came across an organisation called “DCD- Dancers Career Development”. This is their mission statement:
“Dancers’ Career Development (DCD) offers a holistic and comprehensive range of specialist and confidential career support and retraining services to professional dancers in the United Kingdom.
We offer practical, psychological and financial retraining support services reaching from educational advice, career coaching, emotional counseling, CV & Interview guidance and school workshops for dance students to grants for retraining & business start-up grants for eligible professional dancers.
Our mission is to empower dancers in all dance forms, so that in overcoming any insecurities arising at the point they cease to perform, they are able to develop the remaining part of their career, within or outside the dance profession, by building on their distinctive strengths and transferable skills”
It was through this website that I came across a link to an article published by “The Stage” about someone who had a similar experience to the girl that I interviewed.
The man the article was written about was called “Jean-Marc Puissant”.
“He studied ballet at the Paris Opera Ballet School and as a professional dancer he came to the UK to join the Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1990. In 1998 he got a grant from The Dancers Resettlement Trust to study Theatre Design training at the Motley theatre Design course founded by Margaret Harris in London.”
Although the article does not state why he decided to go down a different career path (as that information is private to him) it does make me wonder. He only began his career as a dancer in the UK for 8 years, so could there be a contributing factor to this such as an injury?
His training as a theatre designer paid off though as he went on to design theatre opera and dance in the UK, Europe and the US.
Jean Marc says: “Having been a dancer, I know the need of dancers both from the point of view of uncultured set-design and the use of fabrics but I really enjoy designing for Opera and Theatre- perhaps even more than dance”
Having trained as a dancer, working in this mind set has its advantages. It is very similar to the girl I interviewed as she claimed without her knowledge as a dancer and performer she would have struggled more with this particular career choice.
This is why it is so important to retain a positive attitude if ever in a situation such as this as skills are transferable and should not be wasted.
This is why it is so important to retain a positive attitude if ever in a situation such as this as skills are transferable and should not be wasted.
The article goes on to describe all the various projects and shows he has worked for and his ambitions for the future. This is a positive example and should be admired and valued by others who wish to venture down a different path.
I noticed when I came across this article that the organisation offers counselling. In one of my interviews, a lady mentioned that she wished there had been the option of counselling provided for her during her injury whilst in training. It’d be interesting to hear how someone may have benefitted from this kind of help.
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