What is it about?
This paper reports findings from a study that sought to understand the barriers and opportunities faced by dance artists in Australia. The paper focuses on work patterns, environment, and the implications for vocational education and training.
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Why is it important?
Careers in dance performance are typically short. Consequently, dance artists face the fact that a significant amount of their working lives will be spent in non-performance activities. Results reveal the diverse roles in which Australian dance artists engage. They also indicate the need to include career development, self-management and small business skills within higher education dance programs.
Perspectives
It is extremely rare that dance performance will be the only activity within a dance artist’s career. It is not possible for all the necessary career skills to be provided within initial dance training; however, there is an obligation to make students aware of the real world of work. My perspective is that we should position career development learning, or employability, as metacognition - help students to understand why they think what they think! If dance students graduate knowing how to think and learn, and with good network, they will have far more ability to negotiate their careers over time. Our resources for this are all housed at developingemployability.edu.au and I would love feedback and contributions.
Professor Dawn Bennett
Curtin University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Careers in Dance: Beyond Performance to the Real World of Work, Journal of Dance Education, January 2009, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/15290824.2009.10387381.
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