Youth vs. Career for the Amateur Dancer

[Mr Tailsuit]

Imagine you were 30 years old, had a strong technical grounding, and a dance career just at the point of starting to attract some notice for its potential.

You know you started dancing too late to be the best of the best; but your primary goal is to see what you can accmplish in the eyes of traditional judging panels in the context of unrestricted amateur events.

You hold a respected college degree in a field that, at least in better economic times, would insure a comfortable living, but have not yet really developed the potential of this training.

You are currently unemployed and partnerless, though there is a prospect for each under mutual consideration.

Should you:

a) Concentrate on dancing while you still have the energy and flexibility of youth; move in search of coaching, utiilize savings and/or take the best work you can find within the constraints of your training and competition needs?

b) Develop your career and dance as much as you can in the time available around it, with the understanding that your peak accomplishments may only occur in the over-35 category?

c) Leave the decision in the hands or prospective employers and partners by being ready to jump at whichever realistic opportunity presents itself first?

[Pacion]

Decisions, decisions, decisions. I am waivering between a) and b) :?

There is always the question of what you can do should there come a time when you can't dance anymore (that is if you follow a)

If you follow b) you may have an internal battle thinking that you are wasting time

One consideration I suppose is whether you can get lots of dancing in (training, practice, teaching, performances, competitions etc etc) and develop your career at the same time

[pygmalion]

As much as I love the arts and feel passion for dance, I'd go with B. Paying for dance training is expensive. Way expensive. If you pursue the dance, you may have some serious limits set on you ability to succeed, just because of the lack of resources. Peaking in over-35 is not the worst thing that can happen. The nice thing about ballroom dance (which is what I assume you're talking about) is that you can dance as an amateur for the rest of your life.

Welcome to the forums, btw, Mr Tailsuit. :D

[marykomatsu]

ah the dilemma - When you say "dance career" I guess it depends what you mean. If you mean a professional competitive dancer then 30 is already too old, unless you are making the finals of the Open Am events at the big comps right now. This is sad, but this is true.

The competitive pros are young, like Giampeiro (30), Victor Fung approx 27, Tomas Atkocevicious (30). Wilkens is older, but he has been at the top for quite a long time. Marcus Hilton retired at 37, so did Augusto Schiavo.

My advice, put your primary efforts into the career you trained for in college, hopefully one that has longevity and where you can work it for a long time. Otherwise, you will starve like a bird in the winter if you become an mediocre pro.

But, you still can focus on dance and have it be a big part of your life. I know many good amatuers who say, "all I do is dance and work". (we are sort of like that!) You can become a decent amateur but it costs a FORTUNE and you better have a career handy to pay the bills because you will be paying for years!

[Laura]

What does your heart say? What do you want the answer to be when you have to answer to no one but yourself? You might not pick the most logical or practical or even possible answer, but you will pick YOUR answer, which is the most anyone can wish for.

(If it were me in the situation described above, I'd go with (C), but that's just me. If it were me in my real life, I'd do (B).)

[pygmalion]

Yes. For me, pragmatism usually wins out. I hope I don't regret that on my death bed one day.

I wonder if it's possible to do both. Have a sensible, reasonably-paying day job, and pursue dance part time at night? Hmm.