To College or Not To College? That is the question!
On high school graduation day, a dancer is faced with a unique set of choices:
1. School of Hard Classes
(commonly known as college)
*More classes in a week than a body is used to
*Homework/time/social stress
*Supported by parents/
student loans
2. School of Hard Knocks
(professional dancer)
*Audition constantly
*Financial stress
*Sometimes supported by parents
3. School of Something
Completely Different
*Quit dancing and pursue
education/training in another field
*This-is-a-new-world stress
*Supported by student loans
It is a rare high school athlete, writer or science student that joins the professional ranks in their chosen field immediately upon graduation. Dancers are unique because they have the professional option available to them. But is that always the best choice?
Many dancers justify the professional work option right out of high school by pointing out the well known industry conception that a dancer is "old" by age 20. The myth is that a young body performs better and withstands the pressures better than an older body. Some dancers don't want to sit in classrooms when they would rather be dancing.
Dancers who choose to enter college and pursue advanced training justify this route by asserting that the intensity and regularity of a college dance program will improve their technique and a degree will open more doors in the future.
While choice is an individual, soul searching, gut wrenching decision sometimes, a dancer's intentions ultimately help make the best selection. The following dancers answered a series of questions about their personal desires for a dance career and how choosing college or not has enabled them to realize their dreams.
JASON TANNER
Hometown-Williamstown, WV
Graduate-2005 University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music, BFA, ballet
Currently-Kentucky Ballet Theatre, apprentice
What reasons and people helped you make the decision to attend college before pursuing a professional career in dance?
JT: My teachers at the studio where I grew up always recommended going to college. Others there had gone on to dance in college, and some of them have gone a long way. Of course my parents were a major influence. They always wanted me to go to college and I went on their dime. I think my dad would have preferred that I went to be a businessman or engineer; but fortunately he, with the rest of my family, chose to support me in my decision to pursue a degree in dance.
How did your choice affect your
eventual career?
JT: That is hard to say, as I am fresh out of college and just beginning my professional career. However, I first came in contact with the company I now work for through school. They needed men for a performance, and one of my teachers recommended me to the director. After that and several other guest stints, I now dance there full-time.
If you had it to do again, would you make the same choices? Why?
JT: Is this hypothetical, or are you actually offering? Assuming that I again chose to become a dancer, then yes, I would make the same choice. Fresh out of high school, I did not possess the technical proficiency or the skill as a performer to be a professional dancer, nor would I have been emotionally prepared. As cliché as it sounds, my time at college helped me grow a great deal, both as a dancer and as a person. My experience, what I got out of college, both in the classroom and out, made me the person and the dancer I am today, and I wouldn't trade that for anything...except maybe a vast sum of cash. (Kidding.)
Considering today's career market in the arts, what advice would you give to a young person trying to decide right now whether to go to college first or perform first and why?
JT: Oh, gosh. I shouldn't have that kind of influence. I think it depends on each individual person and what that person's goals are. Some ballet dancers that go to college get good jobs, as do some dancers who don't go. Still, neither path guarantees you anything, as the dance market is a rough one. It should also be mentioned that you don't actually have to finish college. You can go for a while and leave if a great opportunity comes your way; and then you can go back and finish later if you so choose. The best advice I can give is think about what you want out of a dancing career, look at all the options, and decide which one is most likely to get you, personally, what you want.
How do your personal experiences, past choices and current position affect the guidance you give to future dance professionals?
JT: That's a tricky one. My experiences and choices, as do anyone's, affect everything I think and say. I will say this: I love performing. I love being on stage. That is why I do this. Don't do it for the money. For most of us, there isn't much. Don't do it because you think you can't do anything else. That's not true, no matter who you are. And don't do it because someone else wants you to. It doesn't matter if it's a mother, a dance teacher, or anyone else; they aren't living your life, and you don't have to live their dreams for them. Dance because you love it. When you stop loving it, when it stops being fun, that's when it's time to get out. It's not worth it to stick with something like this when there is no love for it. Besides, bitter dancers are mean and the men secretly want to drop the mean girls when they partner them.
Do you plan to return to college?
What for?
JT: Yes, and I don't know, respectively. With very few exceptions, a dancer's career doesn't last a real long time before age and the years of physical abuse catch up. A second career is a necessity for most of us. Right now, I am considering eventually returning to college, maybe for a masters in dance, or maybe in another direction altogether. It's not a decision I have made and not one I wish to make just yet.
ALISON HESH
Hometown-Miami, FL
Graduate-University of Miami, BA, Art History; Florida International University, MA, English Literature
Currently-Florida International University, adjunct professor of English Literature; Dance Empire studio,
ballet department head
What reasons and people helped you make the choice to attend college before pursuing a professional career in dance?
AH: I pretty much came to the decision on my own. It was a week before I was supposed to attend Juilliard on a full scholarship when I backed out of going. I had already transferred my Gap job up to one just around the corner from Juilliard, I had packed, met my roommates and then it dawned on me. Why was I going to school/college for something I already knew how to do and did it well? I had an epiphany-I wanted a real life for a change. Boyfriends, college, my own car and independence. I wanted to eat like a normal person! I enrolled at Miami Dade Community College as an honors student, since I decided one week before school started that I didn't want to go to the school I had planned on. It was too late to go to University of Miami or Florida State University. So instead, as an honor's student, I was on scholarship. After about one year, I did get the dancing bug and went to join a new company in Tampa, Bay Ballet Theatre, and after a year, it folded. I went in as the ballet mistress and principal dancer, but unfortunately, funds were lacking. That amount of time was just enough for me to realize that I had made the right decision to pursue school over dance. My mom and brother were extremely supportive in all of my dance and academic endeavors.
How did your choice affect your eventual career?
AH: Although I dreamt of being a ballerina as I was growing up, all I dreamt about was the frivolity of it. Tutus and pointe shoes, and as the years progressed, yes, I did love everything about ballet, but the constant strain and stress of performance/rehearsal/performance/rehearsal does eventually wear pretty thin. I have always taught ballet ever since I can remember and I have always felt like I had a knack for getting things across, so I really feel that everything I have done has directly led me to this exact moment in my life. All my years of training, performing and taking class have made me an introspective ballet teacher. Also, recovering from my own dance-related injuries via Pilates, then getting certified in it as well, have contributed to my helping my own dancers. I am happy where I ended up. My kids come to me with dance questions, injury prevention questions and English questions. (I have a masters in English Literature and teach at Florida International University.)
If you had it to do over again, would you make the same choices? Why?
AH: Yes and no. If I hadn't gone to Miami-Dade, I would never have met my best friend, Nancy, who has helped me artistically and emotionally throughout the years. If I had not gone to University of Miami, I would have never have met my husband, and if I had gone away, I would not have the special bond that I share with my mother. On the other hand, there is always what if: What if I had gone to Juilliard? I probably would be retiring now from some dance career. Maybe I would be happy, maybe not. All I can say is that I love my life right now.
Considering today's career market in the arts, what advice would you give to a young person trying to decide right now whether to go to college first or perform first and why?
AH: There are so many more opportunities for the dancer who can't make up her mind these days. For example, some companies/schools have programs affiliated with universities, where the dancers are in their second company and they also go to school. If that had been an option when I graduated I think I would have jumped on it. These days you can do both; it's a question of whether one actually wants to do that. Dance does have a time limit for the body, and if someone is talented enough to even consider performing with a company, then my advice is usually just to audition for as many places as you can and put in some college applications to see what happens to fall in your lap. But when push comes to shove, one can always go to college after a career, and we can't forget the great new technology age we are in where someone can get their degree with all online courses!
How do your personal experiences, past choices and present position affect the guidance you give to future dance professionals?
AH: I give different advice to everyone. I have had a few good dancers, who are good and would probably get accepted into a company and then languish in the corps de ballet for years. I don't think that is worth giving up college. Also, there are kids who are just so brilliant at school and have gotten into fabulous schools, and even though they are really good dancers, how can you pass up the opportunity to go to Harvard? I really try not to focus on what was best for me; I try to focus on what is best for each individual person. Audition or apply, eventually something great will come of it.
ROXANNE TRITT
Hometown-
Parkersburg, WV
Graduate/
currently-enrolled
in her first quarter
at Wright State
University, Dayton,
OH, dance major
What reasons and people helped you make the choice
to attend college before pursuing a professional career
in dance?
RT: I chose to pursue my BFA in dance for a couple of reasons. First, I knew that if I didn't pursue my dream of being a professional dancer I would question myself for the rest of my life. Second, I decided to go to a college with a dance program so that I could improve my technique, my aesthetic quality and my knowledge in all the arts so hopefully, I will be able to find a professional job out of college. I would say that my best friend influenced my decision. She was the one who reminded me that if I didn't at least try to achieve my dream, my life would never be complete.
If you had it to do over again, would you make the same choices? Why?
RT: I definitely think I made the best decision for me. I love the program, the teachers and the opportunities I have here at Wright State University. After I graduate I want to find work with a professional ballet company. Ballet has always been my passion, but I know that many companies want dancers who can do more than just ballet. My college education is already helping me to enjoy and perform jazz and modern, and I'm also excelling in singing and acting.
The experience of these dancers serves to illustrate the vast changes dance and higher education have undergone in the last thirty years. With an ever evolving array of choices available now compared to the past, can we fully imagine the world catching up with what dancers learn early in their training? Make the best of and dance with what you have, and there's more than one way to get to the theater.