Plies and Paragraphs, Sautes and Statistics
Dancers are smart. Few professions require the combination of physical and mental acuity with an artistic performance. Daily.
Ballet demands the highest degree of neuromotor specificity (fine motor control) of the physical disciplines. Exercises are in French. Corrections must be applied immediately. New combinations are given with each barre and centre exercise. Old choreography is made new with changes in tempos and steps, sometimes with a change of partner before one's entrance, or even onstage as injuries and accidents occur. The discipline required to master the body, project the emotion, and manage one's schedule of classes, rehearsals and performances (and supporting jobs) is supreme.
In school, dancers often have the highest grades. They have learned to pay attention in class, to complete homework in between dance classes and rehearsals, and to get the job done on time. But few ballet dancers went to college out of high school even a few years ago. Not the good ones, that is. The good ones went into a company. The others went to college. And the colleges they went to 'educated' them (mainly to be teachers and choreographers).
College was rarely a place to practice and perfect one's profession if ballet was the preferred expression. Technique classes were often poor. Serious students found themselves in 'experimental' dance or other improvisational and exploratory classes that may have been fun to take, but did not challenge them physically and technically as dancers. Modern and ethnic dancers fared better in the collegiate world.
That is changing.
Colleges, especially in large cities such as New York, have more and more professional ballet dancers enrolled in traditional college courses. The dancers attend on Mondays, their dark nights. It may take them longer to earn their degrees, but they can also continue performing professionally while they are in their prime. (Ballet dancers have an average retirement age of 28).
New York City Ballet principal Jenifer Ringer earned her B.A. in English from Fordham University while in the New York City Ballet. Her husband, James Fayette (a principal dancer recently retired from the New York City Ballet), began attending Fordham University in 1995 while he was performing with the company. Fayette said, "You are putting on make-up before the show and some guy next to you is studying statistics. 'What's that all about, I asked.'" He received his answer, and is at Fordham pursuing a degree. "It may take me ten years, but I'll get it." Dr. Linda Hamilton predicts he'll leave his business and marketing focus and become an arts lawyer.
Current and former dancers with the New York City Ballet who have attended, are attending or who have grad-uated from college include former NYCB principal Lourdes Lopez, Dena Abergel (BA in English), Dr. Linda Hamilton (who specializes in dancers' mental and psychological health), Robert Andrews, and Ethan Stiefel. Elizabeth Walker, a former student at the School of American Ballet, now on the SAB faculty, is attending Fordham part-time. "The trend is to go to school now," Fayette said.
Lorraine Graves, former principal dancer and regiseusse from the Dance Theatre of Harlem, has her degree from University of Indiana at Bloomington. Her parents insisted on it before they let her pursue a full-time performing career. She was talented enough to wait for. Fayette said his parents also encouraged college, "making sure I had been accepted into one first, but then they gave me a year to prove myself (by getting) in a major company." He saw Lourdes Lopez taking classes at Fordham.
Lopez said "At Fordham, I used the same tools I had used as a dancer. Ballet training gave me discipline, dedication and focus - all that you need to do anything you want."
Dr. Linda Hamilton (to distinguish her from her husband Dr. William Hamilton, consulting orthopedist for SAB and the New York City Ballet), "found school and dance compatible with each other."
Charlotte d'Amboise had a part in "Cats" on Broadway while still in her teens. She has been doing films, playing Roxie Hart in "Chicago" on tour and on Broadway, and handling two major roles on Broadway (Roxie, plus Charity Valentine in "Sweet Charity"). Ten years ago, in an interview Dancer did with her and her husband Terrence Mann, she regretted her lack of a college degree. She vowed then that her children (they have two daughters) would go to college. Mann has his Bachelor's Degree from the North Carolina School of the Arts and credits towards his Master's Degree.
This writer delayed going to college for three years after high school. After having been relegated to character and novelty parts in ballets and musicals, having the major and difficult-to-correct drawback of being short and having lost parts for causing an obvious dip in every line, I realized that college was a necessity. Five years later with a BFA in Ballet and an MA in Dance in hand, doors opened that hadn't before.
Whether or not college is right for you is for you to decide. Parents will probably automatically push for college, but dancers in all disciplines need to be the ones to decide. If a major company is interested in you and has a contract with your name on it, taking that contract is a good idea. If your career seems stuck in a terminal holding pattern, try even one or two classes at your nearest college. Colleges have daily and Master classes in legendary names in dance. One of them may just spot you. And unlike years past, when college belonged to those in their teens, you will no longer be the oldest one on campus.
On that note, look for an upcoming article on career transitions for dancers.