Ballet Dancers in Career Transition: Sixteen Success Stories

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 272 pages
• Published by: McFarland & Company April 2004
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0786418192
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0786418190
• Book Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Weighs: 13.6 ounces

Product Description
The average length of a professional dancer's career is ten to 15 years. Similar to professional athletes, once the prime years of physical prowess have passed, retirement is inevitable. After retirement, there are still many years of adult life ahead for dancers. Making the transition to a new career is challenging to many. Motivated by her own career transition, author Nancy Upper interviewed former ballet dancers who have made successful transitions into new careers after they stopped performing. Part 1 of the book features interviews with individuals who remained in ballet-related careers. Part 2 discusses the experiences of four dancers who moved on to careers outside the field of dance. Part 3 focuses on former dancers who have used their non-dance careers to help dancers and to promote ballet awareness. Appendices provide information about marketable qualities dancers develop as a result of their training, career transition tips, transition resources and a graph mapping the transition process.

About The Author
Arts marketing consultant and journalist Nancy Upper is a former ballet dancer. She now resides in Winchester, Massachusetts.

Reader Reviews
Nancy Upper's Ballet Dancers In Career Transition holds such a hefty price tag for a standard-sized paperback that primarily libraries specializing in dance collections will want to spring for it - but any such library should not hesitate to make the purchase, being as it's one of the few to address the professional dancer's changing career options. A professional dancer lasts from 10-15 years - then it's time for retirement, even though many years of adult life are ahead. Upper made her own career transition and uses her own experiences to relate her challenges, adding interviews with other former ballet dancers who made successful transitions into new careers. An essential guide, highly recommended for ballet book collections.