Every dancer, at some stage in their life contemplates whether dance is the right or appropriate career choice for them. A professional dancing career is one that requires passion, talent and a lot of hard work and a large helping of luck thrown in. It may not be the right career choice for many reasons, some of them objective, some relative and some subjective.
If you have danced your whole life it's likely that you haven't considered any other career other than in passing. Perhaps you are beginning to consider other outlets for your talents, maybe due to injury or misconception of career sustainability. Making the decision not to pursue dance as a career often presents new challenges. Throughout years of dance training we are encouraged to believe that if we work hard enough we will succeed. For some, choosing a different career path can feel like not having tried hard enough despite the fact there are many other factors to include, such as competition, industry requirements and casting personal choice.
Making the decision not to pursue a dance career can be an overwhelming process, but performing is just one strand of the dance industry. Being heavily involved in dance does not have to mean being centre stage, there are many other career routes in the industry than provide just as much satisfaction. From stage management to participatory work to mentoring to teaching, there are a multitude of dance avenues that do not include performing.
It is also important to have other interest outside of dance, dividing yourself up and seeing how much of yourself is dance, and what would happen if the dance part was not there. Having other interests adds perspective to dance, and means dance is not your sole life source; if it is removed it will be a lot harder to climb back up.