Dancers don't want a second career! In search of the dance artist's 'transferable skills'.

Many dance students have a one-sided view of what a successful dance career entails. Namely: dancing with the dance company of your dreams, in a theatre, on a stage. So says Ulrika Kinn Svensson, artistic advisor at the Fontys Dance Academy in Tilburg during Inclusive Dance Event. But because of the weak labour and income position, partly due to disappearing subsidies, that dream does not always come true. There is too little work for too many dancers. Moreover, most dancers do not look forward to the moment when their dance career is over and they have to retrain, for instance with support from Retraining Dancers Netherlands.

Dance academies from Tilburg, Antwerp and Prague - participating in research project Inclusive: The Transferable Skills of the Dance Artist – wonder how their students can engage in the dance arts for life. What skills do they have that are also valuable in other sectors? And what is the added value of the dance artist to society? See here the importance of the discussion around 'transferable skills', because what do you actually learn when you learn to dance?

Transferable skills

"Dancers don't realise how much they know. As a dancer, you can make a valuable impact on society, but all we used to think about as ballet dancers, in terms of impact, was the loudness of the clapping after a performance." - Andrew Greenwood, founder of the foundation Dance & Creative Wellness

What are the transferable skills of the dance artist? In which other sectors will dance teachers and choreographers soon be able to work - outside the dance studio? And how can dance academies best prepare their students for the work field of the future - of which they have no idea what it will look like? These questions were explored, answered and re-interrogated during the Inclusive Dance Event on Tuesday 23 May in Tilburg.

Herma Tuunter, managing director of the Fontys Dance Academy in Tilburg, opens the day with a lecture on 'transferable skills'. In it, she refers to the popular research regarding '21st century skills'. Workers are expected to need different skills in 2020 than today. The top three skills include: 'complex problem solving', 'critical thinking' and 'creativity'. Skills that everyone who dances continuously uses (or at least develops), but remarkably, these cognitive skills are not further discussed. I therefore concur with comments by dance dramaturge Guy Cools: "Transferable skills are learned in every dance class. What is needed is an awareness that this is happening!"

Emotional intelligence

In particular, 'emotional intelligence', another skill from the top ten of '21st century skills', is cited as an indicator of dance's relevance. Tuunter describes dance as "a training ground to re-develop the social skills that are needed in other sectors". Dancers are good at creating 'community', or in other words, strengthening the (local) community. Dancers are do-gooders.

One of the sectors where this 'emotional intelligence' would be needed is the business. In dancer Laurent Delom de Mézerac's "corporate body practice" workshop, we do exercises in non-verbal communication, where there is always a follower and a leader. It is soon clear who are the dancers and who are the academics. The dancers are better at giving (and receiving) clear signals, but during the discussion at the end of the workshop they are the least articulate.

Articulating relevance

Unfortunately, dancers often turn out to be less good at articulating the relevance of their skills. This worries me. Because you may have experienced the value of dance yourself, but if you can't articulate and sell it... you'll soon be starting a second career after all! Moreover, dancers should not only be able to articulate what their 'transferable skills' are. It is also important to be able to articulate the relevance and value of dance (as a performing art) itself. At least, if dancers better paid want to become.

Partly through the discussion on 'transferable skills', dance academies want to contribute to the success and 'employability' of their students. They want to prepare them for a diverse field of work. One of the changes they are initiating is that they expect less people to come to dance (the theatre), but that dancers should also seek contact with the audience themselves. Either through 'site-specific performance' or through classes in inclusive dance, which also welcome people with physical or mental disabilities. The new adage seems to be: dance is for everyone. Fontys is attracting many new students with it, calling the new approach 'the human approach'. But, if the professional field changes, shouldn't the curriculum and admission requirements of dance academies change with it?

Personal motivation

Or, as one event attendee himself pointed out, "How inclusive is a dance academy, when they only accept flexible and able bodies? If there's a paradigm shift in the work-field, don't the entry requirements also need to change?" For me, this is perhaps the main criticism of the day. Fontys says it already evaluates students differently, taking transferable skills into account. But to make dance education itself more inclusive - or more humane - it is necessary to give personal motivation and ambition a higher priority than physique and dance technique during auditions.

Similarly, Dylan Holly, another Fontys student, critically notes that while he may not have a perfect dancer's body, he is mentally stronger than many of his classmates who take feedback very personally. He says he dreams of a new type of dance education, with a healthier mindset.

"When I look at the workplace, I see dancers who can take a beating and keep going. I don't think this needs to happen! I want to build a school that encourages a healthy mindset around dance" - Dylan Holly, Fontys Dance Academy student

Internal dialogue

A common term during the Inclusive Dance Event is 'dialogue'. This is defined as the ability to talk to each other in a respectful way without shouting over each other. A value that appears to be central to the subculture of dance education at Fontys throughout the day. Personally, I experience 'dialogue' as avoiding confrontation. After all, a dialogue is not a discussion.

For instance, we are told that dance can learn from other sectors and disciplines and vice versa, but I do not meet people from those 'other sectors' during this day. Moreover, I turn out to be one of the few outsiders. Most of the participants are students and teachers from the Fontys Dance Academy itself. The dialogue being held therefore mainly feels like an internal dialogue.

Comfort Zone

Greenwood, who herself develops dance classes for people with Parkinson's, MS and Alzheimer's, urges audiences to go where we are not welcome: "Have conversations with people outside of dance - such as the police academy - and listen to what they have to say. Only then can you see the relevance of your art form for others and can you make a difference!" In other words: leave your comfort zone.

The conclusion of the research project Inclusive therefore feels not like a finale, but the beginning of a large-scale change in thinking about dance and dance education. According to one Fontys alumnus, the dialogue that has now begun could not have happened 10 years ago. That's good news! So the door is open for confrontation and innovation, albeit ajar.