Perhaps the greatest beginning, part 1

On Monday I traveled to Barcelona to audition dancers for 2019/2020  company contracts, I don’t usually audition dancers outside of the UK but I had been invited to attend an event called the Grand Audition. 

For those of you not familiar with the Grand Audition it is an annual audition platform for young classical dancers, they have the opportunity to take park in classes, workshops and interviews that are observed by 10/12 artistic directors from companies all over the world. Personally I feel this is a great opportunity for dancers to meet their peers and also  be seen by potential employers in a very cost effective way (hopefully eliminating multiple flights and travel costs etc).

As I sit and observe the group of artists preparing for the first class to begin, I can not help but see the eagerness to be noticed written across their fresh faces. It is here that I realise the delicate situation young dancers face at this stage in their career.

They are perhaps at the most important ‘fork in the road’ that they could face. Not only are they keen to obtain an employment contract to validate their years of preparation and establish the official beginning of their professional career, but they are also facing a ‘double ending’. What ever the outcome of the audition season graduate dancers must say good bye to the comforts of their school or training environment. Many students have developed deep and nurturing relationships with their tutors and now face leaving this support and regularity to find their way in the profession, often a very different place to their rose tinted expectations.

The second part to this ending process is the cold realisation that, for some, this may be the end of their dancing ambitions as they are often overwhelmed by feeling of anxiety and competition. If they do not achieve a contact after graduation it will take a lot of personal resilience to keep themselves in peak condition.

It is often said that the physical/mental pressures, responsibility to family expectations, a heightened sense of perfectionism and burn out often force dancers away from the industry after training rather than developing acceptance of more realistic goals. Perhaps aiming to gain employment within 12/18 months after graduation is a more realistic goal?