Perhaps the greatest beginning, part 2

In my experience it takes a good 6/12 months for a young dancer to make an effective transition from the official beginning of their new contract to an energetic beginning, a point at which the dancer has begun to understand and except themselves and begin to apply and discover methods that help them branch away from studio focused technique and become a confident story teller and artist, where the technique becomes a vehicle for artistic expression rather than the entire focus. 

Watching the auditions it is clear to see that dancers at this stage of their life are so predominantly focused on their technique that they seem to miss understand or even forget what directors are actually looking to hire.

Of course, it is vital that dancers develop strong and consistent technique, however it is not only the dancer with the highest legs or number of pirouettes that get the jobs. Directors need a dancer to tell the story, bring something to the process, not be afraid to have a voice and become a positive and engaged member of the group... not just a body type or leg line.

Dancers at the energetic beginning of their career have started to understand that their role is to adapt choreographic ideas into physical material and help a choreographer physicalise their concepts into performance pieces that may last for only a few short performances or perhaps feature in the repertoire for many years.

Having developed through these personal official and energetic beginnings it is with a sense of natural evolution that dancers grow into their own effective beginning, a time when they start to apply equal appreciation to their technique and creativity. This is the holy grail for almost all directors and choreographers, developing an artist who is physically able to apply dynamic technical ability with a strong sense of creative exploration, risk taking and an active intelligence that can make a valued contribution to a creative process.

Of course, it is our job as teachers to help our students become the best they can, however should we not equally help them develop a more realistic understanding of what the industry expects of them? Do we need to review traditional training methods? 

Something I have come away from this event feeling is, are our current training methods creating dancers that are fit for purpose? With so many individual aspects to consider I’m not sure if it’s possible to find an answer... it will be great to hear your thoughts.