I assert this every time I speak with dancers, whether they’re pursuing performing or have moved on to other professional paths. Their discipline, creativity, and resilience, among a host of other attributes from dance training in their formative years, provide lifelong strengths that set them apart. They are learners, collaborators, teachers, creators, performers and leaders, no matter where they put themselves.
In over 30 years of career counseling with hundreds of performing artists, I have learned a lot about resiliency, adaptability, and growth from clients as well as from processing my own dance story, which I shared in 2017 in Feet First, an article included in the anthology Creative Live, published by the NY Workforce Development Institute. (See Publications)
After retiring from the position of Career Counselor Supervisor for 24 years at the Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund in May 2024, I created PatchYourCareer to continue career management conversations with dancers and other creatives at all stages of their professional lives.
I was invited to talk with dance students at Florida State University about how to use their college years to prepare for their careers after graduation. Out of that first conversation I developed my School to Career for Dancers workshop, which I have facilitated in person and via Zoom to dance programs based in NYC and around the country. I continue to offer my 90-minute to 2-hour workshop in which students learn strategies for managing the challenges of pursuing their dance education and of creating a foundation for their longer-range career goals.
See a few minutes of Patch's workshop with dancers.
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