DANZSupports for Dance
By Cath Cardiff
When I started my dance training in 1957, the only real option for employment as a dancer in New Zealand was with the New Zealand Ballet (now the Royal New Zealand Ballet). By the time I completed my training at the age of 17, it was obvious that a job in ballet was not an option for me. I temporarily stopped dancing in 1970. By 1978, however, what a sea of change! In the intervening years, Impulse Dance Theatre, Limbs and real jobs in television and musical theatre had evolved. Suddenly, a career using those parts of my training that I could salvage and reinvent was a possibility. And since then more growth, more diversity and a much greater range of opportunities again have arisen.
Continuous employment as a dancer in New Zealand is still an aspirational thing for many of the fine graduates that we produce. The development of talented and dedicated managers, producers and administrators who can help build the “business” of dance is still a challenge for all of us.
Read the full article (Iss. 34) Supports for dance