I have found ten pieces of literature which I have read and annotated. This includes a variety of different pieces, for example; inquiry reports, newspaper articles, books, newspaper interviews, professional blogs and academic writings. To clarify how this literature can inform me on my topic of inquiry I have divided it into two sections. The first section is literature which informs of the dance industry and career transition. The second section is literature which informs on the television industry and presenting as a career. By reading and analysing literature of this variety I have been able to gain a rounded and informed view of existing theories relating career transition from a dancer to a television presenter.
Literature on dance and career transition
I have analysed five pieces of literature to find existing theories on the career transition of professional dancers. After I have gathered all my own data from my inquiry I plan to compare these theories to my own findings to see the similarities and differences between the conclusions reached. Firstly, a report on an inquiry into dancers and career transition entitled ‘Life after dance: Career transition of professional dancers’ was conducted and written by Joan Jeffri and David Throsby in 2005. Jeffri and Throsby studied dancers and their career transitions in Australia, Switzerland and the United States with the aim to discover ‘Insights into challenges of career change as seen from the viewpoint of the individual dancer’. (Jeffri and Throsby, 2005).
While this inquiry explores a wide range of dancers, one of the main limitations is that it does not cover dancers in the UK. It States that there is a ‘difficulty in speaking about career transition in a global way’ (Jeffri and Throsby, 2005) so this made me consider there could never be fair results globally as each culture would treat the topic differently. However, I would like to see how the results compare to my own findings of an inquiry conducted in the UK. One theory that is put forward is that there is a ‘higher level of post-transition career satisfaction among those fully prepared to meet transition than among those not fully prepared.’ (Jeffri and Throsby, 2005). It is tempting to fully agree with this as many of my colleagues who have been successful in career transition have been very prepared. However, from beginning my own research I have seen there are also many other factors that contribute to success which are not explored such as willingness to change, desire, reason for change, current skills, knowledge, attributes, networking, luck etc.
The author presents a theory that the majority of dancers go on to work in something related i.e. dance teaching or and there is only a small number who go on to explore a different field completely. Many dancers I have spoken to so far have done teaching and other related jobs. However, as I want to go into television, a different industry altogether, it is the unrelated careers interest me more. I found the report limited as it only researched into dancers undergoing transition as a result of injury or age but not those who simply have a desire to work in a different industry. Therefore I have taken this into consideration in my own research.
The report noted skills including ‘Self-discipline, team work and stamina’ (Jeffri and Throsby, 2005) which are acquired by a dancer and are useful in most professions. It covers the importance of education and qualifications in order to progress in other careers and the importance of retraining for other careers in advance of needing to undergo transition. All of the conclusions are agreeable and justified by data collected from surveys and questionnaires. The main conclusion that is reached is that ‘expectations and realities differ’ (Jeffri and Throsby, 2005) which has been useful to me as I am now aware that the ideas of the dancers I may interview may not be the reality of how their career will progress.
A similar inquiry was launched by Irina Rincaglia and a report was written entitled Retirement Transition in Ballet Dancers: Coping Within and Coping Without’. The aim was to investigate the experiences of career transition in ballet dancers, from a life course perspective. It also focused on how ballet dancers cope with the transition and the different factors influencing the coping process. The paper uses Schlossberg’s model (1981) as a framework for coping strategies used. It identifies these as ‘situation, self, support and strategies’. It then uses Taylor and Ogilvie’s model (1994) to show causes which initiate the retirement or transition process as ‘Age, deselection, injury and free choice.’ This was useful to me as it covered free choice as opposed to being forced to transition. However, unfortunately it did not go as far as to explore the reasons for free choice and what other careers are available.
The paper identifies a theory that the eight psychological processes which are possible coping strategies for transition are ‘denial, alienation, letting go, isolation, severance, acceptance, renegotiation, reconstruction’ (Roncaglia, 2010). I have found all of these to be applicable to transition and from my experience so far I have found that people find letting go and acceptance among the hardest to deal with. This theory can also be seen in another report entitled ‘Challenges in Transitioning From a Professional Dance Career: An international Comparison’ By The aDvANCE project (2003). It details the problems faced by dancers in transition and identifies that ‘A sense of emptiness was experienced by 49% of former dancers surveyed in the United States.’ (The aDvANCE project, 2003). This is useful as by being able to identify possible challenges of the process it could help other dancers in the future to be more prepared for the obstacles which may lead to a smoother transition. This helped me to create my survey questions as I would like to see whether dancers in the UK can also relate to this theory of experiencing a sense of emptiness. This could help establish whether career transition theories can be generalised on a global scale or whether different nations respond differently to the same process.
A similar theory is presented by Maureen Laird in a report entitled The Transition of Dancers- A practical guide in the examination of transition. The report aims to inform the reader of various aspects of transition, how the dancer can avoid transition pitfalls and also identifies transferable skills of dancer. One theory identified is that ‘Approaching any transition with a positive attitude will enhance and enrich the act of transitioning’. This agrees with previously identified theories on coping strategies and the best way for a smooth transition is to be prepared and positive. The notion of success coming from being prepared is further reinforced throughout the paper ‘Education, formal or informal, is essential to transition’. This theory has been useful to me in my own inquiry as I am looking into what needs to be done to make a successful transition into television and so far I have discovered that knowledge, education, qualifications and expertise are among the most important requirements before embarking on transition.
One of the most interesting elements of this paper is the idea that Laird poses on transferable skills acquired as a dancer. This links strongly to my own research and theories I would like to further look into. I feel that her ideas are also reliable and justified as Laird herself was a professional dancer who is now a pilates teacher and professor. She first identifies the theory that any transition will obviously require a new set of skills ‘A transition that requires the building of a new identity, a new set of skills, a different lifestly , takes years’ (Laird). Having said this, she goes on to talk about all the skills that you can use again in a new career, whatever it may be. Some of the main transferable skills identified are; Discipline, initiative, focus, integrity, time management, problem solving. In my own inquiry I have taken these skills with others of my own and asked dancers opinions on their value to their everyday lives. Through this I hope to identify the most important and valuable transferable skills according to dancers themselves. Through my own results I will see if this theory can be proved or opposed.
This theory is backed up and further developed in a book I have read entitled ‘Ballet Dancers in Career Transition- Sixteen Success Stories’ By Nancy Upper, 2004. The book consists of sixteen different dancers who have undergone transition, eight of which have transitioned into careers related to dance and the other eight into non dance related careers. One story tells of a male ballerina named Michael Byars who underwent transition in order to become a lawyer. He gained all his qualifications before and during the transition process with a prepared and positive attitude in an attempt to have a long and financially viable career with scope for further opportunities. He talks a lot of the importance of transferable skills and poses his theory that ‘Non dancers who are open minded realize how the attributes that contributed to a successful dance career are going to translate into something new.’ (Byars, 2004).
The author, Nancy Upper, then uses Byars’ story and all the others she has researched to compile a definitive list of adaptive skills gained from professional dancing. This list includes most of the skills named previously along with others including; concentration, analytical sense, energy, stamina, motivation to achieve and memory. It can be seen from various literature that many share the theory that there are transferable skills gained by dancers which can be useful to any career. This has been useful to my inquiry when surveying dancers as I will compare my results on transferable skills to those identified in the literature.
Literature on the television industry and presenting as a career
Having identified many existing theories on dancers and career transition, I thought it necessary to look into literature on television and presenting to inform the other side of my inquiry and learn more about the industry. A newspaper article from The Guardian entitled ‘Former Countryfile presenter fronts ITV investigation into ageism on TV’ written by Tara Conlan in February, 2011, focuses on the case launched by Miriam O’Reilly against the BBC for age discrimination after she was sacked from her job as the presenter of Countryfile. The article tells of how O’Reilly won the case and as a result is now potentially going back to work for the BBC. This shows the nature of the industry and the importance of public support. The BBC are obviously more concerned about losing public support than sticking by their view on who is right for the job. This was useful to me in researching the culture of the industry and the pressures and demands that come with it. This has informed my interview choices for the inquiry so I can find out more about the nature of the industry.
The author quotes Miriam O’Reilly herself saying that ‘My ability to do my job on Countryfile had never been questioned. I didn’t think it was fair to lose it for something I had no control over- getting older’ (O’Reilly, 2011). While I agree that obviously ageism is wrong and she had the right to fight against the BBC, unfortunately dancers face the same obstacle of losing their jobs due to age but because they are not in the public eye they cannot launch cases of ageism. The only counter argument provided throughout the whole article was one quote from former newsreader Buerk who argues ‘Get over it. It’s show business’ (Buerk, 2011). I found this article useful in highlighting age as a major pressure on many television presenters. During my inquiry I am researching into other pressures facing television presenters by talking to people working in the industry.
This theory of age and appearance as a major pressure facing presenters is further backed up in a separate newspaper article with the headline ‘TV not a job for life says Britton’ By The Press Association, 2011. The article states ‘Fern Britton says presenters should accept that they may be dumped from programmes for being too old-and they are not in a job for life’ (UKPA, 2011). This shows the huge pressure facing presenters and opposes popular belief that television is more likely to be a long lasting career than something physical like dancing. This shows that even if a successful transition from dance to television was made, a further transition from television to another career may have to be made in the future when you are deemed too old to be on screen. This is an issue I had not previously considered but now this can be linked to the theory of preparation being key to successful transition and show that television professionals may need to be as prepared for transition as dance professionals.
Having examined skills gained through dance training, it is now necessary to see if these match up with skills generally considered necessary for employment in creative industries. A blog written by Hannah Clements entitled ‘Do you have the core skills needed for a career in the creative industries’ identifies that the key employability skills are ‘Self-management, team-working, business and customer awareness, problem solving, communication and literacy, application of numeracy and application of IT’ (Clements, 2011). Not all of these skills are in any of the lists of skills acquired by dancers. Some of the skills match up but perhaps this is where some dancers are struggling with career transition? Even though we acquire so many skills do we think we have everything just because we are disciplined and hard working? Maybe an IT course or management course is something to consider before embarking on career transition.
This notion of the importance of education and gaining skills as highlighted in another piece of literature I have looked into. It is an article called Davina’s tips for would-be TV presenters’ written by Scott Matthewman, 2010. The author interviews Davina McCall about advice for aspiring presenters. Interestingly, she too has a theory on education helping success ‘Often now they are looking for a speciality presenter- a vet, a doctor, a nurse. So don’t give up on your education. Go out, specialise in something and then become a TV presenter.’ (McCall, 2010). This has been useful to me int he making of my show reel and choosing what to include (future professional artefact). I actually do have expertise, a qualified fitness instructor, so I am currently making the choice of how to embrace this and show my expert knowledge in my show reel.
In case this wasn’t enough proof that educations and knowledge is the way forward, the theory is further reinforced in the last piece of literature that i have studied. It is an interview in The Stage with a presenter called Gia Milinovich. She has presented many shows but she has since specialised in technology. She developed her interest in technology through home learning and then turned it into specialist knowledge by completing courses and gaining qualifications ‘Now, because of my knowledge, I am valuable...albeit to a much smaller number of programmes...but my chances of being hired have gone from maybe 1 in 100 to maybe 1 in 4 or 5’ (Milinovich). This shows that the common understanding of success in television presenting is to be an expert first and a presenter second. This is something I have now taken into consideration during my inquiry at my presenting course and when making my show reel which will combine everything I have learnt so far.
After my data analysis I aim to revisit all underlined theories which were found from existing literature and see how true they are to my own findings.
References:
Upper, N, 2004, “Michael Byars: From Barre to Bar” Upper, N, Ballet Dancers in Career Transition- Sixteen Success Stories. North Carolina McFarland and Comapny inc publishers.
