CTFD Dance Gala Didn’t Really Rock

… according to Jennifer Dunning of the NY Times.  In an article published today, Dunning critiqued this year’s dance gala, “Dance Rocks,” and its series of varied performances as somehow lacking in dignity. 

CTFD Coverage in the Times

This weekend the NY Times came out with an article about CTFD, its mission, its clients– Tentative Steps Into A Life After Dance.  The article lands on the concept that for former dancers there is little chance of finding a future in anything as fulfilling as dance.  I think that for many dancers this is true; but, I’m finding that for as many others, it’s not quite the case. 

My impression after talking with the counselors and administrators at CTFD was that transition is an unequivocal crisis in any dancer’s life.  It is inevitable and nonetheless dreaded, and invariably difficult.  But my meetings with transitioned dancers– both of recent and not-so-recent transitions– has uncovered another school of thought about the transition process.

CTFD Video Library

At the center of the CTFD office is its resource library, a well-organized collection of career guidebooks, informational career pamphlets, college brochures, training program booklets, an impressive number of subscription papers and magazines, and, maybe most often overlooked, a fairly extensive collection of VHS tapes.

Nevermind that almost no one owns a VCR anymore.  Alongside the orderly collection of tapes is a tiny black Sony TV/VCR combo, its bubble screen a neat 10″ x 10″.  

The TV/VCR is there so that visitors to the library can watch the archived workshops, seminars and lectures that CTFD faithfully continues to videorecord.  The tapes are neatly stacked (and evidently rarely touched); they are labeled with titles and dates.  The earliest tape-date I came across was June, 1998.  Titles included: “Embracing the Fear;” “Juggling Your Life and Your Career Part II” (I couldn’t find Part I);  ”Take Charge of Money;” and, “Help! I Need a Non-Performance Resume.”  In all my visits to CTFD, I’ve never seen anyone seated at the VHS counter.

Generational Diversity, Nostalgia and Age (a pitch.)

All above are issues raised by the upcoming CTFD Annual Gala (“Dance Rocks”). 

 

Non-profit organization Career Transition for Dancers (CTFD) holds an annual dance gala to raise money for its no-charge counseling services and scholarship funds (for dancers pursuing post-dance careers).  This year’s gala, scheduled for October 29, is themed “dance through the decades,” “an entertaining evening of music from the ’50s to hip-hop– sure to attract theater-goers and nostalgia-seekers of all generations.”

This year’s gala theme seems somehow more pertinent to the CTFD mission than prior themes.  Because through its provision of tangible resources—career counseling, monetary grants, and access to an extensive network of transitioned dancers—CTFD really attends to the effects of an intangible issue: i.e., the issue of age in the dance community, and the reality that a massive majority of dancers will inevitably age out of the profession.

The Age Issue

From a recent NYT article: Two years ago trumpeter Henry Nowak was fired from the American Ballet Theater Orchestra.  Nowak had been with the orchestra for 28 years; he was 74 years old.  Last Thursday he filed an age discrimination suit with the US District Court in Manhattan.  The complaint cites an unnamed conductor asking an orchestra member for tips on how to convince old orchestra members to retire, and said of them, according to the NYT article, “It’s time to go.”  Commission lawyer Judy Keenan claims that the commission has evidence of other similar cases in ABT Orchestra history (part of the reason, evidently, that this case was one of relatively few ageism complaints brought to suit over the past year; apparently only 50 out of 16, 548 complaints were accepted between October 2005 and September 2006). 

Nowak’s case puts a strange spin on the age issues already at play in the dance community. 

CTFD’s Leading Ladies

Recently spoke with CTFD Founding Director, former President, and current Grants Administrator, Ann Barry, and CTFD Vice President since the org’s inception, Judith Anderson.  Click below to read the transcription of Ann and Judith’s conversation regarding CTFD’s beginnings and its progression, and their shared plans for its future.