Literature Review

Following my previous literature review, on 'Life after Dance: Career Transition for Professional Dancers', written by Joan Jeffri and David Throsby, I began to look into one of the authors, Joan Jeffri.

Joan Jeffri is the Founder and Director of the Research Centre for Arts and Culture. She is former Director of the programme in Arts Administration at Columbia University and past President of the Association of Arts Administration Educators and the International Arts Medicine Association. She has had multiple publications, and provides varying services, including: creating educational programmes, coaching, writing, research and mentorship.

Below is a link to her website, and a list of her publications:

http://joanjeffri.com/publications/

One of her publications, 'Making Changes: Facilitating the Transition of Dancers to Post- Performance Careers' (2004, with William J. Baumol and David Throsby), was used as the basis for 'Life after Dance: Career Transition for Professional Dancers' (which was published in the International Journal of Arts Management in 2006). 

The full paper on ' Making Changes: Facilitating the Transition of Dancers to Post- Performance Careers' can be seen on the link below:

http://www.tc.columbia.edu/centers/rcac/pdf/FullReport_14.pdf

'The many transfer- able skills and experience that professional dancers accumulate during their dancing years,  including self- discipline, team work, and stamina, are significant resources that are in danger of being unused as their active dancing careers come to an end'. (p. 16) 

This paper examines the main approaches used to ease the career transition process, (by dance companies, career transition centres etc.), by formulating a series of hypothesis, and testing them against available evidence. 

Multiple dancers (both current and former) across Australia, Switzerland and the USA were asked to complete a survey regarding career transitioning. It's interesting to see how the participants view this stage in their lives. Hypothesis 8 and 10, (p. 7) were of particular interest to me.

Seen below is one of the statements that 216 dancers (current and former) in Australia were asked to respond to. (p. 279) 'Many dancers do not realise that skills developed are transferable to other occupations', with the majority (115) answering agree/ agree strongly. 

If dancers were made aware that they acquire skills that are transferable to other occupations, maybe it would become easier for them to transfer these skills to other work- places, utilising them to their advantage. 

Interview Questions

During a recent telephone conversation with Paula, we discussed the direction my inquiry is taking. We spoke about 'personality tests', which had originally inspired my inquiry topic. Although they are commonly used by employers and in daily life, there is some controversy around personality tests, and it is unclear as to how they have been researched and tested, and results are measured. To use personality tests as part of my inquiry would present too many variables, which is why I decided on interviews as my inquiry tool. 

Paula and I discussed the questions I will use for my interviews. We decided that they should include key words, but should be thought of as conversational, and be open- ended, giving my participants the opportunity to discuss their experiences. 

The questions I decided on for my interviews are as below:

1. Through- out your dance training, specifically whilst at full- time dance college, what did you learn about yourself?

2. How has a practitioner, dance teacher, figure of authority, etc. influenced you in your life?

3. How would you characterise yourself?

4. What have you learnt about yourself since leaving full- time education and working as a professional dancer?

5. How do you view dancing as a profession?

6. Since leaving dance education have you ever been asked to characterise yourself/ complete personality testing by an employer? If yes, in what context? 

7. Where do you think your strengths and weaknesses lie?

8. How do you think your current employer would describe you? 

9. Which skills or characteristics do you use in your current job role? 

10. How has your dance training affected you, in non dance related areas of work? 


After conducting my interviews I will be able to analyse the answers and try to find similarities, or common themes that have been discussed by my participants. I am hoping that the results will point towards common characteristics or attributes, being used from one stage of life to another- particularly, from full- time dance training, to job roles outside of the field of dance. 

'Transferable skills are general skills you can use in many jobs. You gain these skills from previous jobs, projects, voluntary work, sport, your home life, hobbies and interests. They enable you to be adaptable and flexible in case you need to change your job'. (National Careers Service)

I will research and discuss which transferable skills or characteristics are desirable to employers,  and the benefits of personality testing in current society. 

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is a tool that I am sometimes asked to complete by my manager in my current work place. 

A SWOT analysis is a structured model that identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organisation, business model or project. When completed, a SWOT analysis determines what may assist you in accomplishing your objectives, and what obstacles must be overcome or minimised to achieve desired results. SWOT analysis is a useful technique to help craft strategy, and in this case, help with the planning/ execution of my inquiry and to analyse where the weaknesses in achieving my goal may lie.    

I created my own SWOT analysis below: 


Project- Professional Inquiry

Strengths                                                                           Weaknesses

- Support from professional network,                          - Lacking in knowledge on my 
friends and colleagues to help me achieve                      inquiry subject.
desired results.

- Current literature on inquiry topic that will             - Inquiry lacks focus and a specific 
strengthen and support argument                                     desired result/ end goal.                        
                                                                                                 Terminology and language used
                                                                                                 needs to be improved. 
  
- First- hand knowledge gained from dance                 - Interview questions are vague, need
background and of transitioning to a work place            to be specific enough to give me the 
outside of dance.                                                                   information I need. 

Opportunities                                                                    Threats

- To get involved with SIG's, attend campus                    - Limited time frame to complete

sessions, communicate with BAPP Arts                              project, fitting schedule around full

practitioners and tutor to discuss inquiry topic.               time work and other commitments. 

- To discover data/ information for my line of                - Findings/ data may not be 

inquiry that could help my professional network              conclusive or produce desired 

and BAPP Arts practitioners in the future.                         results. 

- My professional network of current and former           - Participants may drop out of 

dancers, who will participate and aid with my                   inquiry at last minute. 

inquiry. 

Career Transitioning for Ex- Military Personnel

The recruitment agency I am employed by have recently introduced an Ex- Military Internship scheme. The 26 week programme gives high calibre, ex- military personnel the opportunity to transition into the commercial world. Candidates are able to take part in training courses, including Linked In and Excel, and following the internship, can apply for permanent internal vacancies. 

After a discussion with a colleague, who is ex- military and leading the new scheme, I found there to be some parallels to that of the transitioning careers of dancers. Military personnel leave the services, and similarly to dancers, have very limited experience, if any, in other professional fields, often don't have academic qualifications and find themselves with limited options in terms of career path. 

As seen below, the key words used in this advertisement, are the characteristics discussed in my previous literature review. Discipline, team work, loyalty and commitment are the transferable skills referenced in 'Life After Dance: Career Transition of Professional Dancers' (Jeffri and Throsby, 2006). 

In this instance, these characteristics are seen as attributes. This could indicate that similarly, dancers have a desirable mind set to employers and the work place.   

Literature Review

After reading through Lizzie Martin's blog, one of her literature reviews came to my attention. Her review on 'Career Transitions in Professional Dancers' (Stanley E. Greben), is of particular interest to me, as the concept of my inquiry relates to transitioning to work places outside of dance: 'The Dancers Mindset' (Are dancers able to translate their skills outside of dance?) (Do dancers have the 'winning' mind set?).

Lizzie's blog post led me to find an interesting paper published in the International Journal of Arts Management, titled 'Life After Dance: Career Transition of Professional Dancers' (Joan Jeffri and David Throsby, 2006, Vol. 8, No. 3). The paper evaluates the findings of an inquiry, by a research team from the United States and Australia, into the career transition of professional dancers. The sample comprises dancers from ballet/ classical, modern/ contemporary, indigenous/ folk, commercial/ show dance and 'other'. Surveys were conducted in three countries- Australia, Switzerland and the United States- in order to gain insights into the challenges of career change from the viewpoint of the dancer. The paper examines the findings' support of certain hypotheses, the researchers' expectations and the dancers' realities, and the differences across the three countries included in the surveys.

At the time that the paper was written, Joan Jeffri is Director of the Research Centre for Arts and Culture and the Program in Arts Administration at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City. David Throsby is Professor of Economics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

The surveys conducted in the three case- study countries included both current and former dancers, similar to my own inquiry interview plans. The reasoning given for this, seems appropriate to my own research. "(1) It was considered valuable to elicit insights from current dancers about their expectations and preparation for transition, (2) a comparison of the expectations of current dancers and the realities of former dancers could serve to illuminate recommendations for future action, and (3) former dancers were extremely difficult to identify before the surveys were distributed; usually, they were recruited through companies and venues accessible to both current and former dancers."

The paper goes on to discuss: dancers' own awareness of the challenges they may face in career transitioning, how prepared they feel for the inevitable transition process, post- transition careers and the percentage of dancers that remain within the field of dance, the challenges presented at the end of a dance career, retraining and further education, skills acquired through being a dancer, support systems, and changes in income post- transition.

"It has become increasingly clear in recent years that career transition is a serious problem facing the dance industry worldwide." (p. 54)

Jeffri and Throsby discuss how aware and prepared dancers (current and former) feel in regards to the challenges of a career transition including physical problems, loss of income, uncertainty about the future and a sense of emptiness at having to give up something that has been an important part of one's life for a long time.  The findings show that many former dancers conceded that they were in fact ill- prepared for this process, whilst current dancers claimed to be either 'somewhat aware' or 'very aware'.

"Yet, surprisingly enough, some dancers consciously avoid preparing for transition". (p. 56)

Could Jeffri and Throsby's findings, suggesting a lack of awareness and of being fully prepared for a career transition, affect dancers' mind set? Could this lack of knowledge prevent us as dancers, from realising our potential in other fields?

"Lack of confidence to do something else and succeed makes the transition period difficult". (p. 56)

These findings point to the need for strategies to make dancers aware and prepared for transition issues, in an understanding yet re-assuring way.  

Jeffri and Throsby's findings also touch upon the skills acquired through being a dancer:

"The skills and experience acquired by professional dancers throughout their dancing years, including self- discipline, team work and stamina, are transferable resources". (p.58) 

As seen in the results shown above, self- discipline, team- work and stamina, are considered by the participants to be skills that are acquired through being a dancer, and are later found to be the most useful and of the most importance.

Could characteristics such as these be attributed to having a 'winning' mind set, or the 'desirable' mentality to employers- further afield than the world of dance? 

"The four transition centres, (established career transition centres in the UK, US, Netherlands and Canada) meanwhile, report that only 10- 15% of their clients move into a dance- related career" (Baumol, Jeffri and Throsby, 2004).

Jeffri and Throsby's inquiry presents some interesting findings, and strengthens the question: are dancers able to translate their skills outside of dance? 

"Our data on career transition for dancers suggest that expectations and realities differ. This knowledge is important not only for current and future transition centres and programmes, but also for policy- makers and funders seeking to make optimal use of the human capital from a highly disciplined, dedicated and committed workforce at the end of a special relationship." (p. 61)

Inquiry Feedback.

I have begun Module 3 by looking back at my inquiry plan, and taking in to account the feedback that I received. My inquiry: The Dancers Mindset: 'Are dancers able to translate their skills outside of dance?' 'Do dancers have the 'winning mindset'? Needs some further clarification and focus. 

For example the term 'mindset' may prove problematic and cause some confusion. I had chosen this term as it is based on a 72- question test called '3G Mindset' which was devised by Dr Paul G. Stoltz and James Reed. The test has been devised to measure personality or qualities that make up our 'mindset'. These qualities or characteristics are grouped into three categories: Global: your openness and connectivity with the greater world around you. Good: the integrity and kindness with which you consider and treat others. And grit: the toughness, tenacity, resilience and intensity with which you pursue your goals. A 'winning mindset' is the result of scoring highly in said test, and is considered by 98% in a survey of several thousand employers worldwide, more desirable in the workplace than having a perfect skill set. 

As my inquiry is trying to research the ways that dancers relate their knowledge and understanding to the work place, 'do dancers have the 'winning mindset'? May be replaced by: do dancers have knowledge of a good work ethic? Do dancers have the knowledge to pursue their goals with resilience and tenacity? Do dancers have knowledge of connectivity with the greater world around them? All of which come back to my question of: 'are dancers able to translate their skills outside of dance?' Are we as dancers, able to use our knowledge in workplaces other than the dance profession, or is there a lack of being able to communicate these benefits in other professional spheres. 

I had initially wanted to use the '3G Questionnaire' as a tool for my inquiry, asking a number of dancers to each fill out the test. I would then use this to see if any patterns emerged or if the results were similar, therefore identifying personality traits in dancers. This may be difficult to achieve on a small number of participants and it has also presented some concerns in regards to ethics and copyright. Such 'personality tests' have been subject to criticism and controversy in the past. One problem with self- report measures of personality is that the participants are able to distort or fake their answers. The results rely on the respondents to be answering truthfully. Another concern is that personality tests also assume that personality is a reliable, constant part of the human mind or behaviour. 

Interviews may be a more appropriate tool to use for my inquiry, which will provide the opportunity to question professional dancers individually about their particular experiences. As it will be difficult to develop an understanding of all dancers' knowledge in a small scale research project, interviewing a select group of dancers will enable me to interpret their experiences in more depth, and to get an idea of their own awareness of the knowledge they posses as a dancer. Gathering such data from professional dancers who similar to myself, have had experiences of professional work places both within and outside of dance, will be a useful way of understanding my inquiry topic beyond the literature.  

I will continue to fine- tune my inquiry and to develop a better sense of the tasks I will soon undertake. I'll continue to research literature that is relevant to my inquiry, and post literature reviews to my blog in the coming weeks. 

Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

Module two focused on the planning of our Professional Inquiries. Through discovering the process of planning an inquiry, and having so many avenues to explore, it took me the duration of the module to come to a final decision on what my line of inquiry would be.

Developing Lines of Professional Inquiry

I began the module by choosing a selection of questions that were of interest to me, and could be used as a basis for my Professional Inquiry. Looking back at Module 1, and at the questions that had emerged, I chose six, all of which I thought were relevant and could be explored further. (Appendix A)

I spent some time researching each of the six questions on the Internet. My focus was to find which had corresponding research and literature already available. I used the articles I found as a basis to giving me guidance on the direction my inquiry could take. I read into the three most prominent topics further. These topics were surrounding: physically correcting students whilst teaching dance, the support and guidance given to dancers in furthering their careers and education given to dancers in relation to healthy eating and nutrition. (Appendix B)

It was interesting to read my peers' blogs to see the various themes that were emerging. By commenting on their blog posts, I was able to consider how my questions of interest could relate to theirs. These discussions then led me to join a SIG on Facebook surrounding teaching dance, that I thought was relevant to my areas of interest. 

Professional Ethics

Reader five led us to consider professional ethics when planning a line of inquiry. On consideration, I felt that due to my past experiences teaching dance, and due to the nature of my areas of interest, dance education was at the forefront of my inquiry. 
I researched the ethics surrounding teaching dance and found some really useful information that is likely to benefit me in the future and contribute to me becoming more professional in my practice. (Appendix C)

Tools of Professional Inquiry

We began to look at the various tools we could use to go about gaining the data and information needed to support our inquiries. I decided that an interview was a tool that I could use during my inquiry, and so decided to do a pilot interview with a professional associate. (Appendix D) After the interview, I considered the pro's and con's and how it would contribute to the result of my inquiry. After some consideration, I felt that a questionnaire or survey may be more beneficial. 

I looked at the dimensions of planning an inquiry. Many questions arose, including but not limited to; the motivation behind the inquiry, who the participants of the inquiry would be and data protection. (Appendix E)

After an interesting, brain- storming Skype session with Paula Nottingham, my ideas began to take focus and I was finally able to decide on the subject of my inquiry. Having considered all of the various aspects to planning an inquiry throughout Module two, I was able to begin formulating the final plan and structure to my professional line of inquiry.