Exclusive Facebook Career Training Day for Dancers

As part of the launch of DCD’s ground-breaking Career Insights Programme, we’re thrilled to announce an exclusive career training day for dancers at Facebook’s Headquarters in London on 25 September.

Come along to be inspired and hear about different career paths from people that have made career changes, at one of the world’s largest and most successful tech companies.

Dancers will also be given tools on managing their own businesses, including design, marketing and advertising ideas.

The full day training will include two sessions:

• In the morning, hearing first hand from Facebookers from different departments across the company about their own experience of career change, including former dancer Leigh Thomas, now Director of Global Client Partnerships at Facebook.        
• In the afternoon session, learning practical ways to build your own business, including inspiration about how to build your business on Facebook, creative applications, advertising and practical marketing tools and tips.

This is a free event, open to all dancers across the UK planning for or navigating career transition.

Places will be given on a first come, first served basis – so make sure not to miss this unique opportunity!

Priority booking will be given to Career Insights Programme applicants.

Apply by 5pm on 24 July.

Career Insights Programme

If you’re interested in having more opportunities like the Facebook Career Training Day for dancers then make sure to apply to DCD’s Career Insights programme - paid placements in a range of companies for dancers to gain practical experience in a working environment outside of the studio.

See the range of companies where you could gain first-hand experience here.

The programme also includes:

• The opportunity to hear from guest speakers offering unique insight and advice
• Informal Mentoring, designed to complement practical experience and exploration
• Work shadowing other DCD supported dancers
• Three coaching sessions with DCD Director of Coaching Isabel Mortimer

We are offering places for up to 4 dancers. The programme will run for 12 weeks from September – November 2017 and will be a 2 day a week commitment, however this will be tailored to each company’s capacity and requirements.

Applications are open now and will close at 5pm on 12 July.

Dancer Transition Around the World

DCD supports professional dancers across the UK, and also works hard to promote the issue of dancer career transition internationally.

We are a founding member of the International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers (IOTPD) and other countries often look to our expertise and insight when setting up their own transition centres.

Just this past month, DCD’s Executive Director Jennifer Curry travelled to Brussels and Budapest, to speak at two working seminars: Dance Futures: Creating Transition Schemes for Dancers and Promoting Sustainable Mobility in the Dance Sector - a project delivered by EuroFIA (the European group of the International Federation of Actors) and the IOTPD.

The aim of this project is to conduct working seminars in Belgium, Hungary and Spain to determine the possibility for a programme of transition support for dancers in those countries.

Jennifer also attended the annual IOTPD meeting in Berlin, where representatives from 10 countries took part in discussions on dancer transition. Participating countries included the UK, Switzerland, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and the USA, where best practice and trends from around the world as well as diversity and delivering broad and ambitious support programmes for dancers were discussed.

Click  below to find out more about the IOTPD and the Philippe Braunschweig Grant for professional dancers who have had an international career - application deadline 30 April 2018.