Hello there, again!
It has been a while since I have written my last post, so the last few days I thought about what I should write and I think it is time to write something about the positive aspects of quitting dancing and starting another career.
As the title says already, as a dancer you have a second chance to start something new and exciting, whether it is your own dance-school or your own dance company or whether it is something completely different.

I choose for something completely different and I made a real cut, so to say. I think this was necessary for me to be able to quit dancing at all. And to be honest I couldn’t picture myself having my own school or company, because I saw how colleagues and dancer friends around me had to fight for fundings and for their existence in general.
So, I decided to be a flight attendant, which was my childhood dream anyway…I just made a little detour via the stage 🙂

I find that the work as a flight attendant has a lot of things in common with the work as a dancer: It is both irregular, both are a physical job, they are both international and both jobs are dealing with people.
And I have to say that somehow the cabin is also a kind of stage.
And there even is a curtain, hahaha!

Doing something completely different than dancing, made me realise that I have a lot of good qualities to offer for any other job.
I am disciplined, I can work well in groups, I have a great sense of responsibility (sometimes a little bit too much, though), I am ambitious, I am patient, I am capable of reflecting on myself, I have no difficulties following orders, etc., etc. And don’t get me wrong, I am not writing this to brag about myself, I just want to point out to you how many important qualities a dancer has to offer for a second career.
Before I made the choice to stop dancing I always thought I had so little to offer for a second career and it felt like I was only able to count till 8 and to do some steps, but there is so much more that dancers can do…we should’t underestimate that!

Another positive aspect that we shouldn’t forget is the fact that we actually had the priviledge to do THAT what we love so much!
We had the chance to make a living out of our hobby or our passion and that is something very special and we should be grateful for that!
We were able to express ourselves in our work and we could give our whole and everything to dance and still be paid for it!
We were on stage, being seen by the audience and being acknowledged and rewarded by applause or even standing ovations.
There are not a lot of people that can say that they were able to earn money with THAT what they love so much.
And of course, stopping dance is hard, but at least we could live our dream and who knows a second dream might come true as well!