In the midst of the turmoil in the cultural industries, how do arts graduates find employment? What is the magic recipe for starting to earn a living in music, theater, or dance? In this series, recent graduates talk about their aspirations. And the tips for breaking into their discipline.
When she goes on stage dressed as a ballerina, doing pointes or an arabesque, Clara Koçollari suffers from intense pain in her hips and toes. But she displays her most beautiful smile.
“You don’t have to show that you’re making an effort. You have to tell your story and your character. I can’t show that I’m Clara, that right now, my toes and hips hurt, and that the pirouette I just did is really hard!” says the graduate of the École supérieure de ballet du Québec (ESBQ).
The duty meets her on a scorching July afternoon in a studio at the school on the Plateau Mont-Royal. Others her age have summer jobs or are out enjoying the sun, but the 20-year-old graduate devotes every afternoon to her training. Even though she’s finished her studies.
Being a classical dancer is not an easy job, but Clara is fulfilling a childhood dream by donning her ballerina costume. “It’s my passion. For me, dancing is like breathing. I also do this for our society, so that people can dress up on Saturday nights, go to the theater to see dance, to stop time, to make them travel.”
Clara and her classmates train six days a week. They ache all over and don’t have time to hold down student jobs. It’s a bad idea, because young dancers also have to pay to do internships, unlike interns in other fields—education, psychology, engineering, and many others—who are now paid.
“You really have to love it,” says Clara Koçollari. “There comes a time when you realize all the sacrifices it requires. You become an adult and you ask yourself: Do I want to be financially unstable in my twenties? Am I okay with not knowing when I’m going to have money? job ? Do I want to have body pain every day? These are all valid questions.
Manage stress
Clara knows three dancers under 20 who have had hip surgery—a common procedure for retirees. She once had to take six months off work because of a broken toe. Dancers’ best friends are osteopaths, chiropractors, physiotherapists, acupuncturists, and psychologists. In this discipline, pain is not just physical, it is also mental.
“There’s a lot of pressure to perform on stage and to make our mark in this profession. Dance companies are always looking for candidates with experience, but we don’t have any experience when we leave school. That made me anxious,” says Clara Koçollari.
A course in dancer psychology is included in the ESBQ program. A sports psychology service is also offered to students. Clara consulted to learn how to manage her stress. And to accept that she sometimes has to work as a volunteer to make herself known. To have “visibility”. To gain valuable experience.
There are not many professions where volunteering remains the norm at the beginning of a career. It is no coincidence that this aberration occurs in the field of culture — and in one of the most poorly funded disciplines in Quebec’s cultural industries.
To perfect her skills, Clara Koçollari was lucky enough to be selected to participate in a two-week internship in the suburbs of Berlin this summer. Cost: 880 euros (1,312 Canadian dollars) plus transportation, accommodation and meals. That’s the price to pay to immerse yourself in the repertoire of star choreographers like William Forsythe, Jiří Pokorný or the Canadian Crystal Pite.
The call of the open sea
The young graduate considers herself fortunate to have parents who can afford to support her, but she is eager to earn a living. Her colleague Shô Araki, also a graduate of the École supérieure de ballet, is also preparing to fly to Germany for an internship paid for by his parents.
“I love Montreal. I was born here, I grew up here. I would like to stay here, close to my family and friends, but you still have to think about working abroad, especially in Europe, where there are a lot of dance companies,” explains the graduate, whose parents are of Japanese origin.
Between now and his stay in Germany, Shô Araki plans to send out CVs and request auditions in Europe. Suddenly, chance would be on his side. The professional integration of dance graduates is done like this: through volunteering, calls to friends in the field, negotiating, sending CVs, and requesting auditions all over the world.
Some compare the dance world to a “jungle”. Shô is not worried about his future, despite this difficult context. “I am not stressed about finding work immediately. For my last year at the School, I focused on my learning. I need to solidify my classical technique. It is a privilege to have training here,” he says.
The 19-year-old graduate is known for his tireless nature: he arrived late for his graduation ceremony because he was taking part in a dance improvement workshop! His final solo was choreographed by Paco Ziel of Rubberband. He has done several internships with the company.
A helping hand from the School
Shô Araki and Clara Koçollari are among the twenty or so ESBQ students who will take to the stage at the end of July, thanks to a partnership with the Festival des arts de Saint-Sauveur. The young dancers will be in good company, including artists from the National Ballet of Canada, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Ballets Jazz Montréal, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Boston Ballet.
Both students had stage experience before they even graduated. They were part of the cast of the show Colossusproduced through a partnership between the École supérieure de ballet and the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, and presented at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts in 2023. And Clara will be in the cast of Bolero Xwith the prestigious Ballet BC, this fall in Montreal. She was recommended by her teachers.
The ESBQ begins preparing students for their professional integration in their first year of college studies, explains associate director Andrea Boardman. The school offers an eight-year dance-study program (five at the high school level and three at the college level). A career management course is part of the program.
“We encourage students to send videos to dance companies and to network. Dance is a small world where everyone knows each other,” says this former dancer with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and La La La Human Steps.