IOTPD Activity

The 2017 annual conference of the International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers’ (IOTPD) was held in Berlin, Germany on May 26 thru 28. The meeting was hosted by Stiftung Tanz, Germany's Transition. Program.
IOTPD's annual meeting are the outstanding opportunity for representatives of transition programs worldwide to share learning, discuss challenges and examine trends on the topic of career transition for professional dancers.

Attending organizations representing their countries: Association pour la Reconversion des Danseurs Professionnels (Lausanne, Switzerland), Centre National de la Danse (Paris, France), Dance Career Endowment Fund (Prague, Czech Republic),Dancer Transition Resource Centre (Toronto, Canada),Dancers’ Career Development (London, U.K.), Dancers Career Development Centre (Seoul, Korea), Dancers Retraining Program (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Institute of Music and Dance (Warsaw, Poland), Marta Michalak, Project Manager Dance Department, SSUDK (Zürich, Switzerland), Stiftung Tanz, Transition Zentrum (Berlin, Germany), The Actors Fund, (New York, USA).

The meeting was also attended by Xevi Dorca, President of the Association of Dance Professionals in Catalunya. This provided an opportunity for this organization to meet with representatives from existing Transition Centres to seek support and advice on providing career transition support for dancers.

Canada’s national organization devoted to dance transition, Dancer Transition Resource Centre (DTRC), welcomed members of the International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers (IOTPD) for the foundation’s Annual Meeting on November 13th and 14th. Members of the IOTPD and observers from countries with newly formed transition programs met at DTRC’s National Office in Toronto immediately following Leap Together: Career and Life Transitions in Dance and Sport, an international conference devoted to exploring the intersection of transition issues for professional dancers and athletes.

DTRC Executive Director and IOTPD Board Member Amanda Hancox remarked “It was an honour to host this important international meeting in Canada. As the importance of addressing the issue of dancer transition continues to gain significance around the world, it has been rewarding to watch the IOTPD grow. The presence and contribution of delegates from ten countries to the IOTPD meetings and the preceding LEAP conference provided a vibrant international perspective.”

On the topic of collaborating with the sports community, and IOTPD’s presence at Leap Together, members agreed that reaching across disciplines is necessary work. The partnership between sports and dance was truly appreciated. Transition programs can certainly benefit and have more impact around transition issues if they can work with other sectors.

Every year the IOTPD Annual Meeting provides an opportunity for representatives from transition organizations around the world to share learning, discuss challenges and examine trends on the topic of career transition for professional dancers. During their two days together, delegates shared updates from their respective transition organizations, and collectively planned the IOTPD’s actions in coming years, all with an aim to increase visibility of transition as a uniquely challenging period in dancers’ careers, and to advocate for the creation of transition programs and resources in countries where none exist.

New to the table in 2016 were observers from the Institute for Music and Dance in Poland, and Dance Career Endowment Fund in the Czech Republic. We were also joined by Jeongyeon Lee, the IOTPD’s first intern recruited through a global internship program supported by Dancers’ Career Development Centre in South Korea.

In 2017, the IOTPD Annual Meeting will take place in Berlin.

The International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers’ (IOTPD) annual conference was held in Seoul, South Korea on May 31, June 1 and 2, 2015. Hosted by the Dancers’ Career Development Center, the meeting provides an opportunity for representatives from around the world to share learning, discuss challenges and examine trends on the topic of career transition for professional dancers.

Attending organizations representing their countries: Association pour la Reconversion des Danseurs Professionnels, French speaking Switzerland; Centre National de la Danse, France; Dancers’ Career Development, UK; Dancer Transition Resource Center, Canada; Stiftung Tanz, Germany; Dancers’ Career Development Center, South Korea; The Royal Ballet of Flanders, Belgium and Career Transition For Dancers, USA.

The meeting was also an opportunity for delegates from Hong Kong, China and Japan to meet with representatives from existing Transition Centres to seek guidance on providing career transition support for dancers.

The agenda included: sharing statistics and best practices regarding support for dancers; the future of the IOTPD: the formalisation of the IOTPD as a Legal Entity (a Foundation); plans to ensure the IOTPD is able to develop its work through relevant resources – the possibility of offering the opportunity for a young Korean graduate/student to gain practical experience working at the IOTPD which would allow for growth in the profile of the IOTPD and also further funding opportunities; debate how the IOTPD continues its advocacy mission worldwide and tactics to generate discussions around transition issues in other countries including a full day dedicated to introducing new countries to career transition for dancers as part of the next IOTPD meeting.


2015 International Symposium – “Professional Dancers, Design a New Tomorrow”
Attended by over 150 delegates from Korea and worldwide, the symposium was held at Seoul Cyber University on Saturday 30th May 2015. Supported by Jong-deok Kim, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism and officials from Arts Council Korea, the aim of the symposium was to raise awareness of the need for transition support for dancers in Korea and world-wide, as well as to introduce an international perspective on the challenges of career transition.

The Keynote speech was delivered by Paul Bronkhorst, President of the IOTPD and Executive Director of Omscholing Dancers Netherlands. Four dancers supported by Transition Centres world-wide presented their story including Leanne Benjamin AM OBE, former Principal with The Royal Ballet who recently graduated with a Post-Graduate Degree in Interior Design from Chelsea School of Art and Design in London, Pierre-Marie Quéré, former dancer with Les Ballets de Monte Carlo and Lyon Opéra Ballet, who is now the Administrative Director of the ESDC Rosella Hightower and Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Danse de Marseille, Sun Hye Hur, a contemporary dancer working in Switzerland, who is now an Acupuncturist and Massage Therapist and Paul Waarts from the Netherlands, who performed with several contemporary dance companies, who retrained as a lawyer and has been working as a Criminal Judge since 2011.

The delegates were honored to attend a Gala Performance at Universal Arts Center, hosted by the Dancers’ Career Development Center. The Gala included performances by Seoul Ballet Theatre; National Dance Company of Korea; Universal Ballet; Korean National Ballet and Korea National Contemporary Dance Company amongst others.

Annual Conference of the International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers (IOTPD)

Hosted by the Dutch Retraining Program in The Netherlands on June 15, 16, and 17, 2014, the International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers' (IOTPD) annual conference convened in Amsterdam to discuss the activities of existing programs and to best serve the needs of dancers.

Participants:
Association pour la Reconversion des Danseurs Professionnels (Lausanne, Switzerland), Sarah Guillermin, General Secretary
Career Transition For Dancers (New York, USA), Alex Dubé, Executive Director
Centre National de la Danse (Paris, France), Agnès Wasserman, Director Professional Resources Department
Dancer Transition Resource Centre (Toronto, Canada), Amanda Hancox, Executive Director
Dancers’ Career Development (London, U.K.), Jennifer Curry, Director of Development
Dancers’ Career Development (London, U.K.), Ellen Chambers, Grants and Careers Officer
Dancers Career Development Centre (Seoul, Korea), In-ja Park, Chairman
Dancers Career Development Centre (Seoul, Korea), Mrs. In Young Sohn
Dancers Career Development Centre (Seoul, Korea), Mun Ghy Min
Dancers Retraining Program (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Paul Bronkhorst, Executive Director
Dancers Retraining Program (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Lieke van Campen, Career Counsellor
Dancers Retraining Program (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Karien van Schaik, Administrator
Royal Ballet of Flanders, Tom de Jager, dancer
Stiftung Tanz, Transition Zentrum (Berlin, Germany), Sabrina Sadowska, Chairman
Danza-T, Red de Trabajadores de la Danza and ACFA (Madrid, Spain), César Casares

International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers’ (IOTPD) annual conference held in Warsaw, Poland and hosted by Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera/Opera Narodowa on May 31, June 1 and 2, 2013.

Attending organizations representing their countries: Polish Opera/National Ballet, Poland; Association pour la Reconversion des Danseurs Professionnels, French speaking Switzerland; Centre National de la Danse, France; Dancers’ Career Development, UK; Dancer Transition Resource Center, Canada; Dancers Retraining Program, the Netherlands; Institute for Music and Dance, Poland; Polish Opera/National Ballet, Poland; Stiftung Tanz, Transition Zentrum, Germany; the Swiss Transition Fund, German speaking Switzerland; and Career Transition For Dancers, USA.

The agenda included: sharing statistics and trends regarding dancer transition support as it pertains to career counselling and grants for retraining; discussion of common career and socio-economic challenges facing professional dancers in member countries; the power of social media to strategically communicate the IOTPD’s mission; tactics to generate discussion of transition issues in other countries and to encourage other dance-related organizations to join the IOTPD; the creation of an on-line ‘tool kit’ to begin the process of establishing a transition program in one’s own country; fundraising in tough economic times; and making an IOPTD application for UNESCO membership.

The next annual meeting will be in Amsterdam, June 13, 14, 15, 2014, hosted by the Dancers Retraining Program, and the IOTPD’s President, Paul Bronkhorst.

Continuing their growth & development the International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers have launched their new website.

Third International Symposium
The aDvANCE Project’s conference
Monaco (December 16-18, 2004)
Career Transition and the Professional Dancer, International Findings / New Perspectives

2001 - 2004 The aDvANCE Project
A worldwide survey into the socio economic position of dancers

Second International Symposium

The Hague, Netherlands (February 6-8, 1998)
The Dancer of the XXI Century
Education for Transition in a Changing World

First International Symposium
Lausanne, Switzerland (May 5-7, 1995)
The Dancer in Transition: Facing the limits, the realities and solutions.