Dancers’ Career Transition: A EuroFIA Handbook

FIA’s new handbook on professional career transitions for dancers is now freely available for download in English, French, Spanish and Russian. It is a resource on existing schemes, as well as a rich source of input where the creation of a new scheme is being examined.

It is the result of the EuroFIA project “Transition Schemes for Dancers: Developing Career Transition and Life-long Learning Schemes to Offer Long-Term Career Opportunities to Dancers after Retirement from Performing” which set out to map the needs of FIA member unions in this area, and gain a better understanding of the career trajectories of dancers in Europe and how transition schemes could maximise these. The primary focus of the project was to produce a handbook compiling and analysing data and information collected through desk research and a survey of EuroFIA members, carried out by project consultant Richard Polacek. Twenty-two trade unions from twenty European countries, participated in the survey. Based on the data and information drawn from this mapping, a review of relevant national and international resources on dancers’ transitions, as well as the discussions and exchanges at the project seminar in Berlin, the present handbook has been drafted to bring together the key elements for consideration in relation to successfully putting in place transition schemes for dancers.

It contains the following sections:

Key Recommendations
Section 1. Information and statistical resources on the profile of dancers
Section 2. Socio-economic profile of dancers in Europe
Section 3. Professional training and education
Section 4. Professional transitions for dancers
Section 5. Country profiles describing a range of existing schemes and initiatives supporting the professional transition of dancers.

For more information about the FIA project that resulted in this Handbook, please visit the project section of our website

Dancers' Career Transition: A EuroFIA Handbook
Reconversion des Danseurs: Manuel de l'EuroFIA
Reconversion Profesional del Bailarin: Manual de EuroFIA
Dancers' Career Transition: A EuroFIA Handbook - Russian version