I have an enormous interest in dance and will be doing a degree in history at university starting later in the year. I would love to be a pro dancer but am aware that the competition is extremely high. does anyone know of any careers in dance that go well with a history degree? the only one i can think of is an archivist, but as far as i know only Rambert Dance Company has one of those.
can anyone help?

I would think that with enough research you could be a consultant for people wanting to do older forms of dance like baroque/court dance, there is a co. in NY that specializes Baroque ballet, and alot of operas have the style ballets in them. You could also be a dance history teacher
~K~

Museums and libraries might also want to take advantage of someone skilled and trained in dance and history. Special research, projects, patrons who need to do research, exhibits, and archiving and curating materials are just some of the things that come to mind.

Recently, the Performing Arts Library and Museum (PALM) in San Francisco, had a curated show and exhibit on Balanchine that was quite good. As an example.

Hey!

I have the same question. I know dance is physically very demanding and isn't a great long-term choice, but it is just so beautiful and I can't imagine life without it. Doug Fullington is a lecturer and historian for Pacific Northwest Ballet is Seattle, and he has some great things to say. I tried to job shadow him (it didn't work out logistically) and he is really open to students' questions. Go to www.pnb.org to contact him. HOpe that helps!

thanks for the link!
as i'm not doing a dance degree i don't know this but do a lot of dance degrees have dance history as part of it? i understand Matthew Bourne got into Laban because of his interest in the history of dance, so do dance school have specific lectures on the subject?

English National Ballet also have an archivist Alex - it turns out to be Jane Pritchard who also covers Rambert.

In answer to your other question, Laban has dance/ballet history as part of the degree courses and I imagine is it the same at the other colleges.

<small>[ 20 June 2004, 02:00 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

There are several postgraduate programmes which focus on dance, for example at UCR. With a degree in history and a strong interested in dance you should get into one of those programmes. Maybe you can also undertake a major project in the history of dance during your BA studies - ususally there are some courses which are more open for interdisciplinary studies. Then you can find out if you really like researching dance history. I am a fashion historian and specialised in ballet costumes for my MA dissertation. Just think out of the box!

thank you both for the advice, where is UCR? sorry i'm not familiar with that place! a dance history lecturer sounds quite fun, but i guess i'd really have to know my stuff to get a job doing that.

UCR is the University of California in Riverside. Positions as a dance history teacher is quite rare, in most cases you will need a PhD - but there are related field like performance studies which also explore theatre (including dance).