Abundance and Charity

So everyone’s been asking me, “Hey, you goin’ to the Sondheim concert at Avery Fisher on October 21?” To which I answer, “And I am telling you, I am not going.” Nothing against Sondheim. And it’s not just because I have heard each and every song that will be sung in this concert more times than the Weissman girls have walked down that staircase.

But there’s no place else on earth that I would rather be than Shall We Dance: A Dance Tribute to Richard Rodgers at 7pm that night at City Center. Now, you might say, “Umm, you’ve heard each and every song that will be performed there plenty of times, too — more than the number of miracles mentioned in Flower Drum Song.” Well, yes and no. Sure, I’ve seen maybe 10 “Slaughters on Tenth Avenue” and about quarante performances of the pas de deux from Carousel. But there’ll be a bit from “Ghost Town,” which I haven’t seen, nor has almost anyone else: It hasn’t been done in New York since Rodgers and Hart’s Higher and Higher was about to begin performances in 1940. The controversial “All Dark People” from Babes in Arms will be on the bill, too.

It’ll be fun to see host Bebe Neuwirth perform, as well as Sandy Duncan, LaChanze, Ann Reinking, Karen Ziemba, and dancers from the American Ballet Theater, Lar Lubovich, the San Francisco, Ohio, and New York ballet companies. But even they’re not why I’m attending. I want to support the organization that’s sponsoring this gala: Career Transition for Dancers. You might, too. Tickets are $40, $55, and $75, and are available by phoning 212-581-1212 or at www.CityCenter.org.

In A Chorus Line, Zach asks, “What do you do when you can’t dance anymore?” Bebe immediately answers, “Kill yourself.” Richie soon notes, “There’s no security in dancing. No promotions and no advancements. The only chorus line you can depend on is the one at unemployment.” Since 1985, though, that hasn’t been true — for that’s when Career Transition for Dancers started, taking its cue from a program that was already in place in London. Its mission: To let current and former professional dancers know their
career possibilities after dance and to provide resources necessary to help make those possibilities a reality. So a dancer who’s performing to the Legrand-Bergman song “What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life?” and is asking himself the same question now has an answer.

I spoke with Alex Dube, the organization’s executive director, who has the energy of Harold Hill and a devotion to his cause that eclipses Kim McAfee’s for Conrad Birdie. Dube began by saying, “All dancers in the business know their careers will someday come to an end. We’re their safety net to bridge the gap. They come here and, through counseling services and educational scholarship funds, they can start anew — free of charge. We’re here to help them start a dance school or do everything from accounting to
zoology. Advertising, architecture, dance education, fashion, filmmaking, firefighting, paramedic certification, theology, violin restoration — you name it. Several dancers I know have gone on to become vice presidents in corporations.” And that, honestly, was the first time he stopped to take a breath.

Not a big one, though. “Employers in the business world love dancers,” Dube continued. “They know they’re focused, fast learners who rarely get sick. They understand nutrition and wellness. They’re fast, methodical, and dedicated. Any employer should give his right arm to have a dancer. Edward Weston started this organization when he was the western regional director of Actors’ Equity. He got the unions together and they came up with seed money because he let them know we just had to do something for our professional dancers, because a dancer on average finds his career is over at 29-and-a-half. A professional dancing career starts at eight or 10 for most people. They’ve put their lives and education on hold and, at 29-and-a-half, it’s over! In that way, dancers are no different from athletes — except they don’t get big endorsement contracts. But we’ll help them if they’re at least 27 years old and can provide a chronology of employment, of professional employment of 100 or more weeks over 7 years or more. We do make exceptions for those who have been injured.”

Memories of Paul falling in A Chorus Line immediately came into my head. Granted, Career Transition for Dancers started 10 years too late for Paul’s 1975 fall, but at least it’s been around for all the Pauls since 1985. Yet, Dube was quick to remind me, even those who retire hale and hearty have their problems. “We have to address the psychological aspects of transition. Some people are in denial, some others just need the time to mourn the loss of their careers. Think of giving up what you’ve been doing since you’ve been a child: Walking in the door, looking at the schedule. What time is my orchestra rehearsal? My costume fitting? Then all of a sudden all that’s gone, and you have to refocus and realign. Now what am I going to do? There’s the fear factor in reaching the next step.”

But it’s not just tea and sympathy that the organization offers. “Last year,” said Dube, “we awarded 238 scholarship grants, totaling over $358,000 to help dancers pursue undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees as well as skill and vocational certificates. In 17 years, we have assisted more than 2,400 dancers nationwide to make successful new careers. We have awarded more than $1.7 million in scholarships and more than 30,000 hours of career counseling services.” So, friends: If we all skip the Sondheim show and attend Shall We Dance, they’ll have even more to distribute.

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[To contact Peter Filichia directly, e-mail him at pfilichia@aol.com]