Angel Corella's New Company

Meryl Cates | Aug 01, 2008 | 0

Starting at a young age we were always told to plan ahead, and it seems that dancers today are doing just that.  ABT's Angel Corella is about to premiere his new ballet company, Corella Ballet.  With 70 dancers set to perform their debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid, they are just one of the many companies emerging from a new trend in the dance world.

Dancers are looking towards their futures now more than ever, as they begin to ask themselves what will they do after they can no longer dance.  Many seasoned professionals seem to be planning their next move before their career even approaches its final few years.  Either starting up a brand new company or negotiating director positions with already established ones, their goal seems to be a seamless transition into whatever comes next.

While in the past many dancers went on to become teachers and choreographers, it did not seem as carefully orchestrated as the dancers of today.  The new trend seems to be leaning towards creating or directing companies. Very shortly after retiring, within a month, Peter Boal of New York City Ballet went on to be the Artistic Director of Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2005.  This past July, City Ballet's Nikolaj Hubbe became Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Ballet after leaving NYCB in the spring season.  These speedy transitions suggest some serious planning, although both these dancers waited until they retired.

What is new and somewhat refreshing is the multi-tasking of dancers who create companies while still dancing in major companies themselves.  As we all can guess, not only does this exercise another part of their creativity, but also makes for smooth sailing when they do decide to retire.  Corella is not the only ABT dancer to do this, Julio Bocca also created his own company Ballet Argentino.  Female dancers, like Wendy Whelan of New York City Ballet, have also expressed interest in becoming artistic directors one day.  While these are surely not the only examples, it is an interest development in post-performing life.

Younger dancers are also using other talents that might parlay into career choices and possibilities, like photography, which present another outlet to explore.

With these new options, perhaps, we are moving towards a time when dancing, performing, or working in the arts in general, is not so risky a career path.  Or at least only as risky as we'd like it to be, because let's face it, that will always be part of the allure.

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Ballet, Performance, Company, Retiring (all tags)