Newsletter März 2015

Greetings for the anniversary brochure and a barbeque for dance professionals

In August 2015, we will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Transition counseling office. To celebrate, we would like to invite all of the dancers we have advised to a big barbeque on Wednesday August 12th 2015! Today we would like to ask all dance professionals if they would be willing to support us with a short greeting or congratulations and/or a small donation. Your congratulations (maximum: 10 words) will then be published in our anniversary brochure along with your name (or anonymous if you wish); this brochure will be published in the fall of 2015. We would like to reminisce but also look ahead in this anniversary brochure. It will offer plenty of interesting information about our foundation’s work and the subject of transition. There will also be room for your greetings on a double page. Please send us your congratulations and greetings to heike.scharpff@stiftung-tanz.com or per mail to: Stiftung TANZ – Transition Zentrum Deutschland / Kollwitzstr. 64 / 10435 Berlin.
We welcome donations of any size, whether they be €20, €50 or €100. Bank data: IBAN: DE71100700000064978000
BIC: DEUTDEBBXXX
Deutsche Bank AG
You will receive a donation receipt in accordance with § 10b of the German income tax law as a matter of course.


New regulations at the “Bayerischen” in 2016

With the new revision of the special regulations for dance professionals at the Bayerischen Versorgungskammer für deutsche Bühnen that applies to ALL insurers, dancers can still receive a pay-out if they end their dance career between their 35th and 44th birthday. From 2016 onwards, dancers have to prove that they are taking part in a transition measure. It will not be examined how high the costs for this measure are, only if a further education program or a business start-up was begun. In addition, the complete pay-out can still be granted. A transition is re-training in a certified training career, studies at state universities, further education or business start-ups (this is all also possible abroad). From 2016, it is also possible to receive a partial pay-out. Then you can continue coverage on a voluntary basis and thus continue to build up a retirement fund during your second career (minimum dues: €12,50 per month).
Ballet directors, ballet masters, choreographers, trainers, ballet assistants and choreologists will no longer receive an early pay-out in 2016; they receive their dues as an additional pension upon reaching the age of 67. More at: Explanatory Note No.23 (English):
portal.versorgungskammer.de/por…


Benefits

On the occasion of our fifth anniversary, many additional benefit performances will take place such as a benefit gala at the Tanztheater Kassel on April 2nd 2015. We are especially happy that our board of trustees member John Neumeier has been invited by the Allianz Kulturstiftung to the ‚Pariser Platz der Kulturen’ in the Allianz Stiftungsforum at the Pariser Platz in Berlin on April 15th 2015 at 7 pm. The event is free of charge (unfortunately, reservations are not possible).
In the context of TanzArt-ostwest, the Tanzcompagnie Giessen will once again appeal for donations for the Stiftung Transition at the TanzArt Gala 2015 on May 23rd 2015. On June 6th 2015, the benefit event by the Dance Company Nanine Linning / Theater Heidelberg (Hieronymus B.) will follow, as will the Gauthier Dance Company on June 30th 2015 (KAMUYOT). In the fall, the Ballett Theater Augsburg and the Ballett des Nationaltheaters Mannheim will also both be active for our foundation.

Heartfelt thanks for the fantastic support!


Correspondence courses

For dancers who want to prepare themselves for a new career parallel to their dance career, a part-time evening correspondence course study program is a possibility. If you study in a field that has nothing to do with dance, then you must begin with a BA (full-time: three years, part-time up to six years). In Germany, the correspondence university Hagen is recommended. There you can study liberal arts, psychology, computer science, economics/ business and law. A BA study program costs between €1,400 and €2,000.
www.fernuni-hagen.de
Many vocational colleges also offer correspondence study programs, in both technical and social fields. You can find an overview at the following website:
www.zfh.de/fue…

If you prefer to study in English, you can register at the Open University in Great Britain. It offers a broad array of study programs from engineering to social sciences. A Stiftung TANZ fellowship student is very satisfied with his computer science courses at the Open University. Unfortunately, tuition is relatively high in Great Britain (approx. 15,000 pounds). See: www3.open.ac.uk/study/

Correspondence courses in Spain: UNED. More information: portal.uned.es
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, www.urjc.es

Correspondence courses in Italy: Consorzio Nettuno. More information:www.consorzionettuno.it

Correspondence courses in Portugal: Universidade Alberta. More information:www.uab.pt/web/guest/home

Correspondence courses in other countries: fernstudium-finden.de/fer…


Transition talk for dance scholarship recipients at the HZT Berlin

The dance scholarship recipients of the ‘Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes’ will meet from March 19th to 22nd 2015 for discussions at the HZT Berlin. On March 20th 2015 from 2:00 – 3:30 pm, Heike Scharpff from Stiftung TANZ will inform the dance students about Stiftung TANZ’s work and will offer important advice for the transition from a dance education to the professional dance world, as well as the transition after a dance career into a second career. Interested dancers are welcome to attend.


IOTPD Philippe Braunschweig Grant Awarded to Dancer Sébastien Thill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (Amsterdam – February 12, 2015) The International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers (IOTPD) is pleased to announce that the 2014 IOTPD Philippe Braunschweig Grant has been awarded to dancer Sébastien Thill. The annual € 3,000 competitive grant is given to a dancer at or near the end of their performance career to help defray the costs associated with retraining for a second profession.
Sebastien Thill is honored to be the first recipient of this international grant: “Thanks to the IOTPD Philippe Braunschweig Grant I will be able finish my course to become a GYROTONIC® Trainer, which is my desired transition after a dance career of 24 years”.
Mr. Thill’s aim is to help dancers have healthier bodies, with fewer injuries, so they can dance longer. Mr. Thill worked as soloist with the Paris Opera Ballet under the direction of Patrick Dupond and Brigitte Lefèvre, the Hamburg Ballet under John Neumeier, Patrick King’s Salon K as well as a guest dancer with several other European companies.
Elisabeth Platel, Director of the Paris Opera Ballet School, describes Sébastien as, “a beautiful dancer in both contemporary and classical dance”, while Patrick King calls him “an artist of sincere integrity… with a deep concern and curiosity as to how the body works and how it is used to create art. Mr. Thill has chosen GYROTONIC® as a way to go further in this direction”.
The application deadline for the 2015 IOTPD Philippe Braunschweig Grant is April 30, 2015. This grant, given to honor the IOTPD’s Founding President, is meant for professional dancers who have had an international career and who don’t qualify for transition support from any one of the countries where they have danced. Further details and the grant application are available through the IOTPD website www.iotpd.org


Master of Advanced Studies (MAS)

The University of Bern (Switzerland) offers the first Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) programme in Dance Science in Continental Europe. With its unique focus on Dance Science applied to different populations (e.g. children, generation 50 ,disabilities, as well as amateur and professional dancers), the MAS in Dance Science prepares graduates for a wide range of careers in the dance world.
Dance Science addresses training, lifestyle and performance of professional dancers as well as the effects of dance activities on different populations. With origins in sport science, dance science establishes a strong link between theory and practice.
The MAS in Dance Science allows dance professionals to pursue their degree whilst continuing to work. It is aimed at dancers, teachers, choreographers and artistic directors as well as allied health care specialists and scientists with an affinity for dance.
Duration of the programme is three years, with start in summer 2015, 2017, 2019.
The programme comprises three certificates from the University of Bern that can also be completed separately. Two certificates will be given at the University of Bern (Swit- zerland), and one hosted by tamed in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). The study language will be english. The costs are 41000,- € fort he first certificate and 4000,- Switzer Franks fort he second and third.
For more detailed information: www.dancescience.unibe.ch


Career future in a company (e.g., in the auto industry)

The diversity of products in our modern society is enormous; buyers and producers don’t necessarily always find one another in a targeted way. Precise marketing strategies that bring products and potential buyers together successfully are an important global guarantee for sales and also an image factor for businesses.
Dancers can offer many things for marketing that are important in this field but aren’t necessarily a matter of course: radiance and style, an aesthetic sense, sensitivity, flexibility, multiple languages and intercultural competence. For example, the internationally very successful German auto industry is searching for marketing talents and offers excellent potential for development. General information under the term auto sales agent can be found at the IHK in your respective home city; or you can get information directly from the companies themselves:
www.volkswagen.de;
www.mercedes-benz.de; and
www.bmw.de.

As a rule, the training to become an auto sales agent takes three years. But at some companies, Mercedes-Benz for example, you can qualify to become a certified auto sales agent within one year. The prerequisite for this founded, business-oriented compact education (in which multiple training modules must be absolved and you can attain the necessary skills and abilities of a successful sales agent step by step) is that you actually want to be active in their marketing department. This means that you enter into a contract with an option for a position at the beginning of your qualification courses. This not only opens up many career opportunities in the various departments of marketing and sales; it also offers financial security. You are employed during your training and so you can build up a reputation within the company. Applications with the reference to “one-year compact training to become an auto sales agent” are possible at any time and anywhere. Except for Berlin, one should speak directly to the branch directors, e.g. in Stuttgart, Munich, Cologne or Hamburg whether training can take place on site. Detailed information about training at Mercedes Benz Berlin is available from Katrin Poller: katrin.poller@daimler.com.
We are happy to give advice if you are interested or have specific questions on applying. Your partner at Stiftung TANZ is Andrea Thomas at: organisation@stiftung-tanz.com.

Sincerely,
Sabrina Sadowska, Heike Scharpff & Andrea Thomas