Passionate Work: Choreographing a Dance Career

For readers unfamiliar with the arduous, labor-intensive track from starry-eyed dance student to professional dancer (and the difficulty of sustaining such a career), sociologist Horowitz (New York Univ.; In the Public Interest: Medical Licensing and the Disciplinary Process) explores the realities of a life in dance and attempts to understand why anyone pursues this grueling path. Via a sociological approach and anonymous interviews with dancers, Horowitz demonstrates the commitment required to succeed in this art form and the precarious nature of that success. Note that the interview pool (mostly New York City dancers) is narrow in scope and focuses on ballet, with some acknowledgment of modern dance. The comparative neglect of other dance genres (for instance, one interviewee implies that Broadway, unlike classical dance, isn’t “art”) might be off-putting to readers. Audiences will primarily find here reinforcement of the image of dancers as starving artists.