Graham Alexander left a Physics degree behind in order to become a contemporary dancer. We catch up with him in his second year of training….

When did you leave University and what have you been up to since?

I Graduated ’06 with a II.I in Physics. I already had a place at London Contemporary Dance School (aka The Place) and started there that September having spent the summer making some money to pay fees and rent and so on.

When did you decide to make dance more than a hobby?

In my second year at Oxford, I started to dance seriously. It was then that I realised that it meant too much to me not to give it my best shot. Like a lot of people, I don’t want to have any regrets and missing out on the opportunity to take dance further could have easily been something I regretted.

It was also because I was bored and frustrated with my course at the time which meant that I was convinced that a masters or postgrad in Physics wasn’t for me. Don’t get me wrong though, I still love Physics; I just don’t want to spend all my time doing Maths.

Dance inspires me, and the only other thing I was interested in was selling my soul to make a vast amount of money. So, it was quite a straightforward decision at the time.

How does training at the Place vary from your time as a student in Oxford?

Hugely. Massively. For a start, my life has a timetable, I know where I have to be from 9-6 every day and then go home and sleep. Plus they actually check I go to class, and our marks depend upon it; skipping class has to be done very carefully.

Academically its not as stringent and its rather strange working with people who haven’t already done a degree (I felt so old in my first year). But I work as hard as I did in my finals term all year round. The big thing is simply the exhaustion, physical and mental. It just isn’t possible to go clubbing midweek till 5am because you’ve got a ballet class at 830am and pirouetting whilst hungover is not fun. However, it can be hugely satisfying; its more fun to invite your friends to a dance performance than to invite them to a twenty minute presentation on nuclear power plants.

Also, and this is a huge thing, the government has been cost-cutting in the second degree market by making us pay our full fees and not allowing us to take any student loans (for fees or maintenance). As commercial loans are simply not viable so I work all day both days at the weekend and two or three nights a week. So going two months without a full day off isn’t unusual. But it is possible to make the money to do it with no extra loans. Just.

What are your next steps?

Big question. I’m going to finish my degree, but even that has been too close to call at times. I’m also going to apply for financial internships for the end of my third year so I can get a taste of that world. Then I want to spend a year maybe doing a bit of dancing and going to France to brush up my language and my skiing: essentially having a gap year to ‘find myself’. I suspect I’ll also use that time to firm up my applications to real jobs, probably in the finance sector.

Given the scarcity of work in the industry, how would you support yourself if you became a dancer?

This is the real root of why I’m not sure whether or not I will go into dance as a career. I know a lot of professional dancers and they have given me a good idea of what’s ahead. Most of the dance world now is freelancing. Contracts are measured in terms of weeks; at best you are employed for up to a couple of months at a time. In between times you still need to eat so you find other jobs.

That kind of lifestyle is similar to the way I live at the moment. I’m a weekend manager at Harrods, I’m an usher at a Sadler’s Wells (best job in the world – I get paid to watch the shows), I’m a freelance masseur and I mark exam papers for Edexcel in the summer.

A lot of my friends teach dance but most of them have graduated. There are a lot of jobs out there that are flexible enough to make it work but it’s hard and particularly it’s really hard to keep your physical form up to scratch while working full time. Also – for the guys – bear in mind that relatively few of the male professionals in the arts are likely to be fathering a family, and it is tough to make the reliable money you need for that.

Where do you see yourself in ten years, and what kind of lifestyle do you hope to be living?

Gone insane, masterminding a plot for world domination.

What are the most important questions someone should ask themselves if they are thinking of making the transition from an academic degree to a performance career?

You need to look at the industry – 90% of Equity members are employed within their art for less than 6 months a year. That’s hard. Especially when you need to remain at a high physical level all year round. Will power and talent go a long way, as well as knowing the right people but luck is in there too. With the funding situation, look at the one-year courses available or even go straight into auditions because experience counts a huge amount. More than anything talk to artists in the field and find out about how they live and how the arts world like is at the moment for the artist you want to become.

Also, think very carefully and critically about how good you are and how good you can become. I remember when I interviewed at LCDS one of my now ballet teachers said to me to think about whether dance was ‘my career or my passion’ and I think that’s relevant too. However, I would say that if you’re really passionate about it you should try it. The worst you can lose is a couple of years, and for that I have learnt so much about myself, how I like to work and live and about caring for my body. Next year I’ll have another degree, and full CV that speaks of commitment and hard work.