Six dancers who made bold career pivots reflect on ballet’s transferrable skills, what they miss about the stage – and what they were glad to leave behind
Lana Jones, midwife, former principal dancer at the Australian Ballet
I loved taking the audience on a journey in ballet, pushing my body to its limits. But I knew I couldn’t dance for ever. After the birth of my son, I came back as a different person. Although I could add a beautiful vulnerability to my work, there was such a pull on my heart, missing out on time with him when he was little.
Even before finishing ballet, I knew I wanted to be a midwife and do something that wasn’t about me at all. My final performance was in 2018, in Cinderella; I was happy to finish but it was a big part of me that I was leaving on that stage. Still, I was looking forward to being a full-time mum – being just Lana and trying to find who I was without that ballet identity.
In the months that followed, I definitely missed my community. You’re just taken away from your whole network. And you have a bit of decision paralysis, because your whole life has been set out for you in dance. Within a year of retiring, I enrolled in a midwifery course at medical school. Starting university in my 30s was a whole new ball game. In my first lecture, there was everyone on their laptops and I’ve got my book and pen, writing everything down, freaking out.
