I bet a lot of people on this forum started skating as adults - way past age 7. Sure, most of us won't ever compete in the Olympics, nor earn a living at it, nor appear on TV. But that may not be the point. The original poster wants to do something she will enjoy. There isn't any reason the original poster can't enjoy skating and choreography. She said nothing about requiring it to be her sole source of support. Though with a dance background, it is entirely possible she could, as a skating coach. I just happened to see Jaya again a few days ago, and she said it was quite possible.
One of the things I suggested before - exercise choreography (e.g., for an aerobics instructor), is very easy to get into. I took a 5 day class at the University of Maryland, aimed at training group exercise instructors for their program. About one day of the class covered the basic principles of music and choreography - very likely the original poster knows more. My interest was injury prevention, so I didn't bother taking the test (it was mostly a paper test, on very basic exercise physiology) to receive a nationally recognized certification, but the instructor told me that if I was interested, I could easily teach exercise classes there. That was with zero prior background, and I'm not a "real" athlete.
Many other schools (including community colleges) offer similar classes. YMCA/YWCA offer their own classes, though I think their accreditation are only valid within those organizations. Etc.
Some of the most popular exercise classes use dance-style choreography. With the original poster's background in dance and choreography, she could likely get a job in that field after a week's worth of training.
There are zillions of dance studios, who take on dance teachers. There is a lot of turnover, and hence available positions, precisely because it is hard to make a good living it. A large part of what they do seems to be coming up with original choreography sequences. It sounds like she already has a lot of the background for that.
Again, quite a few skating rinks are willing to take reasonably good skaters, and use them to help teach Learn To Skate (or equivalent) classes. Yes, she would need a few years to get that good. (For example, when I checked a fair number of years ago, Mount Vernon Ice Rink, in Virginia, required skaters to be able to do everything in USFSA Basic Skills 1-8.) But once she starts leading classes, she can create choreography for in-class exercises - and create choreography routines for Basic Skills competitions. I assume the same is true for ISI lessons, beyond Free Style 1.
None of these are great ways to make a living, though reasonably successful and dedicated figure skating coaches sometimes can. But she might be able to enjoy doing choreography for all these things, and they would also look good on a resume or college Dance major application - or to people who train choreographers. As long as she has realistic expectations, there is no reason we know of that she can't do choreography at a semi-professional level, as part of these other things.
One of the things I suggested before - exercise choreography (e.g., for an aerobics instructor), is very easy to get into. I took a 5 day class at the University of Maryland, aimed at training group exercise instructors for their program. About one day of the class covered the basic principles of music and choreography - very likely the original poster knows more. My interest was injury prevention, so I didn't bother taking the test (it was mostly a paper test, on very basic exercise physiology) to receive a nationally recognized certification, but the instructor told me that if I was interested, I could easily teach exercise classes there. That was with zero prior background, and I'm not a "real" athlete.
Many other schools (including community colleges) offer similar classes. YMCA/YWCA offer their own classes, though I think their accreditation are only valid within those organizations. Etc.
Some of the most popular exercise classes use dance-style choreography. With the original poster's background in dance and choreography, she could likely get a job in that field after a week's worth of training.
There are zillions of dance studios, who take on dance teachers. There is a lot of turnover, and hence available positions, precisely because it is hard to make a good living it. A large part of what they do seems to be coming up with original choreography sequences. It sounds like she already has a lot of the background for that.
Again, quite a few skating rinks are willing to take reasonably good skaters, and use them to help teach Learn To Skate (or equivalent) classes. Yes, she would need a few years to get that good. (For example, when I checked a fair number of years ago, Mount Vernon Ice Rink, in Virginia, required skaters to be able to do everything in USFSA Basic Skills 1-8.) But once she starts leading classes, she can create choreography for in-class exercises - and create choreography routines for Basic Skills competitions. I assume the same is true for ISI lessons, beyond Free Style 1.
None of these are great ways to make a living, though reasonably successful and dedicated figure skating coaches sometimes can. But she might be able to enjoy doing choreography for all these things, and they would also look good on a resume or college Dance major application - or to people who train choreographers. As long as she has realistic expectations, there is no reason we know of that she can't do choreography at a semi-professional level, as part of these other things.
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