Giselle Poncet trained on the Gold Coast in Australia before accepting a scholarship to the School of the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier and moving to Germany at age 16. After graduating, she danced for the Vienna State Opera Ballet, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Slovak National Ballet, and was a soloist at Regensburg Ballet, Coburg Ballet, Magdeburg Ballet, Ballet Linz and Lüneburg Ballet. Giselle has performed classics including The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty, as well as numerous contemporary works, some created for her. Giselle has been teaching dance for 14 years alongside her career. In 2018 she returned home to Australia, and is now a qualified aged and disability support care worker and also teaches for several dance schools on the Gold Coast.
You had a long and diverse dance career and are now a support care worker in the aged and disability support sectors. How did you recognize your interest in this new career path possibility?
Giselle Poncet: My mum used to own a medical centre, and the plan was for me to become the manager when I retired from dance. However, she closed it down before I retired, so the plan had to change. Around the same time, my grandmother was diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's. My mother and I decided to take an aged care course; that way, we’d know how to best look after her and provide support. Since I was seeking a new career anyway, it seemed like a good transition.
The aged care sector constantly needs workers as almost everyone gets old, so it's not a career that will end quickly. There’s a lot of people out there who need the help. My grandmother pretty much became our first client, and from there, both my mum and I transitioned into support work - we got to do it together. On top of that, I've always liked spending time with older people as they have so many stories to tell.
How was the process of leaving the stage, both emotionally and logistically?
Giselle: It involved some personal factors; I got married and we decided to start a family. I discovered I was pregnant in May 2018 and informed my director about my decision to leave and return home. My plan was always to stop dancing after having kids. I know many people continue, but I really wanted to have time to be available for my children, to not miss out on putting them to bed because of performances, for example.
Once I’d made that decision to start a family, my mindset had already shifted. I was happy to be leaving the stage and moving on to the next venture. People continue to ask why I didn’t want to go back to dancing afterwards, but mainly I wanted to have that time to be with my children. Also, I had performed many different roles, travelled extensively, and spent 15 years abroad. Though there are things I wish I'd performed, I felt fulfilled and content with what I'd accomplished.
Did you always know you wanted to return to Australia after your dance career?
Giselle: My decision was largely influenced by my relationship - I had an Australian partner who came overseas with me. Together, we decided to move back to be close to our families and raise our children.
However, that relationship ended, but I still wanted my children to grow up in Australia. I had missed so much about Australia while in Europe - the warmth, the weather, the beaches. I might have stayed abroad if I had found the right person, as I enjoyed the lifestyle in Europe. But it was always somewhat in the back of my mind that I might come back.
...the best way to plan ahead is to know that change is coming. Embrace the fact that you get to have a second career.
What was your retraining process like? What qualifications were required and how did you fund it?
Giselle: I completed a Certificate 3 in Individual Support from ACE Community College, specialising in aged care and disability. The structure required us to attend classes for five to six hours, two or three days a week. We also needed to complete 120 practical hours at a nursing home. I volunteered at an aged care facility, mainly in the dementia care unit, known as the most demanding. This particular course was intense, lasting three to four months - it was quite fast-tracked. The cost was relatively low. Since I had not obtained any similar certification previously, Centrelink [social security] partially covered it.
The course fee was around AUD 1,500 and the entry requirements included a Year 10 high school education. Other prerequisites like first aid, CPR, and a police clearance were not needed to start the course but are necessary to work in the field.
When I retired, my plan was to access my German pension payout. However, I retired a year too early for that, so I couldn't access those funds. My mum ended up financing the course for me.
How has your dance career prepared you for your current professional life?
Giselle: I think it’s the discipline and work ethic that dance teaches you. Also, the creative, hands-on side of dance is useful in terms of trying to find different ways to assist your clients and help make their lives better. Patience and discipline are really helpful for doing unpredictable things like showering clients, where you never really know how it's going to go and you need to be able to handle those situations. Or I might have clients who are very forgetful or unkind, or maybe have some behavioural issues, and I have to know how to deal with that professionally - that’s where patience comes in handy.
Also, the ability we gain as dancers to be able to handle rejection and negative situations has helped me. You can get turned down for care jobs if it doesn’t “click”, especially if you work independently, and if you work in a care home, you might have to manage clients who really don’t like you, and that’s just how it is.
I’m a very social person, and a dance career often means that you are in touch with different people and cultures and need to adapt to that. This really helps with being able to converse and engage with different clients.
You work as a ballet teacher alongside this work. Do you find that any of your skills overlap?
Giselle: Yes, some skills definitely do, like sociability, patience, and the ability to explain things. For example, in ballet I explain the steps, and in aged care and disability support, sometimes I have to explain how to perform certain tasks and provide a lot of guidance. So the two roles kind of link together.
Aside from patience and discipline, what are the main qualities required in a support care worker?
Giselle: Punctuality is important. One needs to be able to stick to a routine and be okay with a lot of repetition. Good social skills are important, as is maintaining a positive, optimistic attitude - especially when you need to help clients care for themselves. Motivation and the ability to motivate others is useful, especially when working with mental health patients who might not want to do certain things for themselves; it’s your job to help them see the benefits of this and to try to lift their spirits. Sometimes using one’s creative side can also help find ways to lighten the mood or bring storytelling into the mix.
Also, you need to be fit for the job. Sometimes, you’re on your feet for the entire shift and you have to manoeuvre clients and their mobility devices around. There’s also a lot of bending and squatting which is needed for showering, toileting, and getting clients in and out of chairs and vehicles.
...the creative, hands-on side of dance is useful in terms of trying to find different ways to assist your clients and help make their lives better.
Can you walk me through a typical workday for you, if such a thing exists?
Giselle: I’ll give you an example from last year when my days involved a mix of care work and teaching: I would start my day by organising the kids and taking them to their babysitters or daycare, and then I would go to my support job, which lasted five hours.
At this job, I would help with various tasks such as household chores and grocery shopping. For this particular client, helping with personal care was not necessary - it was mainly things like appointments, shopping, going for walks and occasionally cooking. We even included some dancing in our routine. I’d help him with his management skills; we’d look for jobs and work on his resume as well.
When I finished my support job, I would race home, change clothes, and head to my dance teaching job in the afternoon. In the evening, I would come home to make dinner, bathe the kids, and put them to bed. On days without support work, I would just go to my teaching job. I try to arrange my schedule to do support work during the day and teach in the afternoon. I don’t really take on afternoon clients as it doesn’t fit with my schedule. There are some clients who require overnight stays, for example, but that’s not in my capacity.
You work independently right now. What are the differences between being your own autonomous boss and working as a ballet company member under a director?
Giselle: I guess you’ve got to try to take on the role of director for yourself - you’re not being told exactly what you’ve got to do. You have to come up with your own ideas. I have to guide myself, organise my own schedule, plan what to do with a client, and manage my own time.
I like being my own boss, though I also flourished in a structured company environment as I always picked things up quickly. Now, I need to prepare everything myself, which does take more time to organise. It’s similar to a director's role in managing their employees, but for myself. I like both sides of it.
There are additional responsibilities like managing invoices, but once you’ve done it a few times, it just becomes routine; us dancers pick things up quite quickly and easily. It’s not difficult, it’s just about learning and adjusting.
The difficulty in my transition was that I was used to how bureaucracy worked overseas, and when I came back, I had to learn a different system. But my mum was always a good businesswoman, so she helped me learn about things like invoicing and taxes. I would say that having those business skills definitely comes in handy when working independently.
Did you have any fears about moving on to a different career? Why do you think these feelings are so prevalent in dancers?
Giselle: I think it's because those who pursue careers in dance genuinely love it. We don’t do it because it’s going to make us rich. So I think it’s daunting to need to make the change from something that you absolutely love to something that you might not potentially love as much, or that you are doing more to provide for yourself and your family.
Also, the part that might get people down is that we transition from such a physically demanding job into something that might involve sitting behind a desk or in a car a lot, and not getting that adrenaline anymore. That can be difficult to adjust to. As a dancer, you understand there's a cutoff period - you enter the profession knowing you'll need a second career. I think the best way to plan ahead is to know that change is coming. Embrace the fact that you get to have a second career.
Even if your new career might not be as inherently fulfilling as dance was, look for something that’s still going to bring you joy, as you still have decades of working life to cover once you retire from dance. I love teaching, so I’m lucky to have that. I also love socialising, which is a big part of caring for the elderly and disabled. There are so many amazing people out there to meet.
It took me a little while to figure out what I wanted to do. I explored real estate as well as the aged care course when I got back to Australia (I studied real estate while I was breastfeeding my daughter), but it’s a hard field to break into. I also thought working in childcare might be an option for me, but that changed once I had children myself.
Ultimately, I wanted something that was going to be easier than finding dance jobs, something where there was a lot of opportunity, and something that was going to pay well enough that I wouldn’t have to work full time. Now, I only really need to work part time to be able to manage a full salary, which is a bonus.
So to answer your question, the fear is there because dancers have to let go of what they love and change is always difficult. Preparing your mind for the change doesn’t take away that fear, but it can definitely help.
Do you have any other advice for dancers who are considering a career transition or are about to embark on this journey?
Giselle: Try and find something you’re passionate about, because you have to do it for a long time. Try to keep the physical side up - from my experience and discussions with physiotherapists and chiropractors, without the adrenaline from performing, my energy often dips. Keeping active can help manage the depression and anxiety that often come with a career change.
Find something where you’re appreciated and respected, perhaps something that doesn’t involve quite as much rejection, because we’ve all had to deal with that enough. You still want to do something you enjoy, where you don’t have to work ridiculous hours for a decent paycheck. There are things out there that can give you a good life after dance. It’s not ever going to be the same, but your dance background can help guide your future.
Top image by Andreas Tamme
