Rethink, reskill, reboot. When is it time to call it a day ?

[Lifeafterballet]

[Lifeafterballet]

I keep seeing dancers sharing this on social media with anger 😡 I’m not sure if it is a genuine government advert but the question is something that has been floating around in our house for the past 6 months. Is there a future for ballet for our current grads ? I have two Dc in this predicament ☹️ 

[alison]

Is this part of Sunak's campaign to convince dancers (and other artistics) that their skills are redundant in the current crisis?

[meadowblythe]

while I don't have an almighty amount of faith in Mr Dowden ..

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-government-advert-ballet-dancer-retrain-it-cyber-oliver-dowden-b987403.html

 

 

[Peony]

Seen in the context that it was an old ad campaign that featured lots of different occupations I don’t think it’s offensive. If it’s been resurrected by the company recently then that is inappropriate. I’m not sure whether it’s been resurrected by the company or the press though? 

[balletbean]

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2020%2Foct%2F12%2Fballet-dancer-could-reskill-with-job-in-cyber-security-suggests-uk-government-ad%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0rPJAU2wiROd-ZhbAO-DFnQIfPZtezsFTZo_ucJ_6HFdPX6Vyt2zROozs&h=AT2sP_qppoplwgZ5bOlAZoVi0FI0jhtZ76rnCQlwPeJOgJH6wi6lZlYuyMSUOXh5069dvosJSni69kjmBsncUQX5tKHxh4adWDof6rwGhbQK-PHNzVdOU6HVAjATlac&s=1
 

This link expands on the insulting Gov poster. Hopefully it works 

My only comment to such a **** poster is that haven’t people within the cyber industry also been hit by unemployment/furlough schemes 🤦‍♀️

Edited October 12, 2020 by balletbean

[Jan McNulty]

I believe it is quite an old ad but the timing of its resurrection is appalling in the extreme.

[Ian Macmillan]

And be aware that discussion began earlier over here, in the News & Info area:

 

 

[Pas de Quatre]

It is selective editing of an old poster so to my mind that makes it manipulated fake news.

[FlexyNexy]

I believe this is old campaign from 2019, but why the pm would share it now on their Twitter? Sadly bad timing rather than intentionally aimed at performing art sector.

[Anon2]

1 hour ago, cotes du rhone ! said:

I keep seeing dancers sharing this on social media with anger 😡 I’m not sure if it is a genuine government advert but the question is something that has been floating around in our house for the past 6 months. Is there a future for ballet for our current grads ? I have two Dc in this predicament ☹️ 

My Dd made the decision to quit ballet a couple of years ago and follow a different path. She deferred her university place this academic year but we’ve had lots of conversations about those still in vocational training or auditioning for company contracts and how although her year isn’t as planned she does feel she is in a better place than her dance friends 

[joyofdance]

Lots of people have been saying that it is an old campaign however I have been searching and so far it appears to be a fairly recent one. Certainly post Covid 19. Does anyone have official information of it being a 2019 campaign? Regardless of it being a wider campaign its understandable that those in the arts are angry and clearly that has hit home as that particular picture has now been withdrawn. As someone with a daughter who has recently started to train at a full time dance college, I am happy for her to continue as the way things are going there will be job shortages in every industry. She may as well do what she loves while she is young. There is plenty of time to worry about the future. 

[Motomum]

1 hour ago, alison said:

Is this part of Sunak's campaign to convince dancers (and other artistics) that their skills are redundant in the current crisis?

The advert is Pre covid 

[joyofdance]

12 minutes ago, Motomum said:

The advert is Pre-covid 19

Sorry two posts same

 

Where does it say that the advert is pre Covid?

[Guest oncnp]

3 minutes ago, joyofdance said:

Where does it say that the advert is pre Covid?

 

Daily Mail (not the most reliable of sources in my experience) states:

 

But the promo is one of a series published in 2019 - before coronavirus - by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to encourage teenagers and young adults to consider a career in cyber security. 

Downing Street said the advertisement was part of a 'long-running campaign' but its timing was 'not acceptable'.

[Balletmum55]

I understand there were lots

of images of young people

in difference careers and it’s a 2019 or earlier campaign to retrain young people from many various backgrounds in cyber security work. 

[glowlight]

Here is a link to the BBC's article about this ad, which says that it is from an old campaign which has been recently resurrected.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54505841

 

I just love the quote from shadow mental health minister Dr Rosena Allin-Khan

 

"Fatima, you be you. Don't let anyone else tell you that you aren't good enough because you don't conform to their preconceived social norms."

[glowlight]

I have a friend who works in cybersecurity who is wondering whether it is too late for him to retrain as a dancer!!

[Pups_mum]

Whether it predates Covid or not, the timing of issuing/reissuing this is absolutely appalling.

And just when I think this government couldn't sink any lower I discover that I shouldn't be worried about my struggling year 13 because he is going to get a whole extra 3 weeks in school to catch up before his A levels. Well that should do the trick. Not. 

[balletbean]

Found this on FB.
Now I’m never one to advocate any physical response but if it happened to be whilst

en pointe executing a grand battement using the ‘box’ there could be some merit. 😉😂. Humour being the best form of defence at times like this. Hoping no one takes offence. 

[Pirouette]

It's not a hoax - it appeared as a sponsored ad by a company called 'QA Ltd' on several dancers' Facebook feeds over the weekend, so presumably it was a targeted ad as well. 

[Fiz]

22 minutes ago, balletbean said:

Found this on FB.
Now I’m never one to advocate any physical response but if it happened to be whilst

en pointe executing a grand battement using the ‘box’ there could be some merit. 😉😂. Humour being the best form of defence at times like this. Hoping no one takes offence. 

Ha ha! 

[Jan McNulty]

Some of the memes on FB and twitter are hilarious but probably too political to be published here.

[Melody]

Not living in the UK I didn't realise this was an old ad that's been resurrected so I'm a bit less furious than I was when I saw it, but even so, it seems to be very tone deaf. It's just sad when someone who's been training for a vocation for years and years is blithely told to go and do "something" in cyber. When we were in Florida two or three years ago, a golf pro was telling us that he's having to give up his job to go and be a computer repairman because Florida was overpopulated with golf courses; it seemed like such a waste.  

Edited October 13, 2020 by Melody

[Guest oncnp]

If you can stand any more, a humorous take from the Guardian

 

 https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/oct/13/dying-swan-or-lame-duck-why-fatima-the-ballerinas-next-job-was-tripping-up-the-government

[Pas de Quatre]

The trouble is, even in the good times, there are far more people aspiring and training for careers in the Arts than there are jobs.  Every decent vocational dance school I know emphasises to pupils that you must have plan B.  You may not make the cut, you may get injured, or simply preparing for a second career after performing.  

[Melody]

Ricky Gervais has weighed in on Twitter. 

 

[trog]

Some quotes from the twittersphere

 

"Takes, on average, a decade or more to become a professional ballet dancer. About the same as it takes to qualify as a GP. Not a real job though, is it? Get behind a desk, Fatima" @wbuxtonofficial

 

"TBH, if ballerina Fatima DOES end up crushing all her dreams to work in Cyber, I hope she's the one who notices they're using a version of Excel from 2003 and that it will stuff up the whole trace-and-trace campaign" @caitlinmoran

 

"TERMINATOR : PAS DE DEUX The Terminator is sent back in time to save a troubled production of Swan Lake. He MUST stop Fatima leaving and accidentally founding Skynet - but can he fix her fouettés in time for first night without blowing up the Opera House?" @PiersTorday

[NJH]

22 hours ago, cotes du rhone ! said:

I keep seeing dancers sharing this on social media with anger 😡 I’m not sure if it is a genuine government advert but the question is something that has been floating around in our house for the past 6 months. Is there a future for ballet for our current grads ? I have two Dc in this predicament ☹️ 

It's not a ' Genuine Government  advert' in the sense that some are implying it is - it also seems to be being shared without the logo of the training provider  on it  ( which is how I first  saw it over the weekend - so it looks like  someone at the training provider  decided  it was a good tiem to run the whole 

It's one of a series of adverts produced  for a private training provider  who  have  HMG  'Cyber First' training accreditation 

It's one of a series of adverts , some of which are reportedly new , others of which have been around  for a while  

 the graduating classes of 2020 and 2021 are  going to be hit  hardest by this all  as  the new norma  for the next coupel of years is going to limit   growth ( or even replacement  ) or  company numbers. 

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by NJH

[NJH]

17 hours ago, Pirouette said:

It's not a hoax - it appeared as a sponsored ad by a company called 'QA Ltd' on several dancers' Facebook feeds over the weekend, so presumably it was a targeted ad as well. 

 that's how SEO and the like  works   

also how  the ads eserved up to you on different sites  are tailored to you  dependong on your settings 

i can go on various sites and there;aa  pretty good chance the  adverts served up to me will be either for dance stuff or radio stuff  even if the site  has nothing to do with  either 

[Peony]

it takes much longer than 10 years to become a GP
Ballet along with many, many other choices takes dedication, hard work, sacrifice, vocation, talent, commitment. The answer is not to denigrate other paths, all are very valid and useful to society. I expect some dancers do at some point decide they actively want a change (not just through necessity) and we shouldn’t see that as a failure. There’s nothing inherently better or worse about ballet or ‘Cyber’. Of course this was bad timing as we have the current situation that many dancers are unable to work despite having the talent and will to do so

[NJH]

1 minute ago, Peony said:

it takes much longer than 10 years to become a GP
Ballet along with many, many other choices takes dedication, hard work, sacrifice, vocation, talent, commitment. The answer is not to denigrate other paths, all are very valid and useful to society. I expect some dancers do at some point decide they actively want a change (not just through necessity) and we shouldn’t see that as a failure. There’s nothing inherently better or worse about ballet or ‘Cyber’. Of course this was bad timing as we have the current situation that many dancers are unable to work despite having the talent and will to do so

 5 years medical school,  2 years foundation  3 years GPVTS = 10 years   so the minimum   to  get  a GPCCT is  10 years  it ignores intercalation at medical school, taking an 'f3 ' year  and any time  spent  in other specialities to collect the skills  and knowledge to sit  the  extra  qualifications that GPs often get (e.g. DRCOG etc )

[Peony]

It depends at what point you start counting it I guess!