Sara Buncic is the new director of our partner organisation “Danse Transition” in French-speaking Switzerland. Transition-Center SSUDK and Danse Transition will jointly offer a “SPEED-DATING Workshop” at Forum Tanz on 4 November 2022.

Sara, you are a dancer, choreographer, massage therapist and the new General Secretary of Danse Transition. Which of your career paths has shaped you the most?

These different career paths were chosen so that I could continue my activities as a dancer and young choreographer. Without even wanting to, each training and each work contract has served to enrich my knowledge in order to be able to carry out choreographic projects. Because that’s how it is: when you are a dancer and choreographer and you want to take your shows on tour, you have to know how to be an administrator, a distribution manager, a production manager, a human resources manager… you name it. I would therefore say that the profession that has formed me the most is dance.

What prompted you to take on the position of Secretary General of Danse Transition?

To tell you the truth, when I saw the ad for this position, I hesitated a lot. It seemed too administrative for my taste. Several events made me curious to know exactly what the job consisted of, and to my pleasant surprise, I realised that it was not just administration. I then realised that in front of me I had the opportunity to put all my experiences into practice, supporting people faced with the same problems that I was faced with during my career. Financial uncertainty, physical and mental fatigue, having to always be ready and fit to go on stage or sell your show, wounds that have no time to heal and finally the desire to do something else, but you think you have no other skills. At a time when physically I could no longer move the way I wanted to, I found a new way of dancing, a metaphorical one.

What is your vision, what do you want to achieve in this position?

It has always been important for me to make the profession of dancer and choreographer recognised, to make its reality known in the same way as one can know the profession of a nurse or worker. Dancing is not just a passion when you do it professionally, and the main actors in this profession must be able to pay their bills thanks to it. It is important for an employer who receives an application from a dancer in career transition to know that there are skills acquired that go beyond movement technique and that these skills will be useful to them because they will be dealing with someone who is dedicated to their craft with rigour, precision and who learns quickly.

In a nutshell, I would like, yes, to make this profession recognised by those who know little about it, but also to be there to reveal to these.and dancers how many other beautiful things to do and discover there are in the world by putting into practice the skills acquired during their careers. I would like to break the taboo around this issue because at the end of the day, there is nothing wrong with wanting to discover something else and find a new way to be happy.

The interview was conducted with Monika Gugganig.

Photo: Alizée Quinche