LEAP - Leading Edge After Performance

LEAP – Leading Edge After Performance is an innovative initiative bringing the dance and sport communities together in a collaborative partnership to explore career and life transition issues specific to their unique constituents: high performance athletes and professional dancers. This initiative will enable the sectors to share knowledge, best practices and networks and provide a platform for dialogue and future strategic partnerships. Athletes’ and dancers’ physical and mental pursuits of excellence are consuming and relentless; theirs is a precarious existence that requires singular focus. A debilitating injury or an aging body no longer able to cope with the demands of training precipitates a significant transition in the life of an athlete and dancer. Dancers and athletes share strikingly similar issues and challenges in their career and life transitions. Personal identity tied to profession, loss of community/team mates and mental health well-being are just some of the challenges that athletes and dancers navigate in their transition from high performance. LEAP is a pioneering partnership between Dancer Transition Resource Centre (DTRC) and Canadian Sport Institute Ontario(CSIO). Our non-profit project began in January, 2015 and is funded by Ontario Trillium Foundation over the next 3 years.