WP-update – Theme “Kourse DEV” (gdthemes/themeforest))

Hi,
I hope someone can give me some direction.
i don’t know how i could have missed an earlier reply in WP-support Forums, when my site crashed due to an update to 4.5. It was, for sure, a major disaster but the Kourse DEV Theme support (gdthemes) was also trying to assist.
This is where we now stand as of aug 29, 2016:
– The site is up and running and looks good.
– BUT Kourse DEV suppport, which we paid for, said then that the issue was with Visual Composer, and after digging deeper, they said they had to withdraw support. They couldn’t work with VC any longer.
– So, needing the site asap, we opted for going with the previous WP version.
– We still have a sight which we are nervous about keeping up to date. Afraid any changes, updates or additions will break it.
– Do you know of or have any record of the problems with VC and Kourse or other themes? I could find no other documentation on this issue.
– What are our options?
— Can we now safely update?
– i also hesitate to add plugins, like translation etc., that we very much need.
— Is Kourse still being maintained? If not, why is it still being presented as a theme option in WP?
— Can we upload our content into a similar theme?
— Which themes have a similar functionality?
thank you so much for your support!
cheers –
cathy