I am writing to congratulate you for your 'Critic's notebook' story 'I'm shocked at how soon dancers move on' (Guardian G2, 27.05.10), reproduced online as 'There is no sense of family in dance now' (Guardian Link), which I thought was both thought-provoking and timely.
In the body of your story you attribute the turnover of dancers between different companies to their wish to experiment with as wide a range of choreographers and techniques as possible, but it is your next sentence that really hits the nail on the head: "Factor in the current precariousness of their professional lives - the short-term contracts and minimal wages - and it's not surprising many feel they have to keep on the move to survive."
Here I believe you have touched upon what I consider to be one of the greater failings of the Arts Council, dance schools, impresarios, Equity and most arts journalists to properly address: the appalling levels of support for performing artists in general and dancers in particular.
I know this is a perennial problem - but why is it? In quoting Shobana Jeyasingh's example you seem to take her side in hinting that dancers move on from even the largest - or at least higher profile - companies even when they DO have some kind of contractual security (sic) - and that this is somehow the dancers' fault. I think this is most unfair.
Quite apart from the personal dynamics inherent in these situations, and the immense physical toll (and consequent burn-out) some choreographers exert upon their dancers, you appear to have forgotten that most dancers are schlepping round the UK and Europe at their own expense to attend one-off auditions or rehearse and perform one-off pieces not because this is what they want but because it is all that is on offer.
We mustn't forget that performing artists have to revalidate their worth every single day of their working lives in class and rehearsal and performance (with the added risk of injury haunting dancers). Does any real security - including a living wage, not just subsistence - exist for these essentially freelance performers? Of course not. Minimal wages? Any wage at all would be a bonus for most dancers. The assumption that they achieve even the national hourly minimum wage for long days of training, choreography, rehearsal and performance - while also paying for local digs - is just risible. And this quite apart from the awful manner some companies and choreographers treat dancers attending their auditions, particularly in continental Europe.
I am not saying it is your role as a dance critic to call for change - but I do believe it behoves you as an arts journalist to do so, just as I believe it incumbent upon Equity, the dance schools and supporting arts organisations to start to do something about it. You all base your careers upon writing about, training or otherwise supporting these extraordinarily hard-working individuals, yet appear to me to do very little to ensure they can pursue their careers in the same conditions you all do.
It would be nice to see such influential voices take up the 'equitable employment' cudgels on dancers' behalf. Shocked or not, you might have started the ball rolling with your story. Congratulations.
Regards,
Frank Landamore
