10 Things That Need To Happen In 2008
Feature Article || Wednesday, 2 January, 2008
by Michelle Lefevre
2008 is under way, it's cold, it's wet and it's miserable so let's cheer ourselves up by making some demands with a list of the ten things that really need to happen in dance this year so when we write the end of year review we don't have to copy and paste the last one!
1. ACE needs to support DanceUK's National Centre for Dance Health and Performance.
This project will not only provide research into dancer's injuries, treatment and recovery but also complete health coverage for a hundred professional dancers at no cost to the dancers themselves. Although ACE should fund, in full, health insurance for every dancer connected to a funded project this is a good start and the paltry sum of money that it will cost, approximately £380,000 for the pilot, is less than 1/20th of the funding provided to Birmingham Royal Ballet every year.
Dancer's health care needs to be taken seriously. DanceUK have also pointed out that providing health insurance to 830 professional dancers would cost just £400,000 per year. A small price to pay for securing the physical well being of the folks that do the hardest job in this business.
2. Dancer's pay needs to get real.
£350 per week is ludicrous and we need to stop pretending that it's not. Even for a recently graduated professional that sum of money is unintentionally hilarious. Being a professional dancer is a real job that requires real skill and real work to do well so its about time those things are recognised. The dance companies know that the pay levels are terrible, if they don't they need to wake up, but they have to work within the constraints of funding applications.
ACE can't recommend pay levels for legal reasons so the Department for Culture Media and Sport needs to get into this and sort it out. We also need experience to be recognised, as it is in all other professions, so a dancer with ten years in the job needs to earn more than a dancer with two years in the job, the arithmetic is very simple.
3. A touring structure for new companies.
Dance Touring Partnership for the new guys is what's needed. It shouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility for a dozen or so small to medium scale venues to put their heads together and come up with a touring package for new companies so they can show the public at large what they are made of. Resolution is all well and good but that's in London and the vast majority of people in the UK don't live there.
Theatres can put on some of the best new work out there, the public gets a taste of what the new dance makers have to offer and the companies get valuable touring experience and exposure. The only down side we can think of is that it will cost money but if the arts can afford to spend millions on buildings then it can afford to spend some money actually showing art to people.
4. Dance companies need to actually embrace new technology, not just pretend they do!
Setting up MySpace pages, YouTube accounts and Facebook profiles is doing it the lazy way. Dance companies need high quality websites, top notch video and photo work (both online and off line), regular content updates, blogs, good writing and a whole lot more. It's easy to make excuses about why they don't have these things but 2008 is going to be a year of action, not excuses. If you're a dance company and you don't know how to get this stuff just ask.
Start by asking us, here in TheLab™, and take it from there. None of this is rocket science. If using the internet and new technology is not folded in to your promotion, communication and production plans then you're going to get left behind by the rest of the world and it's not like dance is at the cutting edge right now!
5. Dance bloggers need to write about stuff that's real.
Holiday's in the Hamptons, virtual dance performances and photo albums are all well and good but dance is a complex art form and a lot of substantive stuff is getting missed. We like the trivia, the photos and the dance tech (sort of) as much as anybody but there are a lot of subjects absent from the current crop of dance blogs. Where is the writing about politics, funding, touring, health, technique, rehearsal, class, pay levels, job security, finding work, keeping work, etc, etc? Article19 has written before about dance blogs painting too pretty a picture of dance and ignoring the problems, Writing about the positive stuff is important but so is highlighting the issues.
6. National Dance Agencies need to work together more.
We are fortunate in the UK that we have National Dance Agencies (NDA) at all but there is little evidence that they are working together to present a coherent message about dance to the general public or distribute key information to professional dancers. To demonstrate their ability to co-operate they could set up nationally synchronised audition and performance listings on their respective websites. It's a small step, easy to accomplish and would cost absolutely nothing.
7. Arts Council England needs to open up.
More than once last year ACE denied Freedom of Information requests from us for reasons past understanding, preferring secrecy over accountability and transparency. Often times ACE was hiding communications between themselves and their clients and adopted some very "BushCo." language to justify their reasoning. Instead of going down the same path as the White House and the outgoing Bush administration the funding monolith would better serve the public and the arts by laying off the spin. Mistakes and poor policy decisions are not capital crimes. Yes, the arts media, such as it is, will deliver a sound thrashing when necessary but that's all part of getting better at what you do. When shortcoming are highlighted and discussed it enables you to make smarter decisions.
8. Fair play at Auditions.
When dance companies have auditions they must be, without exception, fair, well organised, well planned and not held in secret locations. Dancers should be told within 48 hours if they have the job or not and if you (the choreographer) really want to give the work to a dancer you already know then just do that. Holding a pretend audition just wastes everybody's time and money and pisses people off. Dance makers should also take responsibility for the health and well being of people in their audition. Faux disclaimers are not good enough.
9. Dance reality shows need to go.
The press release stenographers at Londondance.com are always getting themselves worked up about these shows but the reality (pardon the pun) is that they do nothing more than provide crass entertainment for people with very little imagination. The celebrity detritus that populate these programmes have done nothing to earn the exposure they receive while far more talented "professional" dancers and dance makers are being ignored by the main stream media. Enough with the pandering to the lowest common denominator.
10. The Ballet Boyz/George Piper Dances need to stop.
Nuff said!
[ Top Image by John Kounadeas ]
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