sophie ammann ma dissertation
TRANSCRIPT
Northumbria University
Department of Arts
Masters Dissertation
How the Creative Economy is affecting creative
practitioners, in particular freelance dancers:
Freedom and constraints in Freelancing
By
Sophie Ammann
Student number: 13034954
27th August 2015
Word count: 17’235
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
award of:
MA Cultural Management
Declaration of Originality
I, Sophie Ammann, hereby declare that this dissertation is my own original work.
None of the material has been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma
at any university or other institute of tertiary education.
Information derived from the published and unpublished work of others has been
acknowledged in the text and a list of references is given in the bibliography.
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Abstract
Creativity is taking the world by storm in this new Creative Age, from urban
regeneration programmes to structural reorganisations of work models in which self-
employment is on the rise. It appears that imagination and independence are now
highly valued in a professional world that has become increasingly precarious and
struggles to provide stable and life-long employment. Portfolio-work is seen as an
acceptable way to an identity-enhancing career.
The professional environments of artists, in particular of freelance dancers, have had
to adapt to this shift: the precarity of their situation is manifold, ranging from physical,
through emotional, to financial. This dissertation explores the reasons for the
changes in the professional environment of freelance dancers, and how dance artists
themselves perceive their situation and profession, focusing on the situation in
Switzerland, with reference to the situations in France and Britain; through qualitative
and quantitative research, underpinned with appropriate literature, the author seeks
to illustrate how dance artists are coping with this new creative economy. The results
point to the conclusion that freelancing can offer much freedom, if dancers manage
to deal with the constraints.
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Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Jennifer Hinves, for her guidance and
support throughout this dissertation.
I would also like to thank Céline, Sonia and Séverine for their help in sharing my
surveys and providing me with precious information sources. A special thanks to
Sarah, Tamara and Mélanie – your continued support and advice were decisive for
the completion of this dissertation.
Thank you also to Carla and Melina – it was a great pleasure to discover your
thoughts about dance, which are still inspiring me today.
I would also like to thank all the survey participants who took the time to complete my
survey and opened themselves up to me. It was a privilege to read your thoughts,
one which I feel very much the richer for now.
A special mention to Erin and Rosanne – it was our adventure that inspired this work!
Thank you also to Arianne, for her precious wisdom and encouragement in this new
territory, and to Lachlan, Lucy, Anna and Aurélie, for their continued support
throughout my studies.
Finally, I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to Marc and my parents for
their constant support and belief in me during my studies and life projects, and for
encouraging me to be the best I could be.
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Table of contents
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1
2 Literature review: Creative Practitioners in the Creative Economy ........................ 4
2.1 The value of knowledge, information and creativity in today’s economy and
society ............................................................................................................. 4
2.2 A definition of creativity .................................................................................... 6
2.3 Creative Industries in the context of a Creative Society and Economy ........... 7
2.4 The status of artists in the Creative Age and its influence on their
professional identity ....................................................................................... 13
2.5 Is Art real work? ............................................................................................. 14
2.6 The Instrumentalisation of the Arts ................................................................ 16
2.7 The paradoxal market of Art .......................................................................... 17
2.8 Artists and their professional identity ............................................................. 21
3 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 24
4 Dancers and their profession ............................................................................... 31
4.1 Demographics ............................................................................................... 31
4.2 Dancers’ professional identities: how dancers perceive and value their
profession and its environment ...................................................................... 35
4.3 Vocation and Values ...................................................................................... 37
4.3.1 Freelancing, a path to diverse experiences and sharing ......................... 41
4.3.2 The FREE in Freelancing ........................................................................ 42
4.4 The difficulties that have an impact on a dancer’s professional identity ........ 47
4.4.1 The multiple aspects of instability ............................................................ 47
4.4.2 Uncertainty in freelance dance careers ................................................... 50
4.4.3 The other side of the coin ........................................................................ 55
4.4.4 The power of the dancer-choreographer relationship on freelance
dancers’ professional identities .......................................................................... 57
4.5 Breaking through stigma – how freelancing can empower dancers instead
of hinder them ................................................................................................ 59
5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 65
6 Bibliography .......................................................................................................... 68
7 Appendices ........................................................................................................... 78
7.1 An insight into a dancer’s life ......................................................................... 78
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7.1.1 The difference between classical and contemporary dance .................... 78
7.1.2 Dance education ...................................................................................... 80
7.1.3 Freelance dancers’ daily routine .............................................................. 81
7.1.4 The reinforcement of vocation through onstage experiences .................. 83
7.1.5 Injuries and physical precarity ................................................................. 84
7.1.6 Auditions .................................................................................................. 85
7.1.7 Fringe Festival Organisation .................................................................... 86
7.2 Survey questions (English) ............................................................................ 88
7.2.1 Professional dancer surveys ................................................................... 88
7.2.2 Student dancer surveys ........................................................................... 93
7.3 Thematic organisation of collected qualitative data ....................................... 97
7.3.1 Overview of themes ................................................................................. 97
7.3.2 Collected Data ......................................................................................... 99
7.4 Quantitative research results ....................................................................... 119
7.4.1 Professional dancer survey results ........................................................ 119
7.4.2 Student dancer survey results ............................................................... 130
7.5 Accompanying text ...................................................................................... 135
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Table of figures
Figure 4.1: Age of survey participants ....................................................................... 32
Figure 4.2: Countries of residence of survey participants .......................................... 33
Figure 4.3 Countries in which participants had been or currently were
professionally active ........................................................................................... 33
Figure 4.4 Years of professional activity in survey participants ................................. 34
Figure 4.5 Thematic Map of Freelance Dancers' Professional Identities .................. 37
Figure 4.6 Dance: a vocational profession ................................................................ 38
Figure 4.7 Reasons why participants dance .............................................................. 38
Figure 4.8 The importance of ‘calling’ in pursuing a professional dance career ........ 40
Figure 4.9 Dancers value the independence of freelancing ...................................... 42
Figure 4.10 Importance of financial remuneration in accepting a dance contract ..... 44
Figure 4.11 Percentage of responses for the question ‘If you don't work on the
creation of personal projects, would you be interested to do so?’ ...................... 45
Figure 4.12 Freelance dancers struggle with staying in shape .................................. 49
Figure 4.13 Ways in which freelance dancers stay in shape ..................................... 49
Figure 4.14 How dancers perceive the competitiveness during auditions ................. 51
Figure 4.15 Answers to the question ‘Generally, would you say you enjoy
auditions?’ .......................................................................................................... 52
Figure 4.16 Freelance dancing is a dual career ........................................................ 56
Figure 4.17 Dance students' answer shows openness towards freelance careers ... 62
Figure 7.1 The five positions of classical ballet ......................................................... 78
Figure 7.2 Movement material is often the result of a collaboration between
dancers and choreographer ............................................................................... 82
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List of abbreviations
AI: Disability Insurance (Assurance Invalidité)
AVDC: Association Vaudoise de Danse Contemporaine
CFC: Federal Certificate of Capacity (Certificat Fédéral de Capacité)
DCMS: Department for Culture, Media and Sport (UK)
DS: Danse Suisse
GT: Grounded Theory
HEI: Higher Education Institute
IOTPD: International Organisation for the Transition of Professional Dancers
IPA: Interpretative Phenomenological Approach
RDP: Reconversion des Danseurs Professionnels
RP: Rencontres Professionnelles de danses – Genève
TA: Thematic Analysis
UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
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1 Introduction
Creativity in all its forms is currently influencing our society, economy and culture.
Authors such as Leadbeater (2009), Florida (2002a) and Menger (2002) agree that
creativity is now a driving force in the current economy, shaping professional markets
and contributing to important shifts in our understanding of work. From an industrial
age, we have transitioned into an economy that values intangible goods, and in
which the Creative Industries are being celebrated for their power of culture-led
urban regeneration. This creative economy and the development of technologies
have contributed to a structural reorganisation of work models: self-employment is on
the rise, not least because entrepreneurial values are increasingly fostered by a
culture that extols the merits of independence and imagination.
Yet when creativity is mentioned, this usually brings to mind artistic activity. Creativity
is hailed as an economic motor, even though the arts are a notoriously precarious
market. Considering that creativity is now highly valued, generating entire societal
constructs based on concepts such as the Creative Class (Florida, 2002a), it is
perhaps surprising that arts and culture still fall victim to frequent budgetary cuts.
Creative practitioners and artists’ professional environments are defined by precarity:
underemployment and unemployment are among the consequences. New work
models are necessary to cope with the instability of the artistic sector, giving birth to
new professional identities. The creative economy has thus spawned a hyperflexible
work market according to Menger (2002), in which artists must now carve themselves
out a new position.
The author’s own experience as a freelance dancer was a determining factor in the
choice of the dissertation subject: indeed, this hyperflexible professional environment
is strongly felt by current independent dancers, sometimes leading to confusion as to
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what their professional identity entails. The rise of freelance work has generated a
myriad of new opportunities for dancers: now more than ever before it has become
possible for them to take control over their artistic vision and create their own
choreographic projects. It used to be that dancers’ careers mostly entailed work in a
dance company, in which dancers were employed on relatively stable contracts. The
situation of professional dancers has changed due to the creative economy,
especially for contemporary dancers: stable, full-year contracts are increasingly rare
for professional dancers, and freelancing has experienced an impressive surge since
the 1980’s. The new generation of professional dance artists now faces a job market
constructed on competitiveness and hyperflexibility; technical and artistic dance skills
alone aren’t the only abilities required from them. Freelance dancers now face the
challenge of embracing their entrepreneurial abilities and identities, alongside their
artistic ones.
This dissertation will argue how the rise of self-employment engendered by the
creative economy brings freelance dancers freedom as well as constraints. This
dissertation will examine the reasons for the shift in the workplace of dancers, before
exploring how freelance dancers themselves are currently experiencing the changes
in their profession, focusing on the situation in Switzerland, with reference to the
situations in France and Britain. Seeing as dance is an international profession,
several countries must be taken into account in order to paint a comprehensive
picture of the situation. The literature review in chapter 2 will deliver an overview of
the creative economy and its impact on our perception of work and professional
identities, focusing on the case of creative practitioners, artists and freelance
dancers. Literature on dance as a profession is rare: most of the literature treating
dance is concerned with its artistic and technical aspect, and not how dancers
themselves perceive their current professional environment characterised by
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precarity. This may be because dance, like many other artistic lines of work,
struggles to be perceived as a real profession, as the International Organisation for
the Transition of Professional Dancers (IOTPD, 1997) and Rolle and Moeschler
(2014) describe. Thus, qualitative and quantitative research, comprising surveys and
two interviews with freelance dancers, had to be undertaken in order to gather the
relevant information. The collected data was then analysed thematically in order to
discover how freelance dancers are experiencing the creative economy. The analysis
framework is detailed in the methodology section in chapter 3. Chapter 4 will present
and discuss the themes that emerged from the research: for example, bohemia is
common for freelance dance artists, who may then struggle with loneliness. The rise
of self-employment and portfolio-work offers them much freedom, which is
paradoxically accompanied by a multitude of constraints. The research also
produced evidence of how polyvalent freelance dancers must be in order to survive
professionally: freelance dancers are a good example of hybrid professional
identities, blending administrative and creative roles together. The conclusion will
then address how dancers can embrace these new skills they are developing in order
to achieve identity-enhancing professional careers.
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2 Literature review: Creative Practitioners in the Creative Economy
2.1 The value of knowledge, information and creativity in today’s economy and society
Knowledge, information, creativity… these words are used to describe our current
society and economy in many places. The shift has been considerable from an
industrial economy that valued manufactured goods, to one that celebrates intangible
assets. It is now generally agreed upon that we live in an ‘information’ or ‘knowledge’
society, as described by numerous authors from around the world (in the UK:
Howkins, 2002, p. 117; in France: Menger, 2003, p. 5; in the USA: Florida, 2002a, p.
4; Arthur and Rousseau, 1996, p. 10; in Switzerland: Rolle and Moeschler, 2014, p.
26).
The rise of technology advanced the speedy ascension of information to the top of
the currency ladder, but also the decline of manufacturing (Hinves, 2012, p. 161),
and thus the transition from tangible commodities to intangible ones, as well as a
crisis of authority in the 1960’s as described by Boltanski and Chiapello (2005, p.
176), have contributed to shape this new economy. This chapter will explore different
theories regarding the information society and whether we are already transitioning
into another era, its impact on the Creative Industries as a whole, and more
importantly its effect on professional identities and environments, with a focus on
artists, particularly dancers. It will outline the current situation of professional dancers
in Switzerland, as well as taking the situations in France and the United Kingdom into
account.
Boltanski and Chiapello (2005, p. 169), as well as Arthur and Rousseau (1996, p.
10), share the opinion that whereas hierarchy and stability used to be the defining
factors in a person’s professional life in the industrial era, today’s information society
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empowers individuals rather than job titles.
Boltanski and Chiapello describe this new mind-set as a ‘Project-oriented Cité’ (2005,
p. 168), in which activity (as opposed to ‘work’), information-gathering, adaptability,
and trust-generation are more important career factors than strict hierarchies and
steady paychecks, which used to be the symbols of professional success in the
‘Industrial Cité’. Activity is the general standard by which one’s success, or
‘greatness’, is measured nowadays:
What is relevant is to be always pursuing some sort of activity, never to be without a project, without ideas, to be always looking forward to, and preparing for, something along with other persons whose encounter is the result of being always driven by the impulse of activity.
(Boltanski and Chiapello, 2005, p. 169)
As commendable as activity is, Boltanski and Chiapello point out that activity for the
sake of activity itself is not an attribute of ‘greatness’; rather, activity should always
strive to contribute to the common good – much like art.
Boltanski and Chiapello’s vision of our current society suggests a shift beyond pure
information: there is a personal aspect to their description of today’s values and
conditions for ‘greatness’.
In UNESCO’s declaration on the status of the artist, for example, importance is
placed on the ethical value of information:
Because today’s society is already an information society, it is the business of artists, looking towards the future, to chart the path of a new alliance linking ethics, technology and aesthetics.
(UNESCO, 1997, p. 2)
Howkins (2002, p. 117) seeks to differentiate between information and imagination:
‘Ideas and information are symbiotically intertwined. But when I say I have an idea I
am expressing a more personal view, and making a different claim, from when I say I
have some information’.
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According to Howkins (2002, p. 117), we are moving away from the information
society of the past 30-40 years. Imagination is now replacing technology as the
driving force: Howkins calls for new ideas that are personal, original, meaningful, and
useful. Creativity is the defining feature of today’s society, beyond information or
even knowledge: ‘Creative businesses, as a whole, are the driver of this nomadic
economy’ (Howkins, 2002, p. 121).
But what exactly is creativity?
2.2 A definition of creativity First of all, creativity is different than innovation: according to Howkins (2002, p. 121),
it doesn’t necessarily follow any kind of logic – it isn’t ‘easy or routine’.
Bain describes the importance awarded to creativity ‘for its ability to challenge,
inspire and transform’ (Bain, 2005, p. 30). She quotes Lavie et al. (1993, cited in
Bain, 2005, p.30), who compare creativity to a state of near-divine inspiration, closely
related to the artistic realm and transcending the ordinary.
This joins UNESCO’s declaration concerning the status of the artist, in which artistic
creativity is especially highlighted: ‘artistic creativity constitutes a decisive factor for
the preservation of the identity of peoples and the promotion of a universal dialogue’
(1997, p. 1). In particular artistic creativity is a vital element of a society’s culture,
values, and moral fabric.
Florida (2002a, p.21) states that our culture has evolved around, and thanks to,
creativity, pervading numerous aspects of day-to-day life – a veritable ‘creative ethos’
has ingrained itself in peoples’ spirits. Florida describes creativity as ‘multifaceted
and multidimensional’ (2002a, p. 22), encompassing, but not limited to, technology
and modern business models. Creativity is a human quality, not a tangible good – but
it has contributed to the creation of tangible goods; in fact, Florida credits creativity as
the very source of ‘all good economic things’ (2002a, p.21). Florida describes
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creativity as a different way of thinking: in many ways, creativity contributes to the
shaping of our identity, by influencing our way of seeing and understanding the world.
Florida warns of confusing intelligence with creativity (2002a, p.31); rather, creativity
is the ability to make ‘combinations that are new and useful’. Whilst it can certainly
boost the economy according to Florida, it is in and of itself not usually driven by
financial motivations – creative people are fuelled by their passion and belief in a
certain idea (2002a, p. 34).
This suggests we have now entered a ‘Creative Age’ (Florida, 2002a, p.21), which
values creative individuals and their influence on society and the economy.
2.3 Creative Industries in the context of a Creative Society and Economy
Florida qualifies our current economy as a ‘Creative Economy’ (2002a, p. 44), in
which the Creative Industries are the fastest-growing sector: our economy is now
driven by entrepreneurship and technological advances, which have also contributed
to making self-employment a desirable option; even artistic endeavours ‘have
become industries unto themselves’ (2002a, p. 44). The Creative Industries are the
new it-sector, yet there is still debate concerning their scope and definition.
The UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) defines them as ‘those
industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which
have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation
of intellectual property’. These include: ‘advertising, architecture, the art and antiques
market, crafts, design, designer fashion, film and video, interactive leisure software,
music, the performing arts, publishing, software and computer services, television
and radio’ (DCMS, 2001, p. 5).
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Howkins (2005, p. 119) and Menger (2002, p.11) however see this definition as too
elastic and illogical to be readily adopted by the public; it simply accommodates
politicians’ agendas. Comunian, Faggian and Li (2010, p. 392) point out that
economists express scepticism concerning the role of the Creative Industries on the
economy, considering the difficulty of measuring the financial impact of intangible
assets. The definition of the DCMS poses another problem: the commodification of
culture has been denounced by many, including Adorno (1991, p. 100), for losing
sight of culture’s intrinsic values, and concentrating on the economic benefits.
According to Howkins, a better definition of Creative Industry would be ‘an industry
where brain work is preponderant and where the outcome is intellectual property’
(2005, p. 119). As such, dance is a part of the Creative Industries, as it ‘deals with
the generation of intellectual property through original choreography that is then
performed by dancers in live, filmed and broadcast contexts’, according to Burns
(2007, p.8).
Yet the Creative Industries generate much revenue and employment during these
times of economic struggle. The DCMS (2001, p. 10) stated that the Creative
Industries had generated around £112.5 billion in revenue in the UK, employing 1.3
million people, and accounting for over 5% of the UK’s GDP. Even worldwide, their
economic impact is considerable: Florida (2002a, p. 46) cites Howkins, who, in 1999,
estimated that the Creative Industries generated a total of $2,24 trillion dollars –
annually. It seems that the Creative Industries and culture-led regeneration are
regarded as the answer to this precarious economy.
According to Hinves, (2012, p. 163-164), the Creative Industries have thus gained a
new high-profile status ‘for a combination of economic, social and educational
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reasons. (…) The links between innovation and creativity, information and
knowledge, and business and culture were thus formalised’.
The rise of the Creative Age and the growth of the Creative Industries have also
engendered new work models and professional identities. Whereas governments in
Europe used to strive to provide stable full-time employment, Howkins regards this
conception of work as passé (2005, p. 120). Instead, Howkins refers to the
development of ‘market states’, in which individuals’ control over their work is greater,
definitions of professions are malleable, and careers are increasingly international.
Arthur and Rousseau (1996, p. 3) refer to these emerging careers as ‘boundaryless
careers’, as opposed to ‘bounded, or organisational careers’. They argue that new
understandings of work are essential in this dynamic economy, characterised by
precarity, flexibility and entrepreneurial values; previous expectations of lifelong
employment in linear and straight-forward careers have become obsolete in the
Creative Age. Boundaryless careers are defying the traditional work models of the
Industrial Age, with ideas of ‘networking, learning and enterprise as the illustrative
boundaryless-career phenomena’ (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996, p.4).
Enterprise is of special importance in these careers: it is the individual’s responsibility
to shape his or her career, by actively pursuing his or her fields of interest: ‘Personal
enterprise’ is ‘the path to the expression of deeply held identities and values’
(Freeman and Gilbert, 1988, cited in Arthur and Rousseau, 1996, p. 12).
Baker and Aldrich (1996, p. 136) also acknowledge the importance of professional
identities, and how these have had to change due to the globalisation of markets: it is
not necessarily individuals who have become ‘less stable as employees; instead
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employment has become more flexible’. They argue that increased flexibility in
contemporary employment can present a challenge for the construction of successful
professional identities. Work provides ‘an important context for the expression and
further development of both identity and knowledge’ (Baker and Aldrich, 1996, p.
132). In order to develop an ‘identity-enhancing career’, individuals must seek to
achieve goals that harmonise with their values, as well as their professional
environment; in boundaryless careers, characterised by uncertainty, this must be
done with multiple employers, throughout a succession of full-time or part-time jobs,
in so-called portfolio careers.
Leadbeater and Oakley vouch for the importance of cultural entrepreneurs in the
contemporary Creative Age, these ‘New Independents’ (2005, p. 299) who
successfully create boundaryless professional identities and are responsible for the
recent rise in self-employment, freelancing and micro-businesses. The creative
economy is complicating the categorisation of professions, which Leadbeater and
Oakley see as a great step forward in the acquisition and distribution of knowledge.
Self-employment gives these New Independents the possibility to express their
creativity in an autonomous way, and re-imagine their professional identity according
to their sense of self. The New Independents are somewhat different to the
boundaryless entrepreneurs Baker and Aldrich describe, in that they consciously
choose the path of independence. They are driven by anti-establishment and
individualistic values, and don’t view technology as a threat, but rather as a tool to
navigate the increasing economic precarity. They swap job security for portfolio
careers based on networking, learning, and short-term projects.
In his recent publication We-Think, Leadbeater (2009, p. xxi), further describes how
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Internet and technology are contributing to transform professional environments,
creating a new organisational model based on the sharing of ideas, in which small
businesses, ‘pebbles’, are leading the way instead of large organisations, or
‘boulders’.
Our freedom to be creative has ‘exploded’ thanks to accessible technology according
to Leadbeater (2009, p. 1), enabling people to express themselves and connect with
each other far more easily. The focus here is on relationships, not only information:
Relationships are vital to our well-being. The difference between a life that feels rich and full, and one that feels empty and hollow, often lies in the quality of our relationships: whether we feel significantly connected to others. Relationships and networks are the basic building blocks of society. (…) The twentieth century was dominated by big organisations that did things for us and to us as workers and as consumers. Could the twenty-first century be about organisations that work with us and allow us to do things by ourselves?
(Leadbeater, 2009, p. 242)
Florida agrees that our contemporary society seeks to actively and creatively
participate with its surroundings. He argues that the Creative Age is led by the
Creative Class; anyone whose work is determined by their use of creativity is a
member (Florida, 2002a, p. xxvii). This class is driven by a shared creative ethos, in
which creativity in all its forms is the common core binding different sectors together.
Florida cites Inglehart, explaining that our current society has shifted its values
framework from ‘survival’ to ‘self-expression’ (2002a, p.81): the Creative Class
pursues an experiential lifestyle, through which it reaffirms its creativity and thus its
identity.
The Creative Class is in many ways similar to the New Independents which
Leadbeater and Oakley (2005) described, trading ‘job security for autonomy’ (Florida,
2002a, p. 13). Similarly to Arthur and Rousseau (1996), Florida (2002a, pp. 6-13)
explains how long-term employment may be coming to an end, because the bonds
between employers and employees are diminishing.
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According to Florida (2002a, p. 17), technology alone isn’t responsible for these
changes: ‘rather they are a result of incremental shifts in human behaviour and social
organisation’. Society as a whole is becoming far more accepting of portfolio careers
and flexible, freelance work.
This has also led to an upsurge of bohemians, or ‘Supercreative Core’, comprised of
‘professional artists, writers and performers’ (Florida, 2002a, p. 46), whose numbers
have grown by more than 375% between 1950 and 1999.
Comunian, Faggian and Li (2010, p. 390) explore the Supercreative Core further,
which has been variously labelled as ‘bohemian’ or ‘neo-bohemian’. The reputation of
bohemians used to be one of ‘libertine lifestyle’, and rejection of ‘bourgeois middle-
class’ values, but now the understanding of bohemian lifestyle has somewhat
changed: according to Florida (2002b, p. 59), bohemian refers to creative individuals
whose profession is largely artistic. Comunian, Faggian and Li (2010, p. 395) argue
that many ‘bohemian graduates’ (highly educated individuals with degrees in artistic
subjects) are struggling to build careers in their chosen cultural field. Whilst creativity
is being celebrated for ‘fostering local development’, bohemian graduates earn on
average £4000 less per year than non-bohemian graduates, and this even in creative
occupations. There is now an ‘oversupply of artists’, with an increasing number of
young people willing to take the risk of adopting an artistic lifestyle, and accepting
low- or unpaid work in order to gain experience.
Considering the popularity of the Creative Industries as a whole, the conclusion that
most bohemians are not reaping the economic benefits engendered by their sector is
perhaps surprising.
Lloyd (2002, p. 526) argues that although the direct economic returns of the arts are
rather scarce, this doesn’t render them any less important: ‘rather, this importance is
complex and mediated’. Additionally, Lloyd (2002, p. 526) states that ‘there’s a big
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difference in being poor by choice’. According to him, bohemians voluntarily embrace
financial precarity as a necessary pre-condition to artistic freedom. Lloyd describes
how low income in artistic professions requires the majority of artists to supplement
their income with other work: polyactivity appears to be the new norm, with many
artists accepting common dead-end jobs because their ‘real identity comes from
activity outside this job’ (Zukin, cited in Lloyd, 2002, p. 526).
2.4 The status of artists in the Creative Age and its influence on their professional identity
Lloyd (2002), Florida (2002a), and the UNESCO (1997) all suggest that artistic
professions are important to our society and economy. Yet precarity often goes hand
in hand with artistic professions: self-employment is on the rise, and despite this
being a way for artists to embrace their autonomy, low salaries make it increasingly
hard for artists to pursue their chosen career.
Public subsidies to the arts have been under pressure since the late 1980’s. In the
UK, Hutchison (2015) reports that the DCMS budget was cut by 30% in 2010,
followed by another 5% in 2013; it is now facing yet another cut of up to 40% from
2015-2020.
In Switzerland, an article (RTS info, 2015) reports that the budget destined for culture
was threatened with cuts of 65,1 million CHF in March 2015, and 145,1 million CHF
in June 2015 for 2016-2020. Both budget cut proposals were rejected by the National
Council, but this sort of menace reveals a negative attitude towards arts and culture
in today’s economy, despite the importance of creativity.
Sami Kanaan (2014), Mayor of Geneva, deplores the disregard for culture, and
highlights the fundamental part the arts play in shaping our collective identity, social
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cohesion, and quality of life. Not only this, but in 2008 the cultural sector represented
4400 jobs in Geneva, 1,5% of the entire job market, with a job growth of 29,5% from
1995 to 2008 compared to the average 21,1% of the global job growth in Geneva.
Of the many art forms in the cultural sector, the dance sector in particular is fragile: a
report by the Rencontres Professionnelles de danses – Genève (RP) describes
dance as the poor relative in the performing arts family (RP, 2014, p. 7), the most
precarious art form in an already precarious market, and denounces insufficient
public funding for the creation and further transmission of dance. Budgets for arts
and culture continually have a Damocles sword hanging over their heads.
Bain in particular opposes the ‘glorification of the artist as Bohemian’ (2005, p. 29);
she concedes that whilst this status might confer autonomy, ‘it underplays the
socioeconomic loss that artists accrued’.
Despite the importance of professional artists in the socio-economic landscape
governed by creativity, they are in a precarious position: the UNESCO (1997, p.5)
denounced the increasingly difficult position artists find themselves in, battling with
unemployment and underemployment. Artists in the performing arts especially are
confronted with uncertainty, considering their careers are generally shorter than
average, particularly in dance. Added to this is the increasing internationalisation of
artistic careers, which renders dealings with social security and tax ever more
complicated.
The following section will explore several reasons for the precarity artists find
themselves in, and the repercussions this has on their professional identity.
2.5 Is Art real work? ‘ “Get a job!” ‘ – Amanda Palmer, a punk cabaret performer, used to hear this call
frequently at the beginning of her career as a street performer; she met this insult
15
with confusion and resentment:
Of all the insults hurled in my direction, GET A JOB hurt the most. It was an affront. I took it personally. I had a job. I was doing my job. I mean, sure. It was a weird job. And a job I’d created out of thin air with no permission from a higher authority. But I was working, and people were paying me. Didn’t that make it a job?
(Palmer, 2014, p. 55)
Whilst the New Independents are being celebrated the world over for their ability to
‘blur the demarcation line between work and non-work’ (Leadbeater and Oakley,
2005, p. 306), Bain (2005, p. 25) addresses the issue that ‘artistic labour is seldom
recognised as “real” work’.
Menger (2003, pp. 5-9) attempts to determine whether artistic labour can be seen as
work, or whether its conditions are too ‘exotic’. His conclusion is that artists, with their
adaptability, deep-rooted commitment, inherent creative drive and vocation
correspond to the new ideal of contemporary workers in the Creative Age.
Yet artistic labour still struggles to be accepted as a real job. Bain (2005, p. 37) asks
‘Do you have to hate your job to make money at it?’. She argues that the common
perception of work is one in which certain activities are undertaken in exchange for
monetary compensation, and this during regulated hours, away from home: work is
usually seen as unpleasant and ‘arduous’.
Artistic labour is often unregimented; this, coupled with misunderstanding of the skills
required for artistic work, can lead to people linking artistic labour with ‘the domain of
the personal, irrational, the irresponsible, the undisciplined, the chaotic’ (Anderson,
cited in Bain, 2005, p. 38).
In addition to this, arts and culture often rely on government funding: artists are seen
to exploit government support and ‘artwork [is] sometimes regarded as the
extravagant pastime of the elite borne aloft on the taxes of the ordinary’ (Bain, 2005,
16
p. 38).
Despite this prejudice, artistic labour requires many skills, some of which were
highlighted by Leadbeater and Oakley (2005) when describing the New
Independents: artistic production ‘demands the ability to initiate projects, to make
crucial decisions, and to assume the necessary responsibility to carry them through
to completion without supervision’ (Bain, 2005, p. 39).
The IOTPD argues that dancers in particular are seen as ‘romantic figures by some
and as people who play rather than work by many others’ (Greben, cited in IOTPD,
1997, p. 18). It was only in 2009 that dance was officially recognised as a profession
in Switzerland: the Projet Danse, a study published in 2006 by the Swiss Arts Council
ProHelvetia detailing the current situation of professional dance in Switzerland, was
the beginning of a reorganisation of the Swiss dance scene; it culminated in the
official recognition of dance as a profession, through an educational decree that
introduced a new state-recognised syllabus in dance. This recent Federal recognition
of the career of dancers represents an important step forward for dance in
Switzerland, but it also points to a system that has delayed awarding dancers a
professional status until very recently.
2.6 The Instrumentalisation of the Arts The current discourse surrounding the arts is one of instrumentalisation according to
Agnew (2012, p. 197) and Lacassagne (2012, p. 185): governments are focusing on
culture-led urban regeneration and the potential of the arts to attract creative
businesses and create jobs, instead of celebrating the ‘power of arts on human life,
on society and on individuals’ (Agnew, 2012, p. 197).
Agnew (2012, p. 204) describes how the instrumentalisation of the arts can have
negative effects on artists themselves: by forcing artists to rely on increasingly
17
volatile markets, artists are pushed into entrepreneurship and precarity. Polyactivity
is frequent among artists, and sometimes even threatens to take over their artistic
identity. On top of this, artistic professions are increasingly freelance, thus requiring
artists to create art to high standards whilst effectively marketing themselves and
their work, and running their own business: their art. Agnew blames the over-
instrumentalisation of the arts for ‘ignoring the very real need for artists to make a
living from their work’ (2012, p. 203).
For dancers, the situation is no different: the IOTPD draws attention to the irony
dancers face:
…the image of the devoted artist prevents dancers from achieving the status of acknowledged professionals: if the dancer is concerned with material security, he or she is considered a lesser artist; yet without any economic standing, the dancer is worth nothing according to society’s standards of measure.
(IOTPD, 1997, p.37)
Agnew (2012, p. 207) calls for a balance between meaningful community
development and professional artistic experimentation.
2.7 The paradoxal market of Art Prestige and precarity – two sides of the same coin when it comes to artists. Bain
cites Bourdieu when saying that artists ‘possess all the properties of the dominant
class minus one: money’ (Bourdieu, cited in Bain, 2005, p. 33).
Menger (2002, pp. 23-25) describes the singularity and paradoxes of the artistic
market, celebrating the conversion of creative work, driven by intrinsic rewards, into
financial value. Entrepreneurship is now almost an imperative for artists in a
capitalistic economy; yet they are largely driven by vocation and a sense of passion.
Conde (2009, p. 8) explains how artists represent ‘an ambivalent condition between
18
centrality and fragility – a source of structural inconsistency in their status’: they are
often independent workers thanks to their high self-employment rate, yet generally
rely on decreasing public subsidies to support them and their labour. They possess
high qualifications and specialised skills, which are rarely reflected in their income.
Menger (2002, p. 62) explains how hyperflexible contracts are necessary in a
professional field where freelancing and rapid turn-overs are the norm. At any given
time, there must be an oversupply of artists for transitions to go as smoothly as
possible for producers. Producers can’t or won’t invest huge amounts of money into
their productions, which reinforces this need for contractual hyperflexibility: freelance
work is competitive perfection.
This paradoxal hyperflexible market has direct consequences on unemployment and
underemployment among many other issues: it imposes on individuals alternating
periods of work, compensated unemployment, uncompensated unemployment, job
searching, and polyactivity inside or outside the artistic sphere according to Menger
(2002, p. 63).
This is particularly evident in the professional environment of dancers. In Switzerland,
there are seven major institutional dance companies, which are publicly as well as
privately funded: the Basler Ballett, Konzert Theater Bern, Grand Théâtre de
Genève, Luzerner Theater, Theater St. Gallen, Opernhaus Zürich and the Béjart
Ballet Lausanne. These companies produce work that is generally more classical or
neo-classical, although some are extending towards a more contemporary dance
style (see Appendix 7.1.1).
They employ dancers on relatively stable full year contracts, which can be renewed
at the end of each performance season: for the 2014-2015 season, they employed a
total of 186 dancers.
19
In comparison, according to Grasset (2008, p.11), there were approximately 163
independent dance companies in Switzerland in 2008. Independent professional
dance started in 1981 in Geneva, when three small-scale companies were awarded
public funding for projects. From then on, independent dance companies started
flourishing in Switzerland: in Geneva alone, the number went from 32 independent
companies in 2012 to 48 in 2014 according to the RP (2014a, p. 3, and 2014b). This
suggests an important increase in freelance dancers as these independent
companies employ dancers on short-term contracts for projects; although it is difficult
to give exact figures for the number of dancers in Switzerland as they are primarily
freelance and rarely members of unions (Baumgartner and Hostettler, 2014, p. 3),
Grasset (2008, p. 11) cites the association of professional dancers Danse Suisse
(DS), estimating that there are approximately 600 professional dancers active in
Switzerland, of which more than 73% are freelancers.
The growth of freelance dancers can be explained by a general transformation of the
Swiss work market: a report published in 2007 by the Federal Office of Culture
concerning the social security of cultural workers in Switzerland states that during the
past twenty years, Switzerland’s professional market has slowly evolved from full-
time and stable employment to an increasingly flexible work market as described by
Menger (2002) and Arthur and Rousseau (1996) previously. The cultural sector
especially has become hyperflexible, requiring its members to adapt to part-time jobs
and portfolio careers.
In the UK, the situation of professional dancers is similar: according to Burns (2007,
p. 11), there are approximately 700 dancers employed by 52 small to medium-sized
companies, whereas Equity counts 2500 of its members as dancers: considering that
not all dancers are a member of Equity, this number may be even higher, which
means that a significant proportion of professional dancers are self-employed.
20
In France the rise of freelance dancers has grown dramatically: from approximately
1400 independent dancers in 1987, their numbers grew to more than 4300 in 2000
according to Rannou and Roharik (2006, p. 25), compared to 500 permanently
employed dancers in companies. This is largely due to the fact that funding for dance
in France was multiplied by eight between 1981 and 1997. Yet Sorignet (2010, p. 18)
argues that whilst increased funding for dance permitted more work opportunities, the
lengths of the contracts themselves decreased drastically, obliging dancers to
accumulate more contracts in order to receive the same amount of salary: whereas in
1987, the average length of contracts was approximately 28 days, in 2000 this
number dropped to less than 7 days. The IOTPD (1997, p. 35) and Grasset (2008,
p.13) also agree that full year contracts have become rare in independent dance
companies, Switzerland included, generally only available in major, state-subsidised
dance companies. In Switzerland, dancers’ salaries are usually the generally
accepted Swiss minimum of 4500 CHF per month, yet in reality, dancers don’t
receive this sum on a monthly basis according to the RP (2014a, p. 23). These fees
are punctual, often insufficient in bridging the inevitable hollow periods between
contracts.
This development of the professional dance market was also caused by the
establishment of particular unemployment benefit schemes in France (‘statut
d’intermittent’) and Switzerland, allowing flexible work contracts to become more of a
reality. The RP (2014, p. 26) explain how unemployment benefits received by
independent dancers sometimes even help to compensate for insufficient funding for
project creations, thus enabling longer rehearsal periods that aren’t officially
accounted for.
This shift towards a hyperflexible work market can also be beneficial for the dancers:
the large turn-over rate of companies is a contributing factor to the rise of freelance
21
dancers. Shorter contracts help dancers to distance themselves from the instability of
their employers according to Rannou and Roharik (2006, p. 78).
Additionally, dancers’ low and intermittent income makes it difficult for them to pay
into social security systems such as Disability Insurance (AI): in Switzerland, the
amount perceived for the AI is proportional to the amount a person has contributed,
which makes this a very meagre sum for a profession that is so inherently physical
and in which injuries can wreak havoc.
All in all, dancers’ situations are precarious ones, in which financial returns are low,
and instability appears to be the new norm.
2.8 Artists and their professional identity
Before being hailed as the ‘Supercreative core’ (Florida, 2002a), artists and their
creative abilities were in turns idealised as belonging to a sacred profession, the
‘intellectual elite’, then romanticised as temperamental Bohemians. Bain (2005, p.
30) warns of the dangers of overly romanticising creative practice: this depreciates
the value of artists and ‘the similarities they might share with other occupational
groups, particularly in a post-Fordist era characterised by the “flexibilisation” of job
markets’.
Indeed, it has been suggested by numerous authors that today’s artists have much in
common with entrepreneurs: the term cultural entrepreneur is a new development of
the Creative Age and its culture-led regeneration (Hinves, 2012, p. 168). Encouraged
by their role at the forefront of the economy, an increasing number of artists have
embraced a new identity of ‘artist-cum-cultural-entrepreneur’ (Hinves, 2012, p. 174).
Artists and entrepreneurs do have certain skills and qualities in common: both are
risk-takers, think creatively, and blur the boundaries between work and non-work.
22
Rolle and Moeschler (2014, p. 184) describe the new trend of cultural entrepreneurs
as potentially beneficial for artists. Their publication explores the professional
situation of actors in Switzerland; in this creative economy, actors are encouraged to
adopt an entrepreneurial stance regarding their career: embracing polyactivity can
lead to more artistic freedom and financial stability. Artists, Rolle and Moeschler
(2014, p. 61) say, should take advantage of this new creative ethos, which sees
artists and creative workers as the new ideal, by undertaking their own creative
projects. This also displays a pro-active stance that encourages prospective
employers to work with artists, and joins in with the collaborative creative
practitioners described by Leadbeater (2009), who actively explore their creativity
through collaborative relationships with others.
Artists are stepping into a ‘flexible, hybrid identity’ according to Hinves (2012, p. 175),
in which networking, enthusiasm, trust and entrepreneurialism can be the solution to
precarity and doubt. Whilst there is pressure on artists to ‘become more business-
like, rather than artistic’ (Agnew, 2012, p. 203), this entrepreneurial identity has
meaningful positive outcomes if enough time can be awarded to artistic labour.
Bennett (2009, p. 28) describes contemporary dance artists as hybrid, and current
dance careers as ‘protean’, explaining how the dance market is a ‘sector made up
almost entirely of dance artists for whom independent project-based work is the
norm, and the inclusion of non-performance roles is almost inevitable.’ Vocation,
social capital and an entrepreneurial attitude are imperative for a sustainable career
in dance. Bennett argues that administrative and production skills are now
fundamental to independent dance artists’ careers, which they must acquire ‘on the
run as they create new opportunities and craft both the present and the future in
response’ (2009, p. 28) alongside their creative occupation. According to Bennett’s
23
findings, many dance artists value production skills as an interesting addition to their
artistic careers. This can also be artistically liberating, leading to new collaborations
and entrepreneurial endeavours. Lacassage (2012, p. 193) describes these hybrid
artists as follows: ‘Their rationale and modes of thinking are profoundly shaped by an
entrepreneurial spirit’.
Entrepreneurship has now become an indelible part of artistic identities. If undertaken
in a sensitive way, this new layer to artistic professions may well be an effective and
empowering solution to artists’ current professional situations defined by precarity.
24
3 Methodology
Literature on dance as a profession has developed recently; most dance literature
focuses on the technical aspects of the art, not on the professional aspect itself.
Thus, this dissertation required primary data collection. In order to explore dancers’
professional environment in depth, the author opted for method triangulation as
suggested by White (2000, p. 67): qualitative and quantitative research methods
were used for the collection of data.
As dance is an artistic profession, and thus by nature subjective and heavily reliant
on individuals’ personal experience in their professional environment, qualitative
research methods were prioritised. This seemed like the most appropriate choice, as
the focus of this dissertation is dancers’ perception of their professional environment,
not the confirmation of any hypotheses. Willig (2013, p.22) argues that ‘the objective
of qualitative research is to describe, to understand, and sometimes also to explain,
but never to predict’.
The ontological framework of this dissertation is based on a critical realist approach,
between realism and relativism: it acknowledges a ‘real and knowable world, which
sits “behind” the subjective and socially-located knowledge a researcher can access’
(Braune and Clarke, 2006, p. 27); it is influenced by a person’s feelings and past
experiences as well as by its context. Seeing as this dissertation explores freelance
dancers’ professional identities and how they perceive these in a changing creative
economy affected by very real precarity, this seemed like the most suitable approach.
The epistemological framework of this research is contextual, bearing in mind that
the aim of the dissertation is to explore the evolution of freelance dance careers and
how dancers perceive the development of their professional environment.
25
The qualitative aspect of the research was undertaken firstly through interviews:
White (2000, p. 29) and Saldaña (2011, p.32) suggest interviews as an excellent
qualitative research method that provides much detail. Saldaña (2011, p.32)
recommends interviews for their ability to present factual information about people’s
experiences as well as chronicle individuals’ personal perceptions and beliefs
regarding their experiences and environment; this method thus complied with the
theoretical framework of the dissertation.
As surveys including qualitative research would also be conducted, the number of
interviews decided on was two, as suggested by the dissertation supervisor. Both of
the interviewees chosen received their dance education and exercised their
profession in Switzerland, which was a critical factor during the selection of
participants. Both interviewees are female and had been freelancing for a couple of
years prior to the interview. Their names were altered in order to keep the
participants’ anonymity: Melina, a 26 year old freelance dancer, and Carla, a 23 year
old freelance dancer. The fact that both interviewees were similar (female and both in
their mid-twenties) poses a limitation to this dissertation, although the surveys
comprised a large number of male and female respondents of different age groups.
The author was previously acquainted with both of the interviewees, as such both of
them were contacted directly in order to set up face-to-face interviews at the
participants’ convenience. This poses another limitation to the research: perhaps
some of the answers were biased by the previous acquaintance with the author.
Despite this, it is also possible that the interviewees felt more at ease answering
certain questions, eliciting more personal responses.
Prior to conducting the interview, RE4 and RE5 forms were given to the participants
and signed by both parties. In order to gather a comprehensive and diverse set of
data, the interviews were conducted in a semi-structured way. White (2000, p.32)
26
suggests this type of interview is best suited when the aim of the dissertation is to
‘understand the perspective of the interviewee and the personal meanings they
attach to different situations’. In order to gain as much insight into the topic as
possible, questions and topic prompts were devised after reading literature
concerning the profession of dancers. Additionally, the researcher’s own knowledge
and experience in dance influenced these. Both interviews incorporated similar
questions and prompts, but the discussion was allowed to follow the interviewee’s
train of thought. The topic prompts included questions about the dancer’s
professional journey, how they perceived their profession and its environment and
how much importance they gave to the vocational aspect of their career. The
interviews were recorded with a tape recorder, with permission of the interviewees,
and subsequently transcribed. The parts relevant to the dissertation topic were
translated from French into English by the author herself, fluent in both languages.
After analysis of the transcription, grammar and punctuation were corrected so as to
increase clarity for the reader.
The second research method was a survey, and incorporated qualitative and
quantitative questions. In order to get a better understanding of the population the
dissertation was exploring, the research process included two different surveys: one
for professional freelance dancers, and one for dance students close to entering the
professional dance world. Seeing as the research would target a great number of
French-speaking dancers because of the author’s location, both surveys were
translated into French and English; this ensured a higher response rate from
participants, who might have felt hindered by the language barrier. The surveys thus
had to be compiled so as to follow the same question order, and simplify subsequent
data analysis.
27
The first section of the professional dancers’ survey included demographic questions
concerning their age, gender, and geographical location. The second section aimed
to find out more about their personal experience of freelance dancing. The third
section focused on the importance of vocation in dance as a profession, whilst the
fourth and last section concentrated on how dancers experience the audition
process.
Most of the 37 questions were closed to simplify the coding process, considering the
surveys were bilingual. Four questions weren’t compulsory because they wouldn’t
apply to all participants. Five questions were open-ended and thus optional, in order
to get as many answers as possible: given the busy schedule of dancers, it was
better to collect as much data as possible, instead of participants breaking off the
survey because it took too much time to complete. An optional section comprised of
Likert scales was also included to gauge degrees of agreement with 12 statements
concerning freelance dance careers.
The student survey was shorter and included 26 closed questions. The first section of
the student survey concentrated on demographic questions. The second section
focused on students’ career prospects and how they perceived their future
professional environment, whilst the third and last section focused on auditions. All of
the questions were compulsory, except the questions concerning auditions, seeing
as some students potentially wouldn’t have had any audition experience yet.
The surveys were created online using Google Docs in order to provide a clear and
functional platform for the participants.
Before being distributed to participants, the surveys underwent a test pilot with a
freelance dancer who had agreed to give feedback on the survey.
28
The surveys were distributed online with an accompanying text presenting the
researcher and the focus of the research, as well as how the answers would be used.
The survey participants remained completely anonymous and were assured of the
confidentiality of their answers in the accompanying text as well.
In order to reach as many dancers as possible, the professional dancer surveys were
sent to several Swiss dance associations: The Association Vaudoise de Danse
Contemporaine (AVDC), the RP, the Reconversion des Danseurs Professionnels
(RDP), and GVA Dance Training, as well as a couple of independent Swiss dance
companies: Cie Ioannis Mandafounis and Cie Greffe.
The student surveys were sent to the junior companies the Marchepied and the
Ballet Junior de Genève, as well as the CFC Danse contemporaine, a state-
recognised syllabus in contemporary dance.
The AVDC replied after the survey deadline had passed, and the Marchepied and the
CFC Danse Contemporaine never replied. Thanks to the cooperation of the others,
the surveys were shared in newsletters or on social media. The author’s social
network itself comprised a great number of freelance dancers, thus the surveys were
shared on social media in order to attract a greater number of participants.
The online surveys were completed by 96 professional freelance dancers and 20
student dancers: this represents a satisfactory response rate for the professional
freelance dancers survey, considering that the entire population of professional
dancers in Switzerland, company dancers included, is approximately 600. As for the
student surveys, the author decided that the information collected from the student
surveys didn’t add enough different or relevant information concerning the
dissertation topic; on top of this, only 20 students participated, representing a
significantly lower number than the professional dancers. The results of the student
survey are as such only featured in the Appendices, except for one pie-chart (Figure
29
4.17) presented in chapter 4.5. Thus, when an online survey is mentioned in chapter
4, this refers to the professional dancers’ survey.
The answers to the open-ended survey questions were translated from French into
English by the author herself. For some answers, grammar and spelling were
corrected in order to increase clarity.
Thematic analysis (TA) was chosen as the method for qualitative data analysis. As
the author had never before undertaken qualitative research of this scale, TA
seemed like the most appropriate method for the analysis of the collected data. This
method is suggested by White (2000, p.109) as a general but suitable way of
analysing most qualitative data, even though some researchers see it as an in-
between approach, less reliable and noteworthy than for example the Interpretative
Phenomenological Approach (IPA) or Grounded Theory (GT). However, Braun and
Clarke (2006 p. 174) argue that TA is more than merely a data analysis method: it
has ‘recently been recognized as a distinctive method with a clearly outlined set of
procedures for the social sciences’. They argue that TA is practiced by numerous
authors, mistakenly referred to as GT or Discourse Analysis. It is now a ‘recognized,
accepted and more widely discussed method’ (Braun and Clarke, 2006, p. 174). TA
is essentially ‘a method for identifying themes and patterns of meaning across a
dataset in relation to a research question’ (Braun and Clarke, 2006, p. 174). TA’s
weakness lies in the fact that it has limited interpretative power if not embedded
within a defined theoretical framework. The author thus established the framework
before starting with the TA. Experiential TA ‘focuses on the participants’ standpoint –
how they experience and make sense of the world’ according to Braun and Clarke
(2006, p. 174). Seeing as the dissertation is embedded in a contextualist
epistemological framework, experiential TA was the primary method of data analysis.
30
It is thus very close to IPA, as described by Braun and Clarke (2006, p. 180), whose
‘overriding concern is with exploring people’s lived experiences and the meanings
people attach to those experiences’. Saldaña (2011, p. 8) likewise suggests that a
phenomenological approach to qualitative research is well suited when the
researcher wishes to explore how people experience certain situations.
The author followed Braun and Clarke’s approach to TA, which first required reading
and familiarisation with the entire set of collected data. Themes and topics emerged
through repeated reading, and were afterwards coded in order to clarify emerging
themes that would form the basis of the dissertation’s discussion, and produce a
thematic map. The answers to the survey questions remained completely
anonymous during the analysis: as such, no numbers were attributed to the survey
participants when quoting them.
Seeing as TA requires the researcher to uncover the themes featured in the
qualitative research data, it is a relatively personal analysis method. This poses a
limitation to the dissertation: any themes discovered through the TA thus carry with
them the probability of the author’s personal bias despite the efforts made to
eliminate it.
The themes that emerged from the TA of the research data were then compared with
previous literature and secondary data collected on the subject, forming the
discussion in chapter 4.
Using the software Excel, the quantitative data extracted from the surveys was
summarised in the form of graphs or pie-charts, depending on which method offered
the most clarity. These figures are presented in chapter 4, and are the author’s own.
31
4 Dancers and their profession The following chapter will explore how freelance dancers are experiencing this new
creative economy. As performing artists, they navigate their way across an inherently
paradoxal and hyperflexible market. The chapter will analyse the results gathered by
the quantitative and qualitative research. The themes that emerged from the thematic
analysis of the research provide the basis for examining freelance dancers’
professional environment and its impact on their professional identities: their vocation
and values, the difficulties they must overcome, and how the relationship between
choreographer and dancer can influence this. The chapter will then explore how
freelance dancers can overcome these difficulties created by their new professional
environment.
4.1 Demographics The following section will first give an overview of dancers as a population, by taking
into account the quantitative research results collected thanks to the professional
dancers’ online survey, which was completed by 96 freelance dancers.
The results obtained thanks to the online survey paint a picture of a very young
population: 43,8% of respondents were between 20-25 years old, closely followed by
26-30 year olds with 39,6%.
32
Figure 4.1: Age of survey participants
Rannou and Roharik (2006, p. 18) likewise describe dancers as a very young
population; this can be explained by the almost imposed brevity of their careers, a
result of the required physicality inherent to their jobs.
Additionally, the participants who responded to the survey were predominantly
female: 70% were women. Sorignet (2010, p. 79) confirms that dance is a highly
feminised profession, citing statistics revealing 74% women seeking dance jobs in
France in 1997, compared to 26% of men.
In terms of geographical location and nationality, the results obtained from the survey
illustrate how dance is an international profession. Most respondents were of French
nationality (35,4%), followed by Swiss nationals (15,6%). The countries of residence
varied greatly, as illustrated by the figure below:
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
Under$20$years$old$
20425$years$old$
26430$years$old$
31435$years$old$
36440$years$old$
41445$years$old$
More$than$45$years$old$
33
Figure 4.2: Countries of residence of survey participants
A majority of participants had exercised or was currently exercising their profession in
Switzerland (61,5%), closely followed by France with 52,1%.
Figure 4.3 Countries in which participants had been or currently were professionally active
Dancers are thus bohemian in the artistic sense described in chapter 2.3, as well as
in the sense of living a wandering lifestyle. Sorignet (2010, p. 44) also describes
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
Australia$
Belgium$
Bulgaria$
Denmark$
France$
Germany$
Greece$
Italy$
Luxembourg$
Netherlands$
Norway$
Portugal$
Spain$
Switzerland$
United$Kingdom$
United$States$
0.0%$
10.0%$
20.0%$
30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
70.0%$
Switzerland$ France$ United$Kingdom$ Germany$ Italy$ Other$
34
dance as an international profession, requiring dancers to move frequently for work.
In terms of years of experience as a professional dancer, response rates were
relatively equal across the different time spans up to 9 years – yet there was a
sudden drop after 9 years of experience: only 14,6% indicated they had been
dancing professionally for 10 years or more. This, along with the fact that the
population is a young one, points to brief careers, and could also be interpreted as
freelancing being a relatively new norm for dancers, which has emerged from the
new creative economy.
Figure 4.4 Years of professional activity in survey participants
The majority of respondents (93,8%) described themselves as contemporary
dancers, although the question allowed for multiple answers, seeing as dancers can
be proficient in several dance styles. Independent dance companies are mostly
contemporary, which can explain a majority of contemporary freelance dancers,
whereas classical dancers tend to be employed by major dance companies offering
more stable employment.
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
1)2$years$ 3)5$years$ 6)9$years$ 10$years$or$more$
35
Concerning contract length, the majority of dancers (69,8%) indicated that the
average contract lasted 3 months or less; it is thus unsurprising that freelance
dancers have evolved into portfolio workers, and rely on polyactivity and
unemployment benefits to bridge the inevitable gaps between contracts.
The results listed above already paint a picture of freelance dancers, which closely
resembles the New Independents and Bohemians described earlier by Leadbeater
and Oakley (2005) and Florida (2002a and 2002b): a young and highly mobile
population, predominantly female, coping with increasingly precarious work
conditions.
4.2 Dancers’ professional identities: how dancers perceive and value their profession and its environment
As discussed in chapter 2, dance artists are now faced with the task of creating a
new professional identity for themselves, one that is characterized by portfolio-work
and polyactivity. The following section will explore how dancers perceive the
difficulties of their profession, what they value about it despite the hardships, and
how this affects their professional identity.
Slay and Smith (2010, p. 87) define professional identity as the ‘constellation of
attributes, beliefs, and values people use to define themselves in specialized, skill-
and education-based occupations or vocations’. They also argue that professional
identity is tightly meshed with personal identity; this appears to be even more the
case in a highly vocational profession such as dance, in which the trade is
experienced on an extremely physical level. Dancers’ bodies are their instrument, but
they must also display artistry onstage, thus effectively blending physicality, emotion
36
and mind into one profession: dancers’ professional identities are almost inseparable
from their personal ones, which provokes a seismic existential change when their
careers inevitably come to an end. A report by IOTPD published in 1997 states:
“I didn’t know who I was anymore, because I was no longer a dancer.” This feeling is familiar to most former dancers, but the quote is attributed to Monica Mason, former principal dancer and Assistant Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet, London.
(IOTPD, 1997, p. 54)
Keeping this in mind, this section will attempt to portray how freelance dancers
perceive their profession and their environment, by including personal themes that
have emerged through the thematic analysis of the gathered data.
The TA of the research data produced a thematic map surrounding dancers’
professional identities. The following figure represents a summary of the TA,
illustrating how the themes are interconnected. The themes in green refer to positive
features of freelance dance careers, whereas the themes in orange depict the
difficulties freelance dancers must overcome. Thus it is possible to see how a
positive aspect of a freelance career, for example Travel, is also connected to a
negative aspect, namely Bohemia and Loneliness.
The three themes in blues refer to aspects solely concerning the relationship
between choreographer and dancer.
All of these themes are explored in detail in this chapter, painting a picture of
freelance dancers’ professional environment and identities, and how they influence
each other.
37
Figure 4.5 Thematic Map of Freelance Dancers' Professional Identities
4.3 Vocation and Values Considering the precarious situation freelance dancers find themselves in, one might
Dancers’ professional identitiesVocation & Values Difficulties to
overcome
The ecstasy of the stage
Self-knowledge
The FREE infreelancing
Freedomof choice Independence
Self-expression/Creativity
EntrepreneurialSpirit
Struggle is beneficial
A life rich in differentexperiences
Knowledge
Encounters
Travel
A path to share knowledge,experiences, emotions
Auditions
InstabilityBohemia,Loneliness
Uncertainty
The Dream of a long-term contract lives on
The END is near!Professional Urgency
Unemployment/Underemployment
Difficulty of staying in shape
Self-motivation
Irregularity
Exhaustion (mental, emotional, phsyical)
Polyactivity
The fiery pits of administration
Creativity vs.Administration
Stress
Stigma
Are freelance dancers 2nd rate dancers?
Are freelance dancers lazy profiteers?
Rejection
Perseverance
Need to network
Auditions aren’t fair!
The power of the choreographer/dancer relationship
Artist vs.Subordinate
Self-expression isessential to artistic identity
Dehumanisationof dancers
Belief in choreographeris paramount
Precarity (Financial, Emotional, Physical)
38
wonder what exactly motivates them to endure such a profession.
The most universal answer from the 96 survey participants seems to be: Vocation.
72% of participants described dancing as their calling:
Figure 4.6 Dance: a vocational profession
The participants were also asked to indicate which statements they agreed with in
answer to the question ‘Why do you dance?’: a large majority of respondents agreed
with the statement ‘Dancing gives me joy’; intangible rewards triumph over stability
and financial remuneration.
Figure 4.7 Reasons why participants dance
72%$7%$21%$
Would&you&describe&dancing&as&your&“calling”?&
Yes$ No$ Undecided$
0.0%$
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60.0%
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65.0%
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70.0%
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75.0%
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80.0%
$
It$gives$meaning$to$my$life$
I$couldn't$imagine$myself$doing$anything$else$
I$just$fell$into$dancing$
I$dance$primarily$to$earn$money$
Dancing$is$my$passion$
Dance$is$the$easiest$way$for$me$to$express$myself$
Dancing$gives$me$joy$
I$enjoy$the$social$aspect$of$this$profession$
Dancing$is$just$my$job$
39
Indeed, in response to the question ‘What made you decide to pursue a freelance
dance career?’, one response to the online survey was simply ‘Because of the
passion!!!’. During the interview with Melina*, the word passion arose as well:
It’s the chance of a lifetime! The simple fact of having a passion is amazing. Because there’s so many people out there who don’t know what they want to do with their life. And we know, we know what we love, we have a reason to live. (…) Maybe I’m not earning my living through dancing, but earning money is a necessity, and I have a job for that, but dance is my passion. So even if I’m not earning a lot of money with it for now, so be it, maybe that’ll come later.
(Interview Melina)
The opportunity to dance is viewed as a ‘chance’, compared to other people who
don’t have a passion: dancers are in some way ‘chosen ones’, whose job is set apart
from money-earning careers by the transcendental experience of their vocation.
Freelance dancers are driven by their passion to dance, which makes them
disregard, at least temporarily, any financial shortcomings or uncertainty regarding
the future. Perrault (1988, p. 182) agrees: ‘Artists are passionate beings willing to
sacrifice everything to live their passion’.
In fact, vocation is essential to dancers’ maintenance in a professional environment
fraught with precarity:
I always say that I’m struggling, that I can’t do it anymore, and people ask why I keep on going… Because I want to, that’s all. Because it makes me happy. And that’s why people who don’t really want it, who think “Yeah I’d like to dance”, but who then see the chaos that it is, they don’t continue, they can’t. You can’t be confronted with all this, all these introspections, and struggles, and financial problems, and rejections, all these horrible things, if you don’t really want it. If you don’t really want to be onstage, and work with people, share something with them, if you don’t have that desire, that vocation, then you can’t.
(Interview Carla)
The survey participants were asked to quantify how important they thought ‘calling’
was in pursuing a professional dance career on a scale from 1 (not important at all)
40
to 5 (very important): 38,5% estimated calling at 4 (important), whilst 32,3% valued it
at 5.
Figure 4.8 The importance of ‘calling’ in pursuing a professional dance career
‘Calling’ is seen as a determining factor in dancers’ careers; the loss of a dancer’s
vocation signifies the imminent ending of his or her career.
Sorignet (2010, p. 19) agrees that dance as a profession must be understood in the
context of vocation, considering it a driving force in the development of a professional
identity.
Moments on stage are important reinforcements to this vocation: the intensity of the
emotions felt can be enough to project dancers into states of ecstasy, in which reality
and the extraordinary blend together (for more information, see Appendix 7.1.4).
Dance is an intense career, impacting dancers’ bodies as well as their psyche; yet
these emotions can occur in a career as a company dancer as well as in a freelance
dance career. Dancers are in some ways pushed into freelance dance careers by
their professional environment considering the scarcity of long-term employment; the
0.0%$
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10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
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Not$important:$1$ 2$ 3$ 4$ Very$important:$5$
41
following section will explore if there are any elements of freelance careers that
dancers may prefer over a more or less stable company career.
4.3.1 Freelancing, a path to diverse experiences and sharing
The answer seems to partly lie in the variety such a lifestyle offers, and the
opportunity to share knowledge and experiences through a multitude of encounters.
When asked to describe two of the most enjoyable aspects of being a freelance
dancer, 30 out of the 47 participants who responded to this optional question listed
some form of variety: ‘The variety of encounters this profession allows, the great
artistic encounters that flow from it – The numerous travels on tour, which are one of
the best parts of this profession in my opinion’. This response highlights the
importance of encounters in this career: sharing experiences and knowledge in order
to develop one’s own artistry is paramount to freelance dancers. The bohemian
lifestyle is also seen as an asset, which alongside openness to new experiences,
shows curiosity to explore, essential to today’s creative society, and further illustrates
how the creative economy is influencing dancers.
Another participant responded: ‘1. You are able to work with a range of
choreographers on different projects. 2. You become more versatile as a
dancer/artist.’ Intrinsic rewards are at the forefront: freelance dancers value the
opportunity to further develop their craft, through meeting other artists. Their quality
of life is heightened thanks to their experiences – much like Florida’s Creative Class.
This is also evident in the following quote by Carla:
What it’s really about, is sharing something human with someone else. (…) And, maybe it sounds silly, but to be real with people. When I work with people, to not just be a subordinate, but to really work, and give something, and to feel that what you’ve given has an impact on the person in front of you. (…) It’s an exchange, it’s about sharing.
(Interview Carla)
42
This quote adds another dimension to sharing: the dancers also have something to
give, and the strong desire to do so. They are independent in their quest for
knowledge and experiences, as well as in their mission of sharing what they’ve
learnt, feel and think. This reasoning closely resembles Leadbeater’s We-Think
(2009) philosophy and his emphasis on relationships: the sharing of knowledge and
experiences is what ultimately makes this creative economy such an exciting
environment to be a part of – this creative currency is what makes a freelance
dancer’s life rich.
4.3.2 The FREE in Freelancing Another significant advantage in freelancing is the freedom it offers dancers: the
survey participants were asked how much they agreed with the statement ‘I freelance
because I enjoy the independence it gives me’, resulting in 53,1% agreeing with the
statement, and 20,8% strongly agreeing:
Figure 4.9 Dancers value the independence of freelancing
0.0%$
10.0%$
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30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
I"freelance"because"I"enjoy"the"independence"it"gives"me"
43
33 out of the 47 participants who answered the optional question ‘Please briefly state
two of the most enjoyable aspects of being a freelance dancer’ mentioned freedom.
Freelancing gives dancers the possibility to be independent, and thus arrange their
schedule according to their own priorities. One of the participants responded:
The freedom of having times where you can do other things and organise your life like you want to, train however you wish. It’s a very pleasant balancing act, between the need to work, the desire to work, and the desire of doing other things.
(Survey Participant)
Freelancing is described as a ‘pleasant balancing act’ – although it is a struggle, it is
an enjoyable one. Dancers relish the opportunity to commit themselves to their own
vision of dance, whilst also being able to focus on other activities – a precious rarity,
considering the intense training and commitment required of them throughout their
education and career, as reported by the IOTPD (1997, p. 9).
Freelancing also gives them the opportunity to make their own artistic choices: ‘The
freedom of making your own choices about where you want to go and who you want
to work with’ was a response to the optional survey question regarding the positive
aspects of freelancing. This freedom to choose is extremely important in
understanding why dancers freelance: indeed, choreographers play a significant part
in how a dancer experiences work; this will be explained in detail in chapter 4.4.4.
You can choose as a freelancer, you’re allowed to choose as a freelancer. You don’t have the right to choose when you’re in a company. You don’t choose who will come and work on the next creation. But you can choose which audition you do: if you want to work with the person, you go audition for them. (…) On one side you’re sometimes out of work, sometimes it’s hard to find work, but you’re free. (…) If you don’t want to work on something you can say no, I don’t like this.
(Interview Carla)
It appears that freelancers are thus in a precarious, yet at the same time privileged
position of being able to choose work they find artistically stimulating, in comparison
to company dancers who may not always have the choice in who they work with
44
next. When asked about the importance of financial remuneration in accepting a
contract for a dance project, the survey participants were presented with different
situations and allowed to pick several answers:
Figure 4.10 Importance of financial remuneration in accepting a dance contract
These results reveal a paradox: a majority of dancers would choose to refuse a
dance contract if they didn’t find it interesting, sacrificing financial rewards for artistic
integrity as described by Lloyd (2002) in chapter 2.3, yet many of them indicated that
they would accept the contract, either for financial reasons or to boost their CV. Carla
expressed similar views in her interview, stating lack of experience as the reason for
not allowing herself to refuse a contract with choreographers whose work she didn’t
enjoy:
I think I don’t have enough experience to say no yet. These are famous names, they have contacts everywhere, to refuse for nothing… I don’t know. It could still be interesting. (…) And at the same time I want to dance so much that I don’t think I could refuse a dance job, even if I didn’t like it… unless it wasn’t to a professional standard, if it felt like a school fair or something. That would be bad for my career…
(Interview Carla)
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Dancing$is$my$job,$not$only$a$passion.$If$I$get$offered$a$dance$contract$for$a$project$I$don't$enjoy,$I$will$take$it$because$dancing$is$how$I$earn$
money$
I'm$willing$to$earn$liEle$money$in$order$to$dance$professionally$because$dancing$is$my$passion$
Financial$remuneraGon$is$important,$but$I'd$rather$earn$money$doing$other$jobs$than$working$on$a$dance$project$I$don't$enjoy$
If$I$get$offered$a$contract$for$a$dance$project$I$don't$enjoy,$I$will$accept$it$for$the$valuable$experience$I$can$gain$from$it$and$to$boost$my$CV,$but$
not$because$of$the$financial$remuneraGon$
45
The vocational drive to keep dancing, coupled with the financial precarity most
freelance dancers endure, make this freedom of choice difficult to seize – it is thus a
fragile a freedom, but one dancers value nonetheless. A less precarious and
competitive market would possibly reinforce this freedom, giving dancers more space
to manoeuvre their career according to their artistic vision.
The third facet of freedom that this independent lifestyle offers dancers is the
possibility to create their own work. As illustrated in chapter 2, the creative economy
and advances in technology have given people the power to be creative: it seems
that freelance dancers are now seizing this power, partially in response to job
scarcity that would otherwise have them depart from dance – something these artists
driven by vocation simply refuse; a survey participant chose to freelance because
quitting was unimaginable: ‘Otherwise I would have to quit, which I don’t consider to
be an option’.
61% of the survey participants indicated that they worked on their own dance
projects, whilst 43% of those who didn’t said they were interested in doing so:
Figure 4.11 Percentage of responses for the question ‘If you don't work on the creation of personal projects, would you be interested to do so?’
43%$
18%$
39%$
Yes$ No$ Not$Sure$
46
It appears that a new mindset is beginning to emerge amidst freelance dancers,
which is mirrored in the growth of independent dance companies.
In his article ‘The struggle for the soul of British Dance’, Jennings (2015) describes
the new wave of contemporary dancers emerging from the creative economy as
follows:
Today, many conservatoire graduates would rather do their own thing than work for a big-name choreographer. As one puts it: “If I was a fine artist I wouldn’t want to do someone else’s painting, so why as a dancer would I want to do someone else’s dancing?”
(Jennings, 2015)
Creating their own work is a fulfilling way for dancers to realise their creative
potential, without relying on a contract in an over-saturated work market. The
collaborative aspect of creating a piece with fellow dancers is also highly
appreciated; again, Leadbeater’s We-Think (2009) ethos is present in freelance
dancers’ attitudes:
I love the feeling of making something together, of meshing our ideas without an authority figure watching over our shoulders. It's scary to have to make decisions but the work in the studio is exciting and satisfying, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
(Survey Participant)
Creating one’s own projects, or collaborating with other artists, is thus seen as
immensely fulfilling – a welcome alternative to quitting dance or even a steady
contract with a company. This type of creative work is also the pathway to something
deeper and more personal: a journey of self-discovery and empowerment. Just as
Howkins (2005, p. 117) values the personal aspect of ideas and imagination, so too
do freelance dancers, in the quest for a successful artistic and personal identity:
(…) It’s really liberating and empowering to know you can do what is really meaningful to you. It gives you the right to be honest with yourself and your thoughts.
(Survey Participant)
Sorignet (2010, p. 142) describes how essential it is for dancers to find answers to
47
existential questions by translating profoundly interiorised desires and instincts into
movement. This type of physical introspection is all the more personal in their own
work.
Difficulties and struggle, inherent to their career, also provide a test of character;
once overcome, the triumph shapes their professional identity :
I’m so happy to be where I am today, and sometimes I cry because it’s so difficult, it’s exhausting, but at the same time I’m so thankful to have gone through this, because thanks to this I know myself, I know my worth.
(Interview Carla)
All in all, a majority of survey participants indicated being satisfied with their choice of
career: 49% agreed with the statement ‘I am happy with my choice to become a
freelance dancer’, whilst 16,7% strongly agreed. However, 26% expressed a neutral
opinion, and 8,3% were dissatisfied with their choice: for a career so heavily
constructed on vocation, this answer may seem surprising – the following section will
explore in greater detail the difficulties of this lifestyle, which can lead to the reticence
expressed above.
4.4 The difficulties that have an impact on a dancer’s professional identity
As discussed in chapter 2.5, artistic professions struggle to gain recognition as ‘real
jobs’. The themes that emerged from the TA of the research illustrate a reality that is
a far cry from an amusing hobby; although dance is a vocational career, giving
dancers joy, a freelance dancer’s life is rife with struggle. The following section will
describe the obstacles that freelance dancers face in the current creative economy,
and how they perceive them.
4.4.1 The multiple aspects of instability The TA of the research results revealed that instability is one of the most prominent
48
causes of dancers’ dissatisfaction with their chosen path. This instability manifests
itself in various ways.
First and foremost, it takes on the guise of precarity, and this on several levels:
financial, emotional and physical. As discussed in chapter 2, freelance dancers’
financial situations are precarious: they often have to rely on unemployment benefits
to bridge the unavoidable gaps between dance contracts, or supplement their income
through polyactivity; 24 of the 49 survey participants who answered the optional
question ‘Please describe two of the most difficult aspects of being a freelance
dancer’ specifically voiced concern over the financial instability inherent to this
profession: ‘No financial security whatsoever be this in the present or in the future.
The salary of certain projects is very slim, and doesn’t enable us to have a satisfying
retirement income’. Even when leaving the beaten track and creating their own
choreographic projects, financial precarity is persistent. When asked to describe the
process of creating their own dance project, 17 of the 27 responses highlighted the
financial difficulties of creation: ‘Getting funds and support is the hardest part’ and
‘Mainly the financial aspect is difficult!’ were a few of these answers. Additionally,
freelance dancers’ precarity is amplified by their reliance on their physical instrument,
and the self-doubt accompanying this career.
Rannou and Roharik (2006, pp. 236-237) argue that the physical precarity isn’t solely
due to the risk of injuries (for more information, see Appendix 7.1.5): the physical
requirements in professional dance are such that dancers must train regularly, daily,
to maintain their physical condition - yet access to good quality dance classes is
sometimes rare, or expensive, or both. When employed, a dancer’s day usually
begins with a warm-up class, before leading into rehearsals for the choreography
they are working on; the dancers are thus given the possibility to stay in shape.
When freelance dancers are between contracts, an unavoidable situation in today’s
49
artistic market, they must still maintain their physical technique; in order to do so,
most dancers pay to take classes in dance schools or workshops – a costly
enterprise. Many freelance dancers struggle to stay in shape to obtain the next
contract and maintain themselves in their chosen professional field. 70,8% of the
survey participants expressed how difficult it was for them to stay in shape: many
resorted to other ways of training besides dancing, including yoga or going to the
gym.
Figure 4.12 Freelance dancers struggle with staying in shape
Figure 4.13 Ways in which freelance dancers stay in shape
71%$
16%$13%$
Dancers$finding$it$difficult$to$stay$in$shape$ Dancers$who$don't$find$it$difficult$to$stay$in$shape$
Undecided$
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70.0%$
80.0%$
90.0%$
100.0%$
Dance$classes/workshops$
Going$to$the$gym$ Working$out$at$home$
Pilates$or$Yoga$ Other$
50
One of the survey participants expressed the difficulty of staying in shape as follows:
We alternate days and sometimes weeks without regular training, even though our body needs it. Sometimes, even the projects we’re working on don’t offer any classes in the morning. We have to warm up alone. And this is difficult sometimes, because by training alone, we only do what we like to do or know, and so we don’t improve anymore.
(Survey Participant)
This difficulty of staying in shape is also keenly felt by Melina, who teaches dance
classes and works in a non-artistic job in order to supplement her income:
So, in terms of taking dance classes, since um… since the month of February, no, March, since I’ve started teaching, well I can’t do those anymore. I really can’t. Sometimes I try to get in early before I teach and to warm up, and work for myself. (…) But it’s hard, it’s really hard.
(Interview Melina)
Melina is not alone in this situation: 50% of the survey participants revealed they had
to complement their income from dance with other work, whereas 32% declared that
this depended on the number of contracts they’d had in the past months; only 18%
earned enough from their artistic labour to not have to resort to polyactivity.
Polyactivity is proving to become a new norm for freelance dancers; whilst it can help
these artists maintain themselves in the industry by supplementing their artistic
income, it can also pose a threat to their professional identity. Rolle and Moeschler
(2014, p. 157) report how difficult it is for young Swiss actors to associate polyactivity
with their artistic craft. Rannou and Roharik (2006, pp. 246-247) as well as Sorignet
(2010, p. 111) argue that this is even more complicated for dancers, considering the
time and energy they must devote to their physical training.
4.4.2 Uncertainty in freelance dance careers
4.4.2.1 The burden of auditions Emotionally, the freelance lifestyle can take its toll on dancers’ professional identities:
freelance dance contracts are short, obliging most dancers to audition frequently for
51
new projects. Sorignet (2010, p. 68) describes the particularity of auditions: dancers
are in direct competition with one another, in the same room, at the same time,
comparing themselves to colleagues and often their own friends in the process. Most
of the time, hundreds of dancers apply for just one available contract. Competition is
fierce, and perceived as such by the dancers themselves: when asked how fierce
they felt auditions to be, 38,5% of the survey participants answered ‘Very fierce’.
Figure 4.14 How dancers perceive the competitiveness during auditions
Women in particular are affected more deeply by this competitiveness than their male
colleagues according to Sorignet (2010, p. 79): the predominance of women in this
profession places them in a more precarious position; they must face more
competitors than their male colleagues, and are as such generally held against a
higher technical standard.
The success rate of auditions is perceived as incredibly low: 69% of survey
participants were of the opinion that auditioning rarely results in obtaining a dance
contract, with only 5% affirming that auditions were an effective way of getting hired.
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Not$at$all$fierce:$1$ 2$ 3$ 4$ Very$fierce:$5$
52
The audition process is physically and emotionally demanding for dancers, occurring
all the more frequently for freelance dancers. In response to the optional question
‘Please briefly state two of the most difficult aspects of being a freelance dancer’, 16
out of 49 responses described the frequent auditions as burdensome: ‘We are
always in the process of looking for the next job, even if at that time we have one’.
Only 13,5% of survey participants replied that they enjoyed auditions:
Figure 4.15 Answers to the question ‘Generally, would you say you enjoy auditions?’
Dancers learn early on that success in this profession may elude them: talent and
hard work alone aren’t a guarantee. Melina describes this issue:
I think dance is a very subjective field. (…) [Choreographers] will fall for a certain personality that can inspire them. (…) It’s not because you’re a great technical dancer that choreographers will like you. For me, that’s kind of the problem. (…) And that’s why, yeah, it’s by persevering, by asking and taking classes with companies you like, that’s how you make it. But you need to hang in there, it’s really difficult, at least for me that’s what’s difficult.
(Interview Melina)
The subjectivity of choreographers’ choices is a determining factor in dancers’
13%$
43%$
44%$
Yes$ No$ It$depends$
53
careers. As such, auditions may sometimes appear unfair, arbitrarily determining
dancers’ fates, according to Sorignet (2010, p. 97). Carla echoes the feeling that
auditions aren’t always based on dancer’s merit: ‘First of all, there’s a lot of string-
pulling during auditions. People know each other beforehand usually’. She highlights
the importance of cultivating the right network: ‘In the end it’s all about the network
you create. You need to create a connection with them and maybe someday you’ll
work with them, but you need to create that connection’. 96% of survey participants
agreed with this opinion, stating that networking was important to get a job in the
dance world, whilst 4% were undecided - none of the participants responded
negatively. Sorignet (2010, pp. 70-71) and Rannou and Roharik (2006, p. 233)
explain how networking among freelance dancers is paramount for dancers’ survival
in the professional sphere. As described in chapter 2.3, Leadbeater and Oakley
(2005), Baker and Aldrich (1996) as well as Florida (2002a) emphasize the
importance of network and social capital in the current creative economy; the dance
world is no different.
Persevering and networking are essential, yet can be exhausting for dancers,
physically as well as morally. The constant rejection can take its toll on dancers and
their professional identity: ‘When, you do 10 auditions, and the 10 answers are no,
you have to be strong, stay focused and be focused on your goals. This is the most
difficult part as a freelance dancer’ was an answer from a survey participant. Along
with feelings of self-doubt comes the fear of not finding another contract, and seeing
one’s career fade away.
4.4.2.2 The End is near! 11 out of the 49 survey respondents to the optional question concerning the
difficulties of a freelance dancer’s career expressed fear of the impending end of their
career: ‘The trust that it is continuing, that I am good enough’ or ‘Being insecure all
54
the time about whether you are going to manage to find new projects or not’ were a
couple of such answers. As discussed previously, the new creative economy has
generated a hyperflexible and hypercompetitive work market, in which employment
opportunities in dance don’t match the oversupply of artists; underemployment and
unemployment, coupled with precarity and the brevity of dance careers, all contribute
to generating a feeling of ‘professional urgency’, described by Rannou and Roharik
(2006, p. 17), and echoed in the answers of the survey participants. The study by
Rannou and Roharik confirmed that a dancer’s maintenance in the job market is
indeed fragile: after 13 years on the job market, only 25% of dancers had remained
at the end of their study, which gathered data concerning French professional dance
artists between 1987 and 2000. This ‘professional urgency’ is acutely felt by dancers,
as this response to the survey illustrates: ‘Stress of having jobs, the search of new
projects can be stressful’. Carla expressed concern over how much longer she would
be able to work with a choreographer whom she felt had contributed greatly to her
artistic development: ‘I need more time with him, but I don’t know if I’ll get that time,
because I don’t know how things will go’. The urge to improve as an artist is constant,
as is the desire to evolve on stage, yet dancers are extremely conscious of the
ephemerality of their chosen career, especially in the current professional
environment. Inevitable gaps between contracts are thus all the more difficult to bear
for this young population. The following answers by survey participants illustrate their
frustration with the situation: ‘hollow periods without contracts that can be morally
very trying’ and ‘hollow periods that are too long’.
A freelance career is inherently unstable, yet the case of dancers is particular: the
instability reaches further than their bank accounts – it has a direct impact on their
bodies and their professional identity, placing them under the strain of professional
urgency.
55
4.4.3 The other side of the coin
4.4.3.1 Bohemia and the path to Loneliness One positive aspect of freelancing that was commonly cited by the research
participants was variety, in the form of travels and different encounters as well as
experiences. Yet when asked to describe two of the most difficult aspects of a career
in freelance dancing, many participants lamented the instability and loneliness
accompanying the profession. The bohemia that seemed so appealing to Florida
(2002a), and which enables freelance dancers to live an experiential life, is also the
source of much anguish. 11 out of the 49 survey participants who answered the
optional question about the difficulties of freelancing admitted that maintaining
relationships or friendships due to the mobility required of them was complicated:
‘You go where the work is. Keeping a private life, friends, family, loved ones… is
hard’ and ‘You change people and friends all the time, it’s hard to build stronger
relations with people’ were among these answers. Freelance dancers sacrifice a
stable home for their vocation. Mobility is a given for dancers, although Sorignet
(2010, p. 233) argues that a lassitude of Bohemia settles in after a while.
4.4.3.2 The fiery pits of administration
The possibility of making one’s own choices artistically was also relished by survey
participants, yet this freedom comes with responsibility. Administration is an
increasing feature in freelance dancers’ careers: 81% of survey participants agreed
that freelance dancers had ‘dual careers’, referring to the issue of combining the
profession’s creative side with its administrative side. For some dancers,
administration represents a new burden to carry: ‘It is very cumbersome in terms of
organising work time and all the necessary administrative work’ was one of the 10
out of 49 answers specifically mentioning administration in response to the optional
question about the difficult aspects of a freelance career. 53,1% of survey
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participants agreed that they sometimes felt like their own manager, whilst 39,6%
strongly agreed with this statement:
Figure 4.16 Freelance dancing is a dual career
When asked to describe the process of creating their own projects, almost all of the
survey participants expressed how difficult it was to combine creativity with
administration:
Time consuming. 70% is administration. Maybe 20% of my resources and capacity are available for the creative part. I love that part!
(Survey Participant)
I feel like sometimes what I finally do on stage is really not the biggest part of my work. This is why I only do 10 performances/year and I go on production contracts to complete my income. So much work... but it is priceless to be free.
(Survey Participant)
Freelance dancers sometimes dream of a ‘division of labour’ (Lacassagne, 2012, p.
187) in which artistic and administrative identities are separated. Melina describes
her vision of having a long-term contract with a dance company as follows:
There’s still this part of me that thinks it would be great, you wouldn’t
0.0%$
10.0%$
20.0%$
30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
"I#feel#like#I'm#my#own#manager#as#well#as#a#dancer"#
57
have a care in the world other than dancing, you’d just be paid to rehearse all day and perform onstage, going on tour… it’s a luxury!
(Interview Melina)
The dream of being able to wholly devote oneself to dance still prevails among many
dancers: creativity is almost opposed to administration.
Yet some see it as an opportunity to gain more knowledge; one of the survey
participants answered ‘Positive: to be one’s own boss and make one’s own choices
artistically and administratively, when it comes to communication and broadcasting’
when asked to describe the process of creating one’s own project. Carla also
expressed enthusiasm when describing the administrative work her freelance dance
career required, summing it up with ‘When you know how to do a lot of things, you
can create whatever you want’.
The career of a freelance dancer is dual in more ways than one: aspects such as
independence and travels, mentioned as positive traits of a freelance career, entailed
difficulties as well; the coin is always double-sided.
4.4.4 The power of the dancer-choreographer relationship on freelance dancers’ professional identities
It is also worth mentioning that dancers’ work environment is heavily influenced by
the choreographers they work for; as Sorignet (2010, pp. 20-21) describes,
choreographers leave a lasting imprint on dancers’ bodies, by influencing their way of
moving. The more dancers work for a certain choreographer, the more difficult it
becomes for them to stay versatile – yet dancers must remain versatile, even though
their portfolio career may sometimes entail several contracts with the same
employer: it’s a special scenario of portfolio career, which happens frequently in the
dance world according to Rannou and Roharik (2006, p. 22) because of the scarcity
of full year dance contracts in the current creative economy.
58
The author attempted to discover if there were any differences regarding the
relationship between choreographer and dancer when it came to full-year contracts.
Whilst 60% of survey participants said there was no difference in the relationship
between choreographer and dancer according to the length of contract, Carla
expressed a slightly different opinion when comparing working as a freelance dancer
to working for a repertoire company:
Carla: The pieces are often smaller, there aren’t any pieces for 15 people when you’re working freelance. It’s often pieces for only 4-5 people, it’s duos or solos, stuff like that. And that’s it for me, that’s when you learn, being with a choreographer who is really there to take you somewhere. Whereas in repertoire companies, the choreographer is there because the company commissioned a piece, you work with him or her for 3 weeks, sure, but if you’re not cast, there’s cast drama, etc… The author: You don’t find that in projects? Carla: No, if they hire you it’s because they want to work with you. So you don’t have those issues anymore, they hire you for who you are.
(Interview Carla)
According to Carla, the exchange between dancer and choreographer during short
term contracts is perhaps more artistically fulfilling than what is possible in a
repertoire company: in project-work, budgets are smaller, so less dancers are hired,
perhaps making it easier for dancers and choreographers to connect on a more
human level. In answer to the optional question ‘When do you identify as an artist, or
on the contrary as a subordinate? Does the choreographer's behaviour towards you
have any impact on this?’, 25 out of the 30 survey participants who answered agreed
that the choreographer has an enormous impact on whether a dancer feels like an
artist, or a subordinate:
A choreographer can treat you as an employee, as a body that he/she needs in order to make his/her work, or they can treat you as a creative entity, with a mind, a vision, your own valuable perspective on whatever subject you are collaborating on. (…) And that attitude changes the work environment in the studio immensely.
(Survey Participant)
59
(…) When the choreographer completely stifles the personality of the dancer, and the dancer becomes a performing machine.
(Survey Participant)
Some of the survey participants thus denounced the dehumanisation of dancers at
the hands of choreographers. The opportunity for dancers to express their own
creativity is essential to their self-perception as artists: this fully joins the Creative
Ethos described by Florida (2002a) and Leadbeater (2009). Many dancers now
expect and require the possibility to express their own ideas in their careers.
Rannou and Roharik (2006 p. 134) equally voice their concern over the perception
that dancers are mere tools, whose artistic and human sides are separated. Yet
freelance dancers have freedom of choice, as explained in chapter 4.3.2: ‘I choose
which choreographers I work with, so I usually feel fulfilled in my position as artist. I
find I have a lot of room to manoeuvre and decide in this’ was the answer of one
survey participant.
Whilst dancers’ positions have become increasingly precarious with the rise of
freelancing in the creative economy, their new-found independence also empowers
them to shape their career according to their artistic vision and sense of self. Dancers
are free to choose to work with choreographers who will reinforce their artistic
identity, rather than suffocate it – a luxury that dancers in full year contracts are
perhaps not always afforded.
4.5 Breaking through stigma – how freelancing can empower dancers instead of hinder them
There is no doubt that the creative economy has influenced dance as a profession
and redefined how dancers experience their trade. The rise of independent dancers,
60
the decrease in contract lengths, and the new creative ethos have impacted on
dancers’ professional environment, offering freedom whilst increasing precarity. As
one survey participant expressed: ‘The freedom is only relative!’. 77% of survey
participants view their freelance career as liberating and constraining at the same
time; the strain of devoting precious time and energy to administrative tasks,
additionally to the professional urgency described earlier, may explain the struggle
with this new professional environment dancers find themselves in. Additionally, 16
of the 34 answers to the optional question ‘What made you decide to pursue a
freelance dance career?’ implied that the independent lifestyle wasn’t a conscious
decision, but rather simply the effect of a hyperflexible work market.
Furthermore, dancers sometimes perceive stigma surrounding their independent
lifestyle. Several survey participants addressed the issue of respect when asked
about the difficulties of freelance dancing: ‘Money and respect’ and ‘The perception
some people sometimes have of independent artists, I’m thinking for example of this
“profiteering and lazy image” that independent artists drag along with them’ were two
of these answers. Carla also described the fear many dance students have when
graduating from a professional training course without a contract in perspective:
(…) it’s always kind of the end of the world when you leave (…) school. They say “Oh I don’t have a contract”… They imagine that there’s nothing left, that there’s only death after or something. And no, that’s not the case. It’s not easy, what happens after, but if you manage to overcome it then you’re king of the world. (…) You’re serene, you know you can count on yourself. And that’s really good, to know yourself.
(Interview Carla)
This is representative of a new attitude adopted by dancers: whilst there is still
apprehension about embarking on a freelance dance career branded by precarity,
freelance dancers are increasingly displaying entrepreneurial skills. Chapter 2
explored how the Creative Industries have developed a new generation of
61
Independents – freelance dancers are a part of this group. The creative practitioners
as described by Leadbeater and Oakley (2005), Howkins (2005), and Florida (2002a)
are being hailed as the new ideal workforce – and many freelance dancers now
seem prepared to take on the challenges of their new professional environment,
administrative tasks included. Far from being ‘profiteering and lazy’, these
independent artists are dealing with a new professional environment that is calling on
them to demonstrate their entrepreneurial side. Whilst 16 survey participants
indicated that their independent lifestyle was a consequence of their professional
environment rather than a choice, 16 others consciously chose to freelance,
sometimes even abandoning a steady contract for it:
After having experienced the large professional structures, principally as a classical and neo-classical dancer, I felt imprisoned, “obligated to…”, like a factory worker. I decided to seek more freedom, more risks, trying out my abilities left and right in order to have different and varied experiences at my own rhythm, and principally to experiment in the contemporary field.
(Survey Participant)
To achieve specific goals and to take advantage of my own artistic freedom.
(Survey Participant)
Dancers are willing to cope with a freelance career fraught with difficulties; this
demonstrates their commitment to their work and their risk-taking nature, two
qualities hailed by Leadbeater and Oakley (2005) in chapter 2.
Burns (2007, pp. 5-33) describes how many Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are
now offering a more diverse curriculum than what used to be taught twenty years
ago: they’ve recognised the new demands of the creative economy, consequently
urging their dance students to develop their entrepreneurial side. Instead of only
preparing students for a traditional career in a dance company, contemporary dance
HEI’s are now aiming to open their students up to a broad range of careers in dance;
62
Jennings (2015) quotes Janet Smith in his article:
‘ “We can’t turn the clock back to a time when we were fantastic for some students and others failed,” says Janet Smith, principal of NSCD in Leeds. “We have to ask: to what extent can we open up their full potential, and joining a traditional dance company is not necessarily the way.” ’
Additionally, the majority of participants of the student survey indicated that they were
open to a freelance career:
Figure 4.17 Dance students' answer shows openness towards freelance careers
The professional dance sphere is now increasingly composed of pebble-like
structures, as described by Leadbeater (2009) in chapter 2. Jennings (2015)
compares the smaller-scale dance enterprises in the UK to the indie music scene, in
which ‘almost all conservatoire graduates will have to start from scratch, assembling
creative projects with like-minded colleagues’.
This is exactly what Melina has done: instead of giving up on dancing because of
lack of contracts, Melina is pursuing her freelance dance career on her own terms:
And now, after many, many auditions, which really tired me out, because… yeah, I kind of gave up on them because… actually I don’t know how to say it, it’s not giving up, it’s just… in dance, it’s
80%$
5%$15%$
Are$you$considering$a$freelance$dance$career?$
Yes$ No$ Not$sure$
63
about leaving the pre-made structures behind. I tell myself, yeah well everyone is going to auditions, everyone wants to be in a company, but surely there’s something else out there to do yourself.
(Interview Melina)
This ‘something else’ turned out to be an independent dance collective based in
Switzerland: together, Carla and Melina founded an association reuniting emerging
dance artists. The aim is to give young dancers the information and advice necessary
to start their own creative projects, as well as providing precious performance
opportunities by collaborating with a broad network of dance artists. Thus, the
possibility of performing a triple bill at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe emerged:
together with five other dance artists, the author was part of the organisation of this
project. The realisation of this enterprise required numerous organisational tasks and
skills including, but not limited to, marketing and press relations: everything from the
venue hire to the promotion of the show was undertaken by the dance artists
themselves. The organisation for the production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
spanned over several months, from December to August 2015, culminating in nine
performances from the 7th to the 15th August 2015.
Seeing as the budget was extremely limited, the dancers undertook all the
administrative work, as well as the creative aspect of choreographing and dancing
the show itself, for almost no salary at all – making the project a curious blend of
financial disinterest and entrepreneurial ambitions, one of many similar enterprises
now comprising the professional dance sphere (for more information on this project,
see Appendix 7.1.7).
Dancers everywhere are now faced with the challenge of embracing a new
professional environment: a decidedly precarious, hyperflexible work market,
requiring passionate artists to invent new ways to fulfil their creative ambitions.
64
Dancers are fast learning to adapt to the obligations of a freelance career:
administration has become an essential part of dance careers, whilst low wages are
turning polyactivity into a necessity for most dance artists. Dancers acknowledge
these difficulties, yet the freedom and the variety of experiences a freelance career
offers are motivation enough for dancers to not only continue in this profession, but
also pave the way for new career paths in dance. Dancers are now compelled to be
creative not only in their dance, but also in the construction of their career.
65
5 Conclusion The creative economy has had many repercussions on our society and culture.
Creativity is now the standard by which success is measured: a new generation of
Independents is embracing technology and entrepreneurial values as described by
Leadbeater and Oakley (2005). Our current professional landscape is comprised of
microbusinesses and portfolio careers: Florida (2002a) and Arthur and Rousseau
(1996) even argue that lifelong careers in single organisations are slowly dwindling
away.
This is also reflected in artistic careers, which are inherently creative. Artists too are
now increasingly self-employed, or freelance, working for and collaborating with
multiple people and organisations.
Yet even in this economy so intrinsically defined by creativity, artistic labour struggles
to be perceived as real work (Agnew, 2012; IOTPD, 1997). The reviewed literature
on the artists’ workplace and dance, coupled with the information gathered through
the research, collectively paint a comprehensive picture of freelance dancers’
professional environment: a climate defined by precarity.
Freelance dancers contend with financial precarity, a result of low income, short
contracts, and a hyperflexible and hypercompetitive market. Lulls in employment are
inevitable, as evidenced by the research results and Menger (2002). Yet these gaps
in employment present a significant challenge for freelance dancers’ professional
identities: their careers are short compared to other professions, because of the
important physical requirements. On top of this, as an artistic profession it is heavily
driven by vocation: these two factors converge to create a sense of professional
urgency strongly felt by dancers. The hyperflexible market and oversupply of dancers
also make it increasingly difficult for graduates to enter the professional market
explains Sorignet (2010, p. 70). The new generation of contemporary freelance
66
dancers is now pushed into new professional identities by the professional
environment. As the research has shown, many dancers value the independence
and artistic freedom that freelance careers offer: they are now increasingly creating
their own work and forming their own ‘businesses’ as described by Jennings (2015).
Their artistic identities are closely linked to the space that is given to them for
creative self-expression, as illustrated by the research results concerning the
relationship between choreographers and dancers. Many dancers now expect to
have creative input in the choreographies they participate in, and are embracing their
entrepreneurial side by embarking on their own projects; yet this must be done with
care so as not to threaten their artistic identity; indeed, it is difficult for dancers to
marry the physical requirements of their profession with the administrative aspect of
a freelance career, as evidenced in chapter 4.
The RP (2014) identified some key improvement areas so as to facilitate dancers’
working conditions in Switzerland: first of all, the budgets allocated to the creation of
independent dance projects should be increased to include the hire of appropriate
administrative representation. Not only would this enable dance artists to invest more
time and energy into the creation of their own work, but it would also ensure that the
funded creations have a broader cultural impact and longer life. Secondly, for
‘technically light’ dance projects requiring little administrative work, punctual and
flexible financial help should be established so as to facilitate access to funding and
lessen the burden of financial precarity for emerging dance artists.
As it is, freelance dancers everywhere now face the challenge of adopting an
entrepreneurial attitude and finding ways to combine it with their artistic identity.
Burns describes the situation as follows:
The most important entrepreneurial and professional skills required of the dancer are that they are highly skilled technicians, intelligent, creative, reflective artists able to work confidently and imaginatively with others able to transform ideas into the medium of movement as
67
well as replicate, learn and interpret given vocabulary, and that they are confident advocates for the art form.
(Burns, 2007, p. 18)
HEIs offering professional dance training are now incorporating a broader view of
dance as a profession into their curriculum. Bennett (2009, p. 33) calls for a
redefinition of success in dance careers by offering dance students a more holistic
understanding of their profession, including portfolio careers and polyactivity.
Freelance dancers now necessitate a multitude of skills as shown by the research
results. Bennett argues that instead of ‘dispelling students’ dreams and aspirations,
perhaps this way we can add to them and make them all the more achievable’ (2009,
p.34). The IOTPD expresses the issue as follows:
Where dancers are now required to be most creative is in their own lives – to make a major paradigm shift in the way they view themselves, their working world, roles and responsibilities. By taking charge of knowing and developing themselves in multifaceted and satisfying ways, dancers will be able to stay available to their art, to the performing weeks they can contract for, and to have a life enriched beyond the minimal existence of the unemployment check.
IOTPD, 1997, p.65
Freelance dancers have the skills to shape their own successful professional identity,
instead of being defined by an economy of precarity. This is a challenge, yet one that
an increasing number of freelance dancers is taking on with bravado: the rise of
freelance dancers needn’t only be a symptom of a hyperflexible and precarious
market – freelance dancers are now consciously embarking on their own creative
journeys by combining entrepreneurialism and artistic imagination, and embodying
their personal artistic vision through collaborative projects with like-minded
individuals.
68
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7 Appendices
7.1 An insight into a dancer’s life
7.1.1 The difference between classical and contemporary dance Dance encompasses a large spectrum of different styles, such as Hip-Hop, Jazz,
Ballroom, Folk and Breakdance. Amongst these, Classical and Contemporary Dance
are the most prominent in professional dance structures in Switzerland, according to
Baumgartner and Hostettler (2014, p. 44). Classical and contemporary dance are
vastly different styles, each with its own movement vocabulary and history.
Classical dance saw its origins in Italy and France at the beginning of the
Renaissance according to Liechtenhan (1983, p. 32). In 1661, Louis XIV founded the
Académie Royale de la Danse, which marked the beginning of professional dance.
Classical dance subsequently evolved into a highly specialised art form, with strictly
codified movement vocabulary. Volynsky (2008, p. 132) describes classical dance as
an ‘exaltation’ in which the dancer’s body is defined by the vertical line linking earth
and sky, triumphing over gravity itself. Baumgartner and Hostettler (2014, p. 44)
highlight the importance of ‘turnout’ in Classical dance, which refers to the outward-
facing position of dancers’ hips, legs and feet, and on which the five positions of
classical ballet are based.
Figure 7.1 The five positions of classical ballet (Zacharias, 1993, p.10)
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Classical dance has evolved greatly since its beginnings; in most classical
companies nowadays, the programme presented is a mix of classical and neo-
classical work. Classical companies are mostly state-subsidised, presenting a
selection of dance pieces or ‘repertoire’ created by different choreographers
throughout their performing season (usually August to June). They usually have strict
hierarchies, which ranks dancers according corps de ballet (or artists), coryphées (or
first artists), soloists, and, at the top, principal dancers. Baumgartner and Hostettler
(2014, p. 44) describe how it is usually a ballet master who gives the company
dancers a warm-up class six days a week, before moving on to rehearsals in which
he or she either assists the choreographer during the creation of a piece, or teaches
the dancers existing repertoire. Company dancers employed by such structures
usually have full year contracts that are renewable at the end of every season, thus
providing a relatively stable income.
Contemporary dance however appeared at the end of the 19th century according to
Sorignet (2010, pp. 12-17), in Europe and the USA, as a rejection of the classical
dance codes imposed on dancers for centuries. Sorignet describes how instead of
focusing on dancers’ physical virtuosities, more attention is given to dancers’ inner
life in contemporary dance. Dancers’ bodies don’t necessarily have to correspond to
a specific mould: there is more room for individuality. Baumgartner and Hostettler
(2014, p. 45) explain how contemporary dance seeks to use gravity as a driving force
for movement instead of trying to overcome it like in classical dance.
Since the 1980’s many different contemporary styles have evolved: there isn’t one
true contemporary technique, but rather each choreographer creates his or her own
movement vocabulary, explain Baumgartner and Hostettler (2014, p. 45).
Improvisation is central to current contemporary dance creations, in which dancers
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are generally given different guidelines to follow, which influence their way of moving.
7.1.2 Dance education Dancers, especially classical ballet dancers, generally start their professional training
extremely early. The IOTPD (1997, p. 25) describes how dancers usually decide
between the ages of ten and fifteen whether they will commit to dance as a career
choice. This is because the physical requirements of classical ballet are strict,
necessitating early training, when the ligaments and joints are still forming, to mould
the body into the classical physical ideal. Many contemporary freelance dancers
started out as classical dancers, such as Carla and Melina. Both started their dance
training at a young age, following gruelling schedules:
I started dance when I was 4 years old. We had adjustable timetables so we could leave school earlier, so from when I was 11, I finished school around 3.30 pm or something like that. And um… after, I did my Year 11 with an adjustable timetable as well, in a college. Still with the conservatory of Annecy, and then I went to the US for a year, at the Virginia School of the Arts. And there, I did my junior year, in a high school. I was in a dance school at the same time, we would dance the whole afternoon, from midday to 8pm, I used to dance around 25 hours a week, I was 16. And at the same time, I would study through distance learning with the CNED, for my Year 12 with a focus on science.
(Interview Carla)
I started when I was 8 years old, with ballet, in a tiny school next to my house (…). I did pass the audition for the Janine Stanlowa School, when I was 14, so I was in Year 10. But for that, I had to take the train from Picardie into Paris every morning, to go to school. It would take me an hour in public transport every morning, plus 20 minutes on foot from my place to the station, at 6 in the morning. I’d get to school at 8. I studied at school every morning, then I’d dance all afternoon, and that was in the middle of my teenage crisis, when I was 14. So I’d skip classes a lot at school… It was a “Music” school you know, with adjustable timetables, and I was the only dancer. So it really wasn’t working out for me, I was really, really tired all the time, at 14, taking the train…
(Interview Melina)
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In contemporary dance, dancers can start their training later: the body doesn’t need
to conform to such strict rules as in classical dance, enabling later starts. Men
especially can afford later entries into professional training describes Sorignet (2010,
p. 41), as they face less competition seeing as the dance market is highly feminised.
Female dancers are held to higher technical standards during auditions for vocational
dance courses than men, which implies earlier training. Vocational dance training
requires long hours in the dance studio from the young students, sometimes at the
expense of academic education explains the IOTPD (1997, p. 30). Whereas physical
training used to be the main focus of dance education, the IOTPD (1997, p. 26) and
Burns (2007, pp. 19-31) both describe how dance education institutions are changing
nowadays to incorporate a broader view of dance careers into their curriculum:
business and entrepreneurial skills, vital for freelance dancers, are now integrated in
the taught programme. This is especially true in education institutions focusing on
contemporary dance, whose students are more likely to evolve in freelance careers
than their classical colleagues.
7.1.3 Freelance dancers’ daily routine A freelance dancers’ daily routine is highly irregular, as expressed by Melina in her
interview, as well as several survey participants:
Sometimes you can be lost, don’t know where to go, how many times you have to train per day, and it is also expensive. You have to learn it and organize your life to stay in shape for the many auditions you will have to do during this period.
(Survey Participant)
No daily/weekly structure; Finances changing all the time.
(Survey Participant)
Some weeks/months are way too busy (= no social life), other weeks/months can be too quiet (= time for social life but lack of money)
(Survey Participant)
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When freelance dancers have a contract and are working, their day closely
resembles that of a company dancer: the morning generally comprises a warm-up to
condition body and mind for the upcoming rehearsals of the day. Baumgartner and
Hostettler (2014, p. 47) explain how this can either be a classical ballet class or a
contemporary class, generally lasting an hour to an hour and a half, depending on
the requirements of the subsequent rehearsals. During rehearsals, the
choreographer either works on existing choreography with the dancers to prepare for
an upcoming performance, teaches the dancers new movement phrases or creates
new choreography in collaboration with the dancers, by asking them to propose ideas
which are then incorporated into the movement material. A majority of survey
participants indicated that both the dancers and the choreographer were responsible
for creating the movement during choreographic creations:
Figure 7.2 Movement material is often the result of a collaboration between dancers and choreographer
The working week of a dancer is usually irregular, sometimes including weekends
and evenings according to Baumgartner and Hostettler (2014, p. 47).
However, when a freelance dancer is out of work, they must continue training and
7%#25%#
68%#
In#your#experience,#who#creates#most#of#the#movement#when#working#on#the#crea8on#of#a#
piece#with#a#choreographer?#
The#choreographer# The#dancers# It's#a#mix#of#both#
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find other ways to supplement their income, as described earlier. Carla highlights the
importance of a proactive stance and the irregularity of a freelance dancer’s
schedule:
As a freelance dancer, when you have work it’s all well and good, but if you don’t, you have to create your work for yourself. You have to go take classes, go to the gym. (…) And everything depends, there’s weeks where you do less. And as a freelance dancer you do a lot of things at once. For example, we just created [an association], we just signed the statutes, and opened a bank account. But it’s a lot of administrative work. You need to call this person and another, to know how to register with social security, etc. (…) Replying to e-mails, wondering how I’ll be paid for a performance, things like this take time. (…) You are your own company. It’s up to you to manage things alone, you need to step up to it.
(Interview Carla)
Freelance dancers juggle many activities at once, what with polyactivity, the
necessity of staying in shape, and the new entrepreneurial attitude which encourages
many dancers to start their own projects, thus requiring a multitude of administrative
tasks. It follows then that freelance dancers’ schedules are highly irregular.
7.1.4 The reinforcement of vocation through onstage experiences
As described earlier, moments onstage serve as reinforcements to dancers’ vocation;
the data gathered through the interviews illustrated this phenomenon. When
describing a physically and mentally challenging piece, Carla explained the effects of
the stage as follows:
In the studio it was always really complicated, but on stage you kind of enter this separate dimension. It’s silly to say, but there’s this sort of divine thing on stage, like you have nothing to lose anyway. And you really strip naked emotionally. You know these people will look at you, they might judge you, but there’s no one right there 2 cm away correcting you: “No your arms not like this, no I don’t believe what you’re doing”. On stage, you just live the moment and that’s it, there’s nothing left to do. You let go and you’re completely part of what’s happening. You live another moment, time stops for a bit… you’re in a completely different reality, you’re somewhere else.
(Interview Carla)
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The stage represents another dimension for dancers, a fleeting space where they
can truly let go and simply share this experience of near-divine fulfilment with one
another and the audience. It’s a vulnerable situation, but perhaps this simply adds to
the thrill of it all – the risk of exposing oneself so viscerally, yet so willingly, in front of
other people. Sorignet (2010, p. 188) also describes the stage as an ideal world,
opposed to the real world in which profane life runs its course. As expressed by Carla
above, Sorignet similarly describes the stage as a place where dancers can surpass
themselves – where the impossible becomes possible.
Melina echoes a feeling of total abandon and life lived unto its utmost edge in her
experience of the stage: ‘For me, it’s about feeling as alive as possible, it’s a quest
for that feeling. You give everything you have, you have nothing to lose – it’s now or
never!’.
7.1.5 Injuries and physical precarity Injuries are commonplace in a dancer’s professional environment, an ever-present
hazard threatening to curtail dancers’ careers in one swift motion. Pain is generally
ignored by dancers according to Sorignet (2010, p. 236): it is seen by dancers as an
obstacle to overcome, rather than the body sending an alarm signal, making serious,
career-damaging injuries all the more frequent. Rannou and Roharik (2006, pp. 129-
130) compare dancers to athletes, with the rigorous training they put their bodies
through and their dedicated commitment to dance. It is nonetheless important to
distinguish that dancers evolve in a universe of artistic expression, whilst athletes
evolve in a competitive universe. Although dancers use their body as their tool, it is
more a medium of self-expression: 58,3% of the dancers participating in the survey
indicated that dancing was the easiest way for them to express themselves. This
feeling is echoed by Carla: ‘I prefer expressing myself through dance, because that’s
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simply where I’m most at ease. I’ve learnt to express myself through my body’. It is
therefore understandably devastating when an injury stops a dancer’s career in its
steps: not only do they face losing their livelihood, which they’ve spent years training
for, but they also lose their preferred means of expression.
7.1.6 Auditions Auditions generally last a day or two: dancers are usually first given a warm-up class
in which the employers will assess their technical skills, usually followed by several
audition rounds of repertoire, in which dancers learn extracts from choreographies by
the choreographer or the company they are auditioning for; sometimes dancers are
asked to improvise according to guidelines set by the audition panel. After each
round, there is a cut during which dancers are eliminated from the audition.
Seeing as dance is such an international profession, auditions may take place
anywhere, attracting hundreds of applicants. Dancers must pay for their own travel
and accommodation expenses, with no certainty of a successful outcome.
‘And even beyond that, you need to learn how to audition’. Auditioning is a skill unto
itself, which dancers must develop in order to stand out amidst the tough competition.
You need to know the little things that will make them look at you at the right moment. You need to choose your moment, not think “I have to be amazing the entire time in case they look at me”. You can be rubbish during your entire audition, and they won’t look at you, and then you decide, “Now you’re going to look at me!”, and you’ll stun them and they’ll keep you for the next round. It’ll last ten seconds, but they’ll keep me. It can really last 3 seconds, and you can spend the entire audition in the back, but when you know it’s your strong point, you give everything, you go to the front and you say “This is me”.
(Interview Carla)
With the hypercompetitive market freelance dancers find themselves in, the skill of
knowing how to stand out during an audition is essential.
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7.1.7 Fringe Festival Organisation The independent dance collective created by Carla and Melina enabled the
realisation of a contemporary dance production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The
organisation of a contemporary dance show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival proved
to be a monumental project for a new independent dance collective: as such, tasks
had to be spread out amongst the six dance artists involved in the project, of which
the author was a member of.
The author was principally responsible for Press Relations and Marketing: the press
release of the show had to be sent out to numerous journalists and Fringe
publications in order to attract reviewers, as well as promoters and programmers,
and this on several occasions. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook
were also used in order to create a ‘buzz’ around the event and increase its visibility.
The author also attended the Fringe Festival’s Meet the Media event, during which
the show had to be pitched to numerous journalists.
A crowdfunding campaign was set up as funding from the Swiss Arts Council as well
as different philanthropic foundations was denied on the grounds of the collective not
being well-known enough. The crowdfunding campaign was successful and enabled
the artists to cover the entirety of the costs of the event as well as pay a salary to the
participants.
The promotional artwork was designed by a dancer’s family member, whilst friends of
the participants designed the lighting plan or photographed material for promotional
purposes. Social media played an essential part in finding accommodation, as well
as hiring a videographer for the performance. A photographer was found thanks to an
advertisement placed on the student forum of Edinburgh College of the Arts.
One of the participants attended solely as a choreographer, not as a dancer: she was
therefore also responsible for guiding the technician of the show through the various
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lighting cues, and took on the role of music technician herself.
During the Fringe, the distribution of flyers was an essential part in promoting the
show. In order to attract the attention of passers-by, some of the dance artists
danced in the street, mainly improvising to live music after getting to know street
musicians, whilst the others distributed flyers and pitched the show to potential
audience members. The Virgin Media Street Events also proved to be a successful
promotion tactic: the presentation of short extracts of the three different pieces of the
show on a stage in the middle of the Royal Mile was essential in making the triple bill
known to the audience.
All in all, the Fringe Festival proved to be a successful enterprise for the dance artists
who took part in the event, culminating in a four-star review by BroadwayBaby’s
Oliver Newson (2015), which described it as ‘an accomplished work by an audacious
collective that transitions from petite manifestations of love to joyous exclamations of
carefree - if qualified - abandon, with perceptible intelligence’.
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7.2 Survey questions (English)
7.2.1 Professional dancer surveys
Freelance dancers’ careers and professional environment The purpose of this research is to gather information about the careers and professional environment of freelance dancers. A dancer’s career is no smooth path: competition, economic precarity, lack of jobs, all this and more pushes more and more professional dancers onto the path of a freelance career. How does a freelance dancer experience these challenges? What does a freelance dancer’s career look like? This research will attempt to discover how freelance dancers perceive their work environment. Questions marked with a (*) are required. What is your age?*
• Under 20 years old • 20-25 years old • 26-30 years old • 31-35 years old • 36-40 years old • 41-45 years old • More than 45 years old
What is your gender?*
• Female • Male • Other
What is your nationality?* (List of countries) What is your country of residence?* (List of countries) In which country/ies do you exercise or have your exercised your profession in the past?* (Please tick all the boxes that apply to you.)
o Switzerland o France o United Kingdom o Germany o Italy o Other
How many years have you been dancing professionally?* (Not including training or junior companies)
• 1-2 years • 3-5 years • 6-9 years • 10 years or more
What kind of dancer are you?* (Please tick all the boxes that apply to you.)
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o Classical o Contemporary o Other
How many dance contracts have you had in the past year?*
• None • 1-2 • 3-4 • 5 or more
How long do the dance contracts last on average?
• 3 months or less • 4-6 months • 7-9 months • 10 months or more
Please only answer this question if you've ever worked in France. If you work/have worked in France, do you benefit from the "statut d'intermittent"?
• Yes • No • I used to but not anymore
A career in freelance dancing The following section contains a series of affirmations, which could describe how a freelance dancer feels about his/her professional activity. Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each of these affirmations. There is no right or wrong answer. Strongly
Disagree Disagree Neither
agree nor disagree
Agree Strongly Agree
My work is regular.
I feel like I'm my own manager as well as a dancer.
Administration is a big part of my job.
I enjoy creating my own projects.
Being a freelance dancer can be a rewarding career.
I freelance because I feel like I have no choice.
I freelance
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because I enjoy the independence it gives me. I freelance because I want to choose the city I live in.
I would advise dance students to consider freelance dancing as a viable career alternative to having a steady contract in a company.
Dancers' career options have changed a lot in the past years.
I would rather have a steady contract with a company.
I am happy with my choice to be a freelance dancer.
Do you work on your own dance projects?*
• Yes • No
If yes, please describe the process of creating your own dance projects. How is it enjoyable, how is it difficult? (Optional) If not, would you like to work on your own dance projects?
• Yes • No • Not sure
Do you find freelance dancing to be a liberating career, or on the contrary constraining?*
• Liberating • Constraining • A bit of both
Do you feel the choreographer/dancer relationship is better when the contracts are short-term or long-term?*
• The relationship is better when the contract is long-term. • The relationship is better when the contract is short-term.
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• There is no difference according to the type of contract. When do you identify as an artist, or on the contrary as a subordinate? Does the choreographer's behaviour towards you have any impact on this? (Optional) In your experience, who creates most of the movement when working on the creation of a piece with a choreographer?*
• The choreographer • The dancers • It’s a mix of both
When you're out of work, how do you stay in shape for dancing?* (Please tick any boxes that apply to you.)
o Dance classes/workshops o Going to the gym o Working out at home o Pilates or Yoga o Other
Is it sometimes difficult to stay in shape?*
• Yes • No • Undecided
Is the income you perceive from your dance activity sufficient to sustain you, or do you need to complement it with other sources of income?*
• My income from dancing is sufficient to sustain me financially. • I have to complement my income from dance with other sources of income. • It depends on how many dance contracts I've had in the past months.
What is the importance of the financial remuneration in choosing your job? (Please check any boxes that apply to you.)
o Dancing is my job, not only a passion. If I get offered a dance contract for a project I don't enjoy, I will take it because dancing is how I earn money.
o I'm willing to earn little money in order to dance professionally because dancing is my passion.
o Financial remuneration is important, but I'd rather earn money doing other jobs than working on a dance project I don't enjoy
o If I get offered a contract for a dance project I don't enjoy, I will accept it for the valuable experience I can gain from it and to boost my CV, but not because of the financial remuneration.
Please briefly state two of the most enjoyable aspects of being a freelance dancer. (Optional) Please briefly state two of the most difficult aspects of being a freelance dancer. (Optional) Do you agree with the description of freelance dancing as a "dual" career?* (The term "dual" career refers to the issue of combining the creative side of this profession with its more administrative side.)
o Yes o No o Undecided
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The dancer's calling Why do you dance?* (Please tick any boxes that apply to you.)
o It gives meaning to my life. o I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else. o I just fell into dancing. o I dance primarily to earn money. o Dancing is my passion. o Dance is the easiest way for me to express myself. o Dancing gives me joy. o I enjoy the social aspect of this profession. o Dancing is just my job.
What made you decide to pursue a freelance dance career? (Optional) Have you had steady, long-term (6 months or more) contracts with a dance company previously?*
• Yes • No
Which type of dance contract would you rather have during your career?*
• Freelance project-based contracts in several dance companies. • Steady, long-term contract as a dance company member. • A mix of both freelance contracts and steady longer-term company contracts.
Would you describe dancing as your “calling”?* (The term "calling" refers to the vocational aspect of this career.)
• Yes • No • Undecided
On a scale from 1 to 5, how important is “calling” in pursuing a professional dance career in your opinion?* 1 2 3 4 5 Not important at all Very Important
When did you feel you could truly describe yourself as a professional dancer?*
o When I first entered a professional dance school. o After I obtained my diploma certifying that I'm a professional dancer. o After I obtained my first dance job. o After I started working on my own dance projects. o After I was working as a professional dancer for a while. o After I obtained a long-term contract with a professional dance company. o I still don't truly feel like a professional dancer.
Auditions This following section will attempt to gain insight on how dancers experience the process of auditioning. Generally, would you say you enjoy auditions?*
• Yes • No
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• It depends In your experience, would you say it's easy or difficult to get a dance contract through auditioning?*
• Auditioning is an easy and efficient way of obtaining a dance contract. • Auditioning rarely results in obtaining a dance contract. • Undecided
On a scale from 1 to 5, how fierce would you rate competition at auditions?* 1 2 3 4 5 Not at all fierce Very fierce
How many auditions have you done in the past year?*
• None • 1-2 • 3-5 • 6-10 • 11-15 • 16 or more
How many times has an audition resulted in a contract for you?*
• None • 1-2 • 3-4 • 5-6 or more
Do you consider networking to be important to get a job in the dance world?*
• Yes • No • Undecided
7.2.2 Student dancer surveys Dance students’ career prospects A dancer’s career is no smooth path: competition, economic precarity, lack of jobs, all this and more pushes more and more professional dancers onto the path of a freelance career. How do young dancers about to start their career experience these challenges? This research will attempt to discover how young dancers perceive their work environment and provide the basis for my dissertation. What is your age?
• 15-18 • 19-21 • 22-24 • 25-26
What is your gender?
• Female • Male • Other
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What is your nationality? (List of countries) What is your country of residence? (List of countries) Are you currently in a professional dance school?
• Yes • No
If yes, how many years have you trained professionally for?
• 1-2 • 3-4 • 5-6 • 7-8 • 9-10 • 11 or more
What kind of dancer are you?
• Classical • Contemporary • Other
Career perspectives Is your main ambition to get a long-term contract with a dance company?
• (As opposed to being a freelance dancer) • Yes • No • I'd be equally happy with either option.
Would you describe dancing as your calling?
• (The term "calling" refers to the vocational aspect of this career.) • Yes • No • Not sure
On a scale from 1 to 5, how difficult do you think a dancer's career is? 1 2 3 4 5 Very easy Very difficult
Do you talk to professional dancers about their experiences in this industry?
• Yes • No
Do you get the feeling that it's getting increasingly difficult for young dancers to start their careers?
• Yes • No • Not sure
Are you considering a freelance dance career?
• Yes
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• No • Not sure
Is working on your own projects something that would interest you?
• Yes • No • Maybe
Does your school supply information on how to organise your finances as a dancer after you've graduated? (This can be through workshops as well)
• Yes • No
Do you know which organisations to contact if you're in need of advice and/or information concerning your dance career?
• Yes • No
On a scale from 1 to 5, how prepared do you feel to enter the professional world after graduating? 1 2 3 4 5 Very easy Very difficult
Why do you dance? (Please tick any boxes that apply to you)
o Dancing gives meaning to my life. o I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else. o I just fell into dancing. o I want to dance primarily to earn money. o Dancing is my passion. o Dancing is the easiest way for me to express myself. o Dancing gives me joy. o I enjoy the social aspect of the dance world. o Dancing is just something I study.
Auditions Have you already auditioned for a company?
• No • Yes
Auditions (continued) Would you say auditioning for a company is a similar experience to auditioning for professional dance training?
• Yes • No • Not sure
How many auditions have you done in the past year?
• None • 1-2 • 3-5
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• 6-10 • 11-15 • 16 or more
How many times has an audition resulted in a contract for you?
• None • 1-2 • 3-4 • 5-6 or more
What type of contract do you audition for the most?
• Short-term, project-based contract • Long-term company contract • Both, equally
Do you enjoy auditions?
• Yes • No • Undecided
How fierce would you rate competition at auditions?
• Not at all fierce • Very fierce
Do you think networking is important for a dancer's career?
• Yes • No • Not sure
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7.3 Thematic organisation of collected qualitative data
7.3.1 Overview of themes
Vocation and Values
Main theme Sub-theme Definition Example
Freelancing a path to diverse experiences and sharing
Sharing, diverse encounters
Diverse encounters as an important feature of artistic sharing and growth
‘What’s important is to really work with someone, to learn, to be nourished, to move forward in your dance.’
Diverse experiences
The possibilities a freelance careers offers, for example travel and change of routine
‘… having the chance to work with (and meet) a lot of different dancers/choreographers and to be able to perform at lots of different places/settings’
The FREE in freelancing
Independence The possibility to shape one’s own career path
‘Freelance dancers are free to plan their lives.’
Freedom of choice
The possibility of choosing who to work with or not
‘The freedom of making your own choices about where you want to go and who you want to work with.’
Room for self-expression
The possibility to create one’s own projects and artistic self-expression
‘The strength of the creativity, the possibility of expressing what we really wish. Experience rich in human meetings.’
Entrepreneurship
How entrepreneurial skills are increasingly valued and practised by freelance dancers
‘In dance, it’s about leaving the pre-made structures behind.’
Vocation
Vocation is essential to a dancers’ maintenance in the profession
‘It really comes from me, it’s really my vocation, I’m conscious of it now.’
Self-knowledge The experiences in freelancing contribute to self-knowledge
‘You learn, you see yourself… you see things that you didn’t think about yourself.’
Difficulties that have an impact on dancers’ professional identities
Main theme Sub-theme Definition Example
Precarity Financial
Low income and underemployment leading to financial
‘Financial insecurity. Irregularity of projects, hollow periods that are
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precarity too long.’
Difficulty of staying in shape
The instability of freelance lifestyle makes it complicated for dancers to train
‘Training when you have no contracts. Sometimes you can be lost, don t know where to go, how many times you have to train per day, and it is also expensive.’
Polyactivity
The threat of polyactivity
Polyactivity threatens to take over the artistic side
‘So, in terms of taking dance classes, since um… since the month of February, no, March, since I’ve started teaching, well I can’t do those anymore.’
Multiple jobs
Multiple jobs including administrator, choreographer, producer, technician…
‘And as a freelance dancer you do a lot of things at once.’
Uncertainty in freelance dance careers
Auditions The burden of auditions
‘We are always in the process of looking for the next job, even if at that time we have one.’
The End is Near!
Professional urgency and the fear of not finding another contract
‘The trust that it is continuing, that i am good enough.’
The other side of the coin
Bohemia How bohemia leads to loneliness
‘You change people and friends all the time, it's hard to build stronger relationships with people.’
The fiery pits of administration
Creativity is sometimes opposed to administration, which is seen in a negative light.
‘It is very cumbersome in terms of organising work time and all the necessary administrative work.’
Stigma The prejudice some freelance dancers face regarding their career.
‘The perception some people sometimes have of independent artists, I’m thinking for example of this “profiteering and lazy” image that independent artists drag along with them.’
Exhaustion The exhaustion such an unsustainable lifestyle engenders
‘The exhaustion. We are constantly asked to surpass our own physical and mental limits.’
Injustice The perceived injustice of the dance world
‘On one side it forces you to say “Life sucks”, you don’t always get what you want, even if you do everything perfectly.’
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Power of the dancer-choreographer relationship on freelance dancers’ professional identity
Main theme Sub-theme Definition Example
Collaboration influences the Artist vs. Subordinate feeling
Collaboration is vital for dancers to feel like artists
‘I identify as an artist when I am being appreciated and even more when I am able to work together with the choreographer.’
Dehumanisation of dancers
Being treated like a tool leads to dancers feeling like subordinates
‘When the choreographer completely stifles the personality of the dancer, and the dancer becomes a performing machine’
The choreographer has no power
The choreographer has no impact on dancers’ identification as artist or subordinate
‘I identify as an artist, a choreographers behaviour has no impact on this.’
Difference between companies and freelance project-work
The relationship between choreographer and dancer is different in freelance, project-based work and repertoire companies offering full year contracts.
‘You’re not only a subordinate, as a freelancer.’
7.3.2 Collected Data The following sections will present an extract of the collected research data,
classified according to the different themes that emerged from the TA. Not all of the
research data is featured: this merely provides an overview of the collected material.
Vocation and Values
Main theme Freelancing a path to diverse experiences and sharing
Sub-theme Sharing, diverse encounters
Survey Participants
The fact that you are always working with different people, so you meet different personalities, ways of moving so you learn new stuff each time you enter a new project. The fact that you travel a lot and you can live in different places according to the project you choose to do.
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1. You are able to work with a range of choreographers on different projects. 2. You become more versatile as a dancer/artist.
Working with so many different interesting people. Being alive and able to live (as well outside dance) and not only do steps every day and losing the passion for dance.
The variety of encounters this profession allows, the great artistic encounters that flow from it – The numerous travels on tour, which are one of the best parts of this profession in my opinion.
A lot of different encounters, and thus a lot of different textures, a richness, in the physical language. Freedom to create one’s own projects.
Carla
What’s important is to really work with someone, to learn, to be nourished, to move forward in your dance. For me, otherwise, you stagnate a bit. --- Even if it hurts, letting other people touch this part of you, feel with you. And at the same time, for us as dancers, when we’re onstage, I dance for myself, but I feel like it’s not just for me, I also do it for others. --- I’m learning so much all the time, like when I’m working with William*. It opened a door for me, I’m dancing differently now. It helped me evolve compared to when I left [school]. --- What it’s really about, is sharing something human with someone else. I really think that’s what it’s about. And, maybe it sounds silly, but to be real with people, when I work with people to not just be a subordinate, but to really work, and give something, and to feel that what you’ve given has an impact on the person in front of you. It also gives me something, but I also want to give something. It’s an exchange, it’s about sharing. For me, that’s the most important aspect.
Melina
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Sub-theme Diverse experiences
Survey Participants Traveling and getting to know new people from different backgrounds, working with different choreographers in different forms makes it new every time like arriving to a new school and letting the work change and give me new knowledge.
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The variety: having the chance to work with (and meet) a lot of different dancers/choreographers and to be able to perform at lots of different places/settings. - a feeling of freedom; no week is the same/never boring.
1. Diversity of experience. Opportunities to do many different workshops, travel, work with different choreographers on different projects, etc. 2. The intensity of the work. When you are doing a project as a freelancer you are DOING THE PROJECT. You are not part of a company, that happens to be doing the work of a certain choreographer. As a freelancer you immerse yourself in different universes constantly in a way that I imagine is different than if you had a long-term contract with a company (but this is just a theory since I've never had the other experience).
The confrontation/liberty/responsibility to have to constantly re-avulate what I want and what I dont want. I dont get to couch slouch and look back that the last 5 years have been something I haven’t consciously picked. The huge diversity of being able to change style and surrounding frequently and thus explore several sides of myself. and get challenged in diverse ways.
Carla It’s a shame, they would offer me a one year contract, minimum, that I could renew, a contract as a company dancer, and I’ve gotten to the point of asking myself if I even want that type of contract. Won’t I get bored? But in terms of awareness of the current dance world, of everything that’s happening now… because yes, companies are a part of it, but for me it’s the freelance world, with its projects and chreographers and everything, for me that’s the real dance world, that’s where things are really happening.
Melina -
Main theme The FREE in freelancing
Sub-theme Independence
Survey Participants
Easier to focus on specific development of areas of performance/practice I am interested in. Freedom to travel and take time out in order to re discover passion and interest
You have freedom to do whatever you want if you can sustain yourself financially. (going on holidays or workshop etc etc)
Freelance dancers are free to plan their lives. They are able to focus on aspects they enjoy at times (technical issues, researches etc).
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The possibility and choice of having several experiences and doing several projects in a short time. The diversity and the freedom. The freedom of having times where you can do other things and organise your life like you want to, train however you wish. It’s a very pleasant balancing act, between the need to work, the desire to work, and the desire of doing other things.
I identify as an artist because I am my own boss, or work less than 3 months for someone else. However, I would probably feel like a subordinate if I would have a steady contract.
Carla -
Melina -
Sub-theme Freedom of choice
Survey Participants
One has a choice and control over ones life that usually as dancers we don't have. One can arrange their own life/ year schedule and be able to learn or do something different as well if wanted.
Choosing the direction you want to take, choreographically and personally.
The freedom of making your own choices about where you want to go and who you want to work with. Regular changes that help avoid a routine.
We have the freedom to accept or decline every contract, and the power to build ourselves as artists. We meet many more artists because of the number of different contracts.
(…) there are different kinds of works that demand different kinds of involvement. And you pick the kind of work that you feel comfortable with. I consider myself an artist and work and search for people that treat and challenge me in that way. There are many people I wouldnt work with.
(…) I choose which choreographers I work with, so I usually feel fulfilled in my position as artist. I find I have a lot of room to manoeuvre and decide in this.
Carla You can choose as a freelancer, you’re allowed to choose as a freelancer. You don’t have the right to choose when you’re in a company. You don’t choose who will come and work on the next creation. But you can choose which audition you do, if you want to work with the person you go audition for them. Another thing that’s good in project-work, is that projects usually last one or two months. If you don’t like it, well it won’t last very long, you’re not forced to repeat the piece, to go on tour. You’re free. There’s this good thing, on one side you’re sometimes out of work, sometimes it’s hard to find work, but you’re free. As a freelancer you’re free to do what you want. If you don’t want to work on something you can say no, I don’t like this. In a repertoire company you’re free, but only at the end of the
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year, of your contract. You can’t have everything. Even though it would be work… I think I don’t have enough experience to say no yet. These are famous names, they have contacts everywhere, to refuse for nothing… I don’t know. It could still be interesting. (…) And at the same time I want to dance so much that I don’t think I could refuse a dance job, even if I didn’t like it… unless it wasn’t to a professional standard, like a school fair or something. That would be bad for my career, it wouldn’t give me anything and I’d be losing my time.
Melina -
Sub-theme Room for self-expression
Survey Participants
"my own dance projects" at the moment are not actually my own, they are collaborative efforts that I enjoy immensely, but I cannot take full credit or responsibility for them. I love the feeling of making something together, of meshing our ideas without an authority figure watching over our shoulders. It's scary to have to make decisions but the work in the studio is exciting and satisfying, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It is difficult to know what to do next, to work well as a group and find which direction we want to take things in without letting the energy stagnate, but when we are on a roll it is simply the best. It's just the beginning of my project so I haven't got so many things to describe but it’s really liberating and empowering to know you can do what is really meaningful to you. It gives you the right to be honest with yourself and your thoughts. Switching from dance to maker is difficult. Getting support, time frame, residencies. But once you pass this line, it becomes easier. And it's highly enjoyable. A good balance I must say between dancing for someone's project and making your own agenda. I identify as an artist more when I am the choreographer or do my own work than when I’m working for a choreographer ALTOUGH that totally depends how the choreographer treats his dancers
Carla -
Melina
When I choreograph, and there’s people in front me and the ideas are just flowing in, for me it’s really simple. It comes naturally, I don’t have to worry. I really just enjoy it, seeing people evolving in the way that I want them to go, where I want them to go. It’s the creativity, the fact that it’s infinite. You can take movement so far, it can express so much. It’s extraordinary what you can say through your body.
Main theme Entrepreneurship
Survey participants -
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Carla If we don’t want this stress anymore and everything, we can very well reinvent ourselves. Even though in the “normal” world, I mean non-artistic, you need diplomas to be this or that… but we need to start trusting ourselves, because with everything we do, we’re very capable. Because even without diplomas, we could go for it just by being gutsy, like a lot of people do, and we need to be part of these people, even if we find it hard. In any case, certain dancers, and I belong to them, we think “Oh, I don’t know, I don’t know how to do this”. And actually, yes, you can plan a budget, do administrative work, register with social security. If we can learn all this by ourselves, imagine what we could do if people actually explained these things to us! So yes, and it opens doors for you like “Oh, I like designing lights”, it really helps you to open yourself up to a lot of different jobs (…) When you know how to do a lot of things, you can create whatever you want.
Melina
And now, after many, many auditions, which really tired me out, because… yeah, I kind of gave up on them because… actually I don’t know how to say it, it’s not giving up, it’s just… in dance, it’s about leaving the pre-made structures behind. I tell myself, yeah well everyone is going to auditions, everyone wants to be in a company, but surely there’s something else out there to do yourself. --- I find it a real shame to… to stop sometimes, because you can’t find a job right away. There’s something to do, even if it’s just for a while, even if it’s just for a project, even if it’s just… for me, it’s good to… to be able to tell yourself “Ok, I can continue with this, I can put what I’ve learnt to professional use, even if it’s not in a company or through a contract I got by auditioning”. --- I think that as a dancer, the qualities we have are perfectionism, which I mentioned before, and this side of us that likes to work, this work ethic. Actually, yeah. Not giving up, going to the end of things and doing them well. This professional conscience that becomes natural, because we do what we love. I think as dancers, we couldn’t work anywhere else, or do something else, without this same professional conscience. --- … asking yourself the question “What do I do with my passion?”. It’s not because there aren’t any pre-existing structures that suit me that I can’t create one! And putting things into perspective again, yes, maybe I’m not earning my living through dancing, but earning money is a necessity, and I have a job for that, but dance is my passion. So even if I’m not earning money with it for now, so be it, maybe that’ll come later.
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Main theme Vocation
Survey participants -
Carla
Now, for the moment, I’m not ready to stop because I want to dance, but not because I feel like I haven’t accomplished enough. It really comes from me, it’s really my vocation, I’m conscious of it now. I always say that I’m struggling, that I can’t do it anymore, and people ask why I keep on going… Because I want to, that’s all. Because it makes me happy. And that’s why people who don’t really want it, who think “Yeah I’d like to dance”, but who then see the chaos that it is, they don’t continue, they can’t. You can’t be confronted with all this, all these introspections, and struggles, and financial problems, and rejections, all these horrible things, if you don’t really want it. If you don’t really want to be onstage, and work with people, share something with them, if you don’t have that desire, that vocation, then you can’t.
Melina I wanted to do a lot of things, but I thought to myself “Right now, what I really want to wake up for every morning, is dance”. --- … to be able to live thanks to your passion, that’s an extraordinary thing! It’s the chance of a lifetime! The simple fact of having a passion is amazing. Because there’s so many people out there who don’t know what they want to do with their life. And we know, we know what we love, we have a reason to live.
Main theme Self-knowledge
Survey participants -
Carla When you’re only dancing, you’re the nice little lamb that dances and that’s it. You don’t really have the time to reflect on what dance is, life, is it all really worth the struggle. --- We experience moments that are so strong, you just want to go back. It’s bound to happen. You learn, you see yourself… you see things that you didn’t think about yourself. --- But these two years have been really beneficial for me. They’ve helped me evolve like crazy. I’m so happy to be where I’m at today, and sometimes I cry because it’s so difficult, it’s exhausting, but at the same time I’m so thankful to have gone through this, because thanks to this I know
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myself, I know my worth.
Melina -
Difficulties that have an impact on dancers’ professional identities
Main theme Precarity
Sub-theme Financial Precarity (+ Underemployment, unemployment)
Survey Participants
Stress of having jobs, the search of new projects can be stressful. Finances, money seams to be issue all the time, calculating every month as there is no monthly income.
Money is difficult sometimes and having to audition all the time.
As a freelancer you are constantly looking for work and the income is very insecure. This causes stress.
Financial aspect, hard at the end of the month. No contracts for few months
Lack of money, lack of stability, and thus difficulty of combining this profession with family life for example.
Financial insecurity. Irregularity of projects, hollow periods that are too long.
For my part, very long periods without work, and so without income, meaning a rush to auditions. Not knowing what tomorrow will bring, not being able to plan for the future.
Mainly the financial aspect is difficult!
Carla When I left [school] I didn’t have a contract, I had nothing,
the only thing was that I was working with William* but it wasn’t paid, only expenses. But now the positive thing is for one, I won’t work on something I don’t like if it’s not paid. (…) there’s only one exception, because I still do so, for Tom*, I’m paid for the performances but not all the rehearsals, but I believe in him, I believe in his work and what he does. And that’s very different than what happened in Berne, because I didn’t know them, I wasn’t paid, and after 2-3 days of rehearsal I didn’t believe in what we were doing.
Melina -
Sub-theme Difficulty of staying in shape Survey Participants
1. Self-motivation, during periods where I don't have much to do it can be hard to find a focus to channel my energy into, and I end up feeling rather dispersed. 2. Lack of
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certainty. It can be hard to plan your life when you don't know what will happen next most of the time -- from wanting to visit home, to wanting to take a workshop or audition for a new project, etc... Training when you have no contracts. Sometimes you can be lost, don t know where to go, how many times you have to train per day, and it is also expensive. You have to learn how and organize your life to stay in shape for the many auditions you will have to do during this period. Stay in a positive attitude. When you do 10 auditions, and the 10 answers are no, you have to be strong, stay focused and be focused on your goals. This is the most difficult part as a freelance dancer
The work is intermittent and the pay low. You aren't pushed as hard technically as in a good full-time company.
(…) We alternate days and sometimes weeks without regular training, even though our body needs it. Sometimes, even the projects we’re working on don’t offer any classes in the morning. We have to warm up alone. And this is difficult sometimes, because by training alone, we only do what we like to do or know, and so we don’t improve anymore.
Carla As a freelance dancer when you have work it’s all well and
good, but if you don’t, you have to create your work for yourself. You have to go take classes, go to the gym, I also go to the gym, or you tell yourself it’s the time to go take classes with dance companies.
Melina
What’s good now is that this [dance company] is offering daily classes in the morning, so that’s really good, but apart from that there’s not any real activity for people leaving [school in Geneva], and who are freelance, who only have contracts from time to time, or no contracts a all.
Main theme Polyactivity
Sub-theme The threat of polyactivity
Survey Participants -
Carla -
Melina
Because I’m working at [a café] as well, the shifts change all the time. I work at [a café] 3 days a week. And on those days, well that’s the only thing. Because even if it’s just 3pm-11pm, you’d think I’m able to take a class in the morning, but no, I can’t. Every day has its’ theme, either it’s [the café], or teaching, even if it starts at 5pm, it’s the same. I have to prepare my classes in advance every time, I go in early to remember what I want to do, how I’ll organise it. So that’s the days I teach dance. And now with [my association], there’s so much to do, so the rest of my time is [the association]. So, in terms of taking dance classes, since um… since the month of February, no, March, since I’ve started teaching, well I can’t do those anymore. I really can’t. Sometimes I try to get in early before I teach and to
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warm up and work for myself. And so when I’m teaching I try and use that time to work as well, with the adult classes I also really try and do the class for myself. But it’s hard, it’s really hard.
Sub-theme Multiple jobs
Survey Participants My own circus routine (not dance unfortunately). It is nice to play with what you want, nearly when you want. However it is lot of work: making my costumes, music, buying tools (for me it can be a Chinese pole for example), attending security/law seminars, finding photographers and video to do the communication, doing invoice... I feel sometimes like if finally what I do on stage is really not the biggest part of my work. This is why I only do 10 performances/year and I go on production contracts to complete my income. So much work...but it is priceless to be free
Carla And as a freelance dancer you do a lot of things at once. For example, we just created [an association], we just signed the statutes, and opened a bank account. But it’s a lot of administrative work. You need to call this person and another, to know how to register with social security, etc… For example now with [our association], and replying to e-mails, wondering how I’ll be paid for a performance, things like this take time. When you’re working for someone an administrator usually takes care of this stuff and you only dance, whereas now it’s you, you are your own company. It’s up to you to manage things alone, you need to step up to it. --- You do all the jobs in the world. My mother is an accountant, so I told her “Well you’re going to have to help me because I’ll have to do the accounting for this.”. Soon I’ll be an accountant, an administrator, a producer, a dancer, a choreographer, a technician, a lighting and sound designer… You do so much, IT, you’re always on your computer doing stuff… But at least it helps us to be very… I mean, when it comes to after, when we don’t want to be dancers anymore.. It’s very tiring actually, to always set yourself new deadlines, to always tell yourself “I need to do this before this date”, there’s no boss telling you “you need to hand this in by this date”, it’s us telling ourselves “I need to go take class”, etc.
Melina -
Main theme Uncertainty in freelance dance careers
Sub-theme Auditions
Survey Participants
We don't have steady income. We are always in the process of looking for the next job, even if at that time we have one.
109
To be open for new chances and a bit of luck to be liked by choreographer and get the job
Always auditioning to get a job. A little bit of stress because of income gaps
No work for gaps of time, stress of always looking for new jobs.
Carla
I didn’t used to know how to audition. I naively thought that it was enough to show who you are during auditions. No, that’s not what auditions are about. First of all, there’s a lot of string-pulling during auditions. People know each other beforehand usually. And even beyond that, you need to learn how to audition. Yes, I think everything is about your network anyway. Auditions can work, but only from time to time. Like for example, with that other company I auditioned for… they told me “Thank you, please come take classes”. In the end it’s all about the network you create. You need to create a connection with them and maybe someday you’ll work with them, but you need to create that connection. It’s not in one audition… well yes, that can work for some people, but that’s 5% of the time… 95% of the time, you need to take workshops, meet people, audition 2-3 times for the same company, see the people, follow them, their work, take classes with them…
Melina
I think dance is a very subjective field. That means, choreographers who audition dancers, we can all put ourselves in their shoes. They’ll fall for a certain personality that can inspire them. You need that as a choreographer, you know, having a person in front of you, physically, with an aura, “Yeah, this person really suits what I want to do”. But it’s really not a given for everybody. It’s not because you’re a great technical dancer that choreographers will like you. For me, that’s kind of the problem. Either you persevere, and stuff… yeah. The point of an audition, I think, I mean it’s not in a day that a choreographer can see… Either he falls for you, for what you can offer. And that’s why, yeah, it’s by persevering, by asking and taking classes with companies you like, that’s how you make it. But you need to hang in there, it’s really difficult, at least for me that’s what difficult. --- I mean, I’d imagined that I’d have a job, or I’d find a job pretty easily after leaving [school]. I thought that, a bit too strongly maybe. I’d tell myself “Come on, you’re doing well in auditions, you’re staying on until the end almost all the time, it’s going to work. It’s going to work, it’s going to work”. But no, it didn’t, although it never really depressed me. I’m not like that, in the end it just makes you question
110
what you really want to do. I’d go audition everywhere, but very often I didn’t even like the companies I was auditioning for. Sometimes, the places I liked the least were the places I’d get kept the longest in auditions. Why, how come? So yeah, for me, when I was younger, I thought that if I liked a place, and I was good at dancing their work, that’s where I’d get a job. And that’s not at all the case! You can be in total disagreement with what you like and how you dance and what you emit, it’s crazy. --- An audition has to go both ways. It’s good to go with that mind-set, to think “Yes, the choreographer’s auditioning me, but he’s not the only one. I’m also testing the atmosphere, the exchange, if the class suits me…”. You also need to… we have every right to put ourselves in this position. We shouldn’t underestimate ourselves.
Sub-theme The End is Near!
Survey Participants Being all the time insecure about if you are going to manage to find new projects or not. Not knowing what you are going to do the next month is scary.
The trust that it is continuing, that i am good enough. The fear of the Future mainly financially.
The difficulty of taking class regularly, hollow periods without contracts that can be morally very trying.
The rigour of this lifestyle that constantly forces us to changed our habits. The fear of not finding another contract.
Managing the time between contracts (personally and administratively). Not knowing when to stop and where you’re at!
Always being scared of not doing enough. Continually (and excessively) questioning oneself.
Carla
I need more time with [William], but I don’t know if I’ll get that time, because I don’t know how things will go.
Melina -
Main theme The other side of the coin
Sub-theme Bohemia and Loneliness
Survey Participants
You never get settled down somewhere, you don't really have a home.
111
You change people and friends all the time, it's hard to build stronger relationships with people.
Instability moneywise and schedule-wise, having a base which is constantly shifting, creating long-term friendships that are always falling apart from not seeing each other for long periods of time.
- never a stable job - never stable income - you meet so many people in a short time and after the project you don`t see the people anymore
You go where the work is. Keeping a private life, friends, family, loved ones… is hard. There is not a lot of space for other things. The insecurity of knowing what’s going to happen in 2 months and if you will be able to pay the rent. But there are simple ways of dealing with that. For instance by building savings that would last you for the coming 6 months. The work will be there, and you’ll find a way. It’s just to give yourself enough security so you don’t die of stress.
Carla -
Melina -
Sub-theme The fiery pits of administration
Survey Participants
First of all the difficulty is definitely setting up the project and that’s where I fail (for now): to make my projects as big and professionally set up as they could be. Which means talking to theatres and production leaders even before having started to create a thing. Daring to get in contact and believing a 100% in it (Without the doubts which of course are there)... Until now I got invited to a platform or was chosen for a residency or a festival after sending a proposal dossier and could than create. Advertisement and logistics were taken care of.
Positive sides: dancing what I choose to dance, collaborating with other dancers or artists of my choice, researching for myself, saying what I wish to say artistically, freedom in music choices and other things… Negative sides: very complicated to find studios in which to work in, very complicated to manage the creative and the administrative side at the same time, like finding performance dates for example, not enough resources…
Positive: to be able to share an intimate part of oneself and make an audience feel something. Working with enriching people. Negative: extremely cumbersome administrative work, and lack of supporting structures that are adapted to helping young artists in the long term, without necessarily having to create one’s own company.
112
Globally, I would say for myself that the positive side concerns the choreographic creation, the artistic research, the construction of a piece. The negative aspects reside in the fact that frequently, because of lack of resources, we have to take up the administrative work ourselves, which includes filling out funding applications and the communication that come with the creation of a project.
The positive aspects: the feeling of freedom, the possibility of exploring and heightening my own sense of creativity, the possibility of transmitting my ideas, of finding my own personal codes of transmission. The negative aspects: difficulty of finding funding, an enormous part of work consists in administrative tasks to create adequate working conditions, I’m also confronted with a lack of self-confidence and know-how in administrative as well as creative work. I have the impression I’d need to create at least 5 pieces in order to practise and find my own way of working.
Positive: to be one’s own boss and make one’s own choices artistically and administratively, when it comes to communication and broadcasting. Negative: enormous amount of administration to manage and a lot of time spent approaching venues and partners (financial…). The freedom is only relative!
Carla -
Melina
I’ve never really had the experience of having a steady contract and working with a contract, so I can’t directly compare. So there’s always this part of me that’s dreaming about this thing, this tranquillity. That I’d only be paid to dance, all that’s asked of me is to do my job well and that’s it… so there’s still this part of me that thinks it would be great, you wouldn’t have a care in the world other than dancing, you’d just be paid to rehearse all day and perform onstage, going on tour… it’s a luxury!
Main theme Stigma
Survey Participants
Money and respect
Having to manage absolutely every aspect oneself, from the artistic to the organisational parts, from job searching to administration. The perception some people sometimes have of independent artists, I’m thinking for example of this “profiteering and lazy” image that independent artists drag along with them.
113
Carla Because it’s always kind of the end of the world when you leave BJ or any other school, they say “Oh I don’t have a contract”… They imagine that there’s nothing left, that there’s only death after or something. And no, that’s not the case. It’s not easy, what happens after, but if you manage to overcome it then you’re king of the world. Well, not king of the world, but you know what I mean. You’re serene, you know you can count on yourself. And that’s really good, to know yourself. (…) And I think as a freelance dancer, you learn… you step out of this utopic dream that people put in your head, and now I don’t find it utopic at all… But people convince you that it’s better to have a contract like that, and that still exists, all these dancers leaving [school] who are scared because they don’t have a contract. And yes it’s scary, because we’re not really prepared for what comes next.
Melina -
Main theme Exhaustion
Survey Participants The exhaustion. We are constantly asked to surpass our own physical and mental limits. The emotional blackmail that is practiced, tacitly or not, by employers.
Carla -
Melina -
Main theme Injustice
Survey Participants -
Carla And I was always very pedantic about things, but the injustice in the dance world has taught me to water my wine a bit. It’s important. For me the injustice meant that well yes, I’m not as pretty as her, and to say well ok then. And before, that was impossible. On one side it forces you to say “Life sucks”, you don’t always get what you want, even if you do everything perfectly, that’s not how it works, we’re not in school anymore. I had a hard time accepting that at first, but after a while it sunk in.
Melina -
Power of the dancer-choreographer relationship on freelance dancers’ professional identity
Main theme Collaboration influences the Artist vs. Subordinate feeling
Survey Participants
Definitely. A choreographer can treat you as an employee, as a body that he/she needs in order to make his/her work, or they can treat you as a creative entity, with a mind, a vision, your own valuable perspective on whatever subject you are collaborating on. Choreographers can either want to collaborate with you, or simply want you to dance for them. And that attitude changes the work environment in the studio immensely.
114
I identify as an artist when I am being appreciated and even more when I am able to work together with the choreographer. My body language and ideas need to be involved for me to feel that I am an artist, in other words part of the artistic process.
I try to seek my own personality or truth within the choreographer's work and this is a nice challenge, so I actually consider myself always as an artist. But preferably I'll work with choreographers that have that 'space' in his/her work to do this. I will feel less of an artist if I have to exactly copy the choreographer or a colleague.
I identify as an artist when the choreographer lets me be part of the creation, by including my ideas and making me participate in the research process. This depends exclusively on the behaviour and the artistic personality of the choreographer.
I identify as an artist. It has happened to me to find myself working in projects where I was asked to simply perform, like a subordinate, and I enjoyed this a lot less. I like feeling that the choreographer uses aspects of my own personal creative contribution to his/her work, that he/she be demanding in this aspect.
This depends enormously on the choreography, personally I now only work for choreographers who expect an important personal investment from the artist. I am not a subordinate.
Carla -
Melina -
Main theme Dehumanisation of dancers
Survey Participants
I worked with a lot of different choreographers and it’s sad to see that many of the choreographers are egocentric people that like to have a power game in the studio. When the choreographer puts him/herself on the level of the dancers the working atmosphere is much nicer and I feel more free in creating and I feel that we are all humans/same.
With most of the choreographers i worked with, you never feel like an artist, but like a soldier who has to defend the view of someone, the style of someone. You are working for a piece to live not for yourself or someone else!!!!
As far as I am concerned, I think I can express myself when I feel comfortable with the choreographer and when he considers me as an equal, a human being. Of course, if he doesn't leave space for sharing or interpretation I just feel like a subordinate, his tool.
115
An artist is always an artist, even when simply performing, or choreographing, there is always a part of oneself to give. One exception: when the choreographer completely stifles the personality of the dancer, and the dancer becomes a performing machine.
Carla -
Melina -
Main theme Choreographer has no impact on identification as artist or subordinate
Survey Participants I identify as an artist, a choreographers behaviour has no impact on this.
This depends on the project and the manner in which the choreographer wishes to use his/her dancers for his/her project. That being said, even as a subordinate, I continue to feel like an artist.
Carla -
Melina -
Main theme Difference between companies and freelance project-work
Survey participants -
Carla If you’re working in a repertoire company, even in contemporary things, well you’re working with a coach or a ballet master, you’re not really working with the choreographers, maybe 3 weeks or so, but after that you work with a coach. And I find that a shame, because often it’s only big pieces you’ll be working on, for a lot of dancers. So it’s more superficial in my opinion… in the work of dancing. Being able to work with a choreographer, working with a choreographer, just face to face with him or her, you really talk, it’s almost unwholesome because you become friends with these people even though it’s work, but there’s something emotional there. You talk about life, you have the time to really enter the work. The pieces are often smaller, there aren’t any pieces for 15 people when you’re working freelance. It’s often pieces for only 4-5 people, it’s duos or solos, stuff like that. And that’s it for me, that’s when you learn, being with a choreographer who is really there to take you somewhere. Whereas in repertoire companies, the choreographer is there because the company commissioned a piece, you work with him or her for 3 weeks, sure, but if you’re not cast, there’s cast drama, etc… --- You’re not only a subordinate, as a freelancer. I mean, the projects that I did, I had to give a lot of myself as a person every time. You’re not just there doing four movements, executing and that’s it. No, you’re really there in the creation process, you propose ideas, you develop things, you create material… The choreographer will make the final decisions, but it’s choreographed by the choreographer and
116
often with a lot of help from the dancers. --- Because you’re someone when you’re a freelance dancer. You have this whole baggage of experience that you need to bring into your dance. A choreographer employs you, or he doesn’t. But you are. And as a subordinate, that’s less the case.
Melina -
The reason why dancers freelance: Survey participants’ answers to the question “What made you decide to pursue a freelance dance career?”
Conscious choice
After studying 4 years in dance education this was the best way to earn money.
My contract finished with a company that I didn't enjoy being with and didn't want to renew my contract.
Not enough holidays in my contracted jobs, didn't like the style of the work in those companies.
I got offered different interesting short-term projects for which it was best to be a freelancer.
The fact that I saw it gives me so many different artistic experiences, and such strong feelings with the audience, my colleagues, the artistic team, and myself when I dance.
To be able to create my own pieces and incorporate my ideas.
I have no debt and nobody can have pressure on me. Also I can express/do all my ideas
Because I wanted to have more different experiences, because I could not live too far from my family and because I met someone with whom I wanted to create a family, because in Italy there was the possibility of having stable and long contracts as a contemporary dancer.
Because of the passion!!!
To achieve specific goals and to take advantage of my own artistic freedom.
I was dancing in companies and got bored of the everyday life and thought I could enjoy the challenge of freelancing, still now after two years of freelancing I enjoy it and have a hard time with the instability of it.
117
After having experienced the large professional structures, principally as a classical and neo-classical dancer, I felt imprisoned, “obligated to…”, like a factory worker. I decided to seek more freedom, more risks, trying out my abilities left and right in order to have different and varied experiences at my own rhythm, and principally to experiment in the contemporary field. I met the right people, who guided me in my evolution.
I knew that this was the best way to get ahead in my life. I’m talking of the personal dimensions of surpassing oneself.
This status matches my desire for independence and respect for the artistic vision I find myself in.
Being able to live off my passion, even if it’s for a short moment. This gives me the impression of accomplishing a goal in my life, it helps me feel complete and happy, despite the difficulties.
The pleasure of dancing, and the creativity, the fact that dance has led me to explore other art forms: theatre, performance, sound art, video, cinema.
Consequence of Professional Environment
Life.
There was no other option. After a while I am finding a meaning in being a freelance dancer, but at first this was the only option. (Otherwise I would have to quit, which I don't consider it as an option.)
There is no other option for me at the moment.
It's what happened. I didn't necessarily make a decision in the matter, I just ended up getting a couple of contracts with short projects and have started to make "my own dance projects" (in collaboration) in the meantime. I'm just trying to do the best with what I've got.
It just happened, I never got offered a 1 year dance contract. The longest was 6 months...
Situation in the Netherlands. Less contracts.
Freelancing was always a thing that I thought was interesting to do, but I started mostly because I didn't find a contract in a company so I started to freelance.
It happened...it’s still continuing and I’m not yet done...still so many things to do
Happened by itself.
When my contract and tour finished I had no other choice!!!!
118
Fell into it.
I haven't been offered a full-time contract with a suitable company, I didn't want/need to quit. The first job I was offered was freelance.
Too many auditions with little results. Tired of waiting. Fewer and fewer offers. Tired of having to meet more and more criteria. Urge to do what I love, to create and defend my own ideas. At first, I didn’t find a contract with a company. Then, the projects I participated with appealed to me, and it gives me the time to create. Difficulty of obtaining a fixed contract.
119
7.4 Quantitative research results
7.4.1 Professional dancer survey results What is your age?*
What is your gender?
What is your nationality?
What is your country of residence?
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
Under$20$years$old$
20425$years$old$
26430$years$old$
31435$years$old$
36440$years$old$
41445$years$old$
More$than$45$years$old$
70%$
30%$
Female$ Male$
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
Belgium$Brazil$
Bulgaria$
Estonia$
France$
Germany$
Greece$Israel$
Italy$
Korea$South$
Netherlands$
Portugal$
Serbia$
Slovenia$Spain$
Switzerland$
United$Kingdom$
United$States$
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
Australia$
Belgium$
Bulgaria$
Denmark$
France$
Germany$
Greece$
Italy$
Luxembourg$
Netherlands$
Norway$
Portugal$
Spain$
Switzerland$
United$Kingdom$
United$States$
120
In which country/ies do you exercise or have your exercised your profession in the past?
How many years have you been dancing professionally?
What kind of dancer are you?
How many dance contracts have you had in the past year?
How long do the dance contracts last on average?
0.0%$
10.0%$
20.0%$
30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
70.0%$
Switzerland$ France$ United$Kingdom$ Germany$ Italy$ Other$
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
1)2$years$ 3)5$years$ 6)9$years$ 10$years$or$more$
15%$
74%$
11%$
Classical$ Contemporary$ Other$
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
None$ 1.2$ 3.4$ 5$or$more$
0.0%$
10.0%$
20.0%$
30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
70.0%$
80.0%$
3$months$or$less$ 466$months$ 769$months$ 10$months$or$more$
121
Please only answer this question if you've ever worked in France. If you work/have worked in France, do you benefit from the "statut d'intermittent" (specific French unemployment benefits for artists)?
A career in freelance dancing The following section contains a series of affirmations, which could describe how a freelance dancer feels about his/her professional activity. Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each of these affirmations. There is no right or wrong answer.
22%#
65%#
13%#
Yes# No# I#used#to#but#not#anymore#
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
My#work#is#regular.##
0.0%$
10.0%$
20.0%$
30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
"I#feel#like#I'm#my#own#manager#as#well#as#a#dancer"#
122
0.0%$
10.0%$
20.0%$
30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
"Administra+on-is-a-big-part-of-my-job"-
0.0%$
10.0%$
20.0%$
30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
"Being'a'freelance'dancer'can'be'a'rewarding'career."'
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
"I#enjoy#crea,ng#my#own#projects."##
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
"I#freelance#because#I#feel#like#I#have#no#choice."#
123
0.0%$
10.0%$
20.0%$
30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
"I#freelance#because#I#enjoy#the#independence#it#gives#me."#
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
"I#freelance#because#I#want#to#choose#the#city#I#live#in."#
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
"I#would#advise#dance#students#to#consider#freelance#dancing#as#a#viable#career#
alterna5ve#to#having#a#steady#contract#in#a#company."#
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
"Dancers'*career*op-ons*have*changed*a*lot*in*the*past*years."*
124
Do you work on your own dance projects?
If not, would you like to work on your own dance projects?
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
50.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
"I#would#rather#have#a#steady#contract#with#a#company."#
0.0%$
10.0%$
20.0%$
30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
Strongly$Disagree$ Disagree$ Neither$agree$nor$disagree$
Agree$ Strongly$Agree$
"I#am#happy#with#my#choice#to#be#a#freelance#dancer."#
61%$39%$
Yes$ No$
43%$
18%$
39%$
Yes$ No$ Not$Sure$
125
Do you find freelance dancing to be a liberating career, or on the contrary constraining?
Do you feel the choreographer/ dancer relationship is better when the contracts are short-term or long-term?
In your experience, who creates most of the movement when working on the creation of a piece with a choreographer?
When you're out of work, how do you stay in shape for dancing?
22%#1%#
77%#
Libera,ng# Constraining# A#bit#of#both#
27%$
13%$60%$
The$rela/onship$is$be6er$when$the$contract$is$long;term$
The$rela/onship$is$be6er$when$the$contract$is$short;term$
There$is$no$difference$according$to$the$type$of$contract$
7%#25%#
68%#
The#choreographer# The#dancers# It's#a#mix#of#both#
0.0%$
10.0%$
20.0%$
30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
70.0%$
80.0%$
90.0%$
100.0%$
Dance$classes/workshops$
Going$to$the$gym$ Working$out$at$home$
Pilates$or$Yoga$ Other$
126
Is it sometimes difficult to stay in shape?
Is the income you perceive from your dance activity sufficient to sustain you, or do you need to complement it with other sources of income?
What is the importance of the financial remuneration in choosing your job?
Do you agree with the description of freelance dancing as a "dual" career? (The term "dual" career refers to the issue of combining the creative side of this profession with its more administrative side.)
71%$
16%$13%$
Yes$ No$ Undecided$
18%$
50%$
32%$
My$income$from$dancing$is$sufficient$to$sustain$me$financially$
I$have$to$complement$my$income$from$dance$with$other$sources$of$income$
It$depends$on$how$many$dance$contracts$I've$had$in$the$past$months$
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%
$
15.0%
$
20.0%
$
25.0%
$
30.0%
$
35.0%
$
40.0%
$
45.0%
$
50.0%
$
Dancing$is$my$job,$not$only$a$passion.$If$I$get$offered$a$dance$contract$for$a$project$I$don't$enjoy,$I$will$take$it$
because$dancing$is$how$I$earn$money$
I'm$willing$to$earn$liEle$money$in$order$to$dance$professionally$because$dancing$is$my$passion$
Financial$remuneraGon$is$important,$but$I'd$rather$earn$money$doing$other$jobs$than$working$on$a$dance$project$I$
don't$enjoy$
If$I$get$offered$a$contract$for$a$dance$project$I$don't$enjoy,$I$will$accept$it$for$the$valuable$experience$I$can$gain$from$it$and$to$boost$my$CV,$but$not$because$of$the$financial$
81%$
6%$13%$
Yes$ No$ Undecided$
127
The dancer's calling
Why do you dance?
Have you had steady, long-term (6 months or more) contracts with a dance company previously?
Which type of dance contract would you rather have during your career?
Would you describe dancing as your “calling”? (The term "calling" refers to the vocational aspect of this career.)
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%
$
15.0%
$
20.0%
$
25.0%
$
30.0%
$
35.0%
$
40.0%
$
45.0%
$
50.0%
$
55.0%
$
60.0%
$
65.0%
$
70.0%
$
75.0%
$
80.0%
$
It$gives$meaning$to$my$life$
I$couldn't$imagine$myself$doing$anything$else$
I$just$fell$into$dancing$
I$dance$primarily$to$earn$money$
Dancing$is$my$passion$
Dance$is$the$easiest$way$for$me$to$express$myself$
Dancing$gives$me$joy$
I$enjoy$the$social$aspect$of$this$profession$
Dancing$is$just$my$job$
47%$53%$
Yes$ No$
18%$8%$
74%$
Freelance$project2based$contracts$in$several$dance$companies$
Steady,$long2term$contract$as$a$dance$company$member$
A$mix$of$both$freelance$contracts$and$steady$longer2term$company$contracts$
72%$7%$
21%$
Yes$ No$ Undecided$
128
On a scale from 1 to 5, how important is “calling” in pursuing a professional dance career in your opinion?
When did you feel you could truly describe yourself as a professional dancer?
Auditions
This following section will attempt to gain insight on how dancers experience the process of auditioning
Generally, would you say you enjoy auditions?
In your experience, would you say it's easy or difficult to get a dance contract through auditioning?
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
Not$important:$1$ 2$ 3$ 4$ Very$important:$5$
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%
$
15.0%
$
20.0%
$
25.0%
$
30.0%
$
35.0%
$
40.0%
$
45.0%
$
50.0%
$
55.0%
$
60.0%
$
65.0%
$
When$I$first$entered$a$professional$dance$school$
A=er$I$obtained$my$diploma$cerAfying$that$I'm$a$professional$dancer$
A=er$I$obtained$my$first$dance$job$
A=er$I$started$working$on$my$own$dance$projects$
A=er$I$was$working$as$a$professional$dancer$for$a$while$
A=er$I$obtained$a$longGterm$contract$with$a$professional$dance$company$
I$sAll$don't$truly$feel$like$a$professional$dancer$
13%$
43%$
44%$
Yes$ No$ It$depends$
5%#
69%#
26%#
Audi+oning#is#an#easy#and#efficient#way#of#obtaining#a#dance#contract#
Audi+oning#rarely#results#in#obtaining#a#dance#contract#
Neutral#
129
On a scale from 1 to 5, how fierce would you rate competition at auditions?
How many auditions have you done in the past year?
How many times has an audition resulted in a contract for you?
Do you consider networking to be important to get a job in the dance world?
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
Not$at$all$fierce:$1$ 2$ 3$ 4$ Very$fierce:$5$
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
None$ 1-2$ 3-5$ 6-10$ 11-15$ 16$or$more$
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
None$ 1.2$ 3.4$ 5.6$ 7$or$more$
96%$
0%$4%$
Yes$ No$ Undecided$
130
7.4.2 Student dancer survey results What is your age?
What is your gender?
Are you currently in a professional dance school?
If yes, how many years have you trained professionally for?
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
15*18$years$old$ 19*21$years$old$ 22*24$years$old$ 25*26$years$old$
75%$
25%$0%$
Female$ Male$ Other$
90%$
10%$
Yes$ No$
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
1*2$
3*4$
5*6$
7*8$
9*10$
10$or$more$
131
Career perspectives
Is your main ambition to get a long-term contract with a dance company?
Would you describe dancing as your calling?
On a scale from 1 to 5, how difficult do you think a dancer's career is?
Do you get the feeling that it's getting increasingly difficult for young dancers to start their careers?
35%$
15%$
50%$
0%$
Yes$ No$ I'd$be$equally$happy$with$either$op;on$ Other$
80%$
0%$20%$
Yes$ No$ Not$sure$
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
Very$easy:$1$ 2$ 3$ 4$
Very$diffi
cult:$5$
85%$
0%$15%$
Yes$ No$ Not$sure$
132
Are you considering a freelance dance career?
Is working on your own projects something that would interest you?
Does your school supply information on how to organise your finances as a dancer after you've graduated?
Do you know which organisations to contact if you're in need of advice and/or information concerning your dance career?
80%$
5%$15%$
Yes$ No$ Not$sure$
65%$15%$
20%$
Yes$ No$ Maybe$
45%$55%$
Yes$ No$
50%$50%$
Yes$ No$
133
On a scale from 1 to 5, how prepared do you feel to enter the professional world after graduating?
Why do you dance?
Auditions
Have you already auditioned for a company?
Auditions (continued) (18 responses for this section)
How many auditions have you done in the past year?
0.0%$
10.0%$
20.0%$
30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
Not$prepared$at$all:$1$ 2$ 3$ 4$
Very$prepared:$5$
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%
$
15.0%
$
20.0%
$
25.0%
$
30.0%
$
35.0%
$
40.0%
$
45.0%
$
50.0%
$
55.0%
$
60.0%
$
Dancing$gives$meaning$to$my$life$
I$couldn't$imagine$myself$doing$anything$else$
I$just$fell$into$dancing$
I$want$to$dance$primarily$to$earn$money$
Dancing$is$my$passion$
Dancing$is$the$easiest$way$for$me$to$express$myself$
Dancing$gives$me$joy$
I$enjoy$the$social$aspect$of$the$dance$world$
Dancing$is$just$something$I$study$
90%$
10%$
Yes$ No$
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
40.0%$
45.0%$
None$
1.2$
3.5$
6.10$
11.15$
16$or$more$
134
How many times has an audition resulted in a contract for you?
What type of contract do you audition for the most?
Do you enjoy auditions?
How fierce would you rate competition at auditions?
0.0%$
10.0%$
20.0%$
30.0%$
40.0%$
50.0%$
60.0%$
70.0%$
80.0%$
None$
112$
314$
516$
7$or$more$
17%$
44%$
39%$
Short-term,$project-based$contract$ Long-term$company$contract$ Both,$equally$
22%#
33%#
45%#
Yes# No# Undecided#
0.0%$
5.0%$
10.0%$
15.0%$
20.0%$
25.0%$
30.0%$
35.0%$
Not$at$all$fierce:$1$ 2$ 3$ 4$
Very$fierce:$5$
135
Do you think networking is important for a dancer's career?
7.5 Accompanying text
Dear dancer,
Your experience is important to me!
My name is Sophie Ammann, and I am a freelance dancer in Switzerland. At the
same time, I’m studying an MA in Cultural Management with Northumbria University
(UK) through distance learning. I am currently writing my dissertation, which focuses
on the careers and professional environment of freelance dancers.
Please take part in the survey “Freelance dancers’ careers and professional
environment” if you are or have ever been a freelance dancer, or the survey “Dance
students’ career prospects” if you are currently in professional dance training.
The surveys contain questions about your professional background, your
work/training experience, as well as your perception of the current professional
dance environment.
A dancer’s career is no smooth path: competition, economic precarity, lack of jobs, all
this and more pushes more and more professional dancers onto the path of a
freelance career. How do dancers experience these challenges? What does a
freelance dancer’s career look like? This research will attempt to discover how
dancers perceive their work environment and provide the basis for my dissertation.
100%$
0%$0%$
Yes$ No$ Not$sure$
136
This study is carried out in cooperation with the Department of Arts, Design and
Social Sciences under the supervision of Principal Lecturer Jennifer Hinves.
The surveys are strictly anonymous. The IT program of the survey system does not
allow a link between the participants and their answers. Completing a survey should
take no longer than 10-15 minutes of your time. Please follow the links below to
access the surveys:
Additionally, I invite you to send these surveys to your dance colleagues if you feel
they apply to them. I greatly appreciate your help in gathering as much data as
possible for this research.
I kindly ask you to fill out the questionnaire by May 31st at the latest and thank you
very much for your participation!
Sincerely,
Sophie Ammann