Memorandum submitted by Kate Flatt
If there was ever doubt about the importance
of dance to the human condition, it is worth recalling that "dance
is the mother of all languages" (Collingwood 1938).
However, the English politician can no longer
be described as an example of one of the best dancers in Europe
as the councillors and courtiers of Elizabeth I were. Elizabeth's
court had three licensed dance academies in Fleet Street, where
those who desired advancement in politics hot footed to improve
their skills at the Galliard and La Volta. By showing their eloquence
and fancy footwork on the dance floor, favour could be gained
from the Queen! I struggle to find a contemporary parallel.
Dance is a vital part of our culture. As an
activity for all it goes way beyond needing justification for
social reasons. It is not only apparent that children will learn
to read better if they dance. They also should dance and dance
better and even discover the delight of it as "expressive
motion" (Kirstein 1976) or as a creative tool which expresses
ideas that are understood without words. Dance develops much more
than muscles by embracing physical immediacy, intuitive responses
and the importance of being alive.
Dance as an activity needs to remain allied
to the arts not to sport. It is clear that as a physical activity
there are parallels in how excellence in training is achieved
but it remains an expressive art, a theatre art with rich traditions
and history. Dance technique, choreography, history and analysis
of dance should remain at the heart of study. Whilst scientific
approaches and advances in understanding of physiology are essential
to improved training it is also vital to stay in touch with the
human need to dance as an expressive act.
The current dance culture of Britain is profoundly
rich and extremely wide-ranging. Dance activity encompasses professional
performances of very high standard. Conservatoire dance training
establishments strive to develop professional dancers who are
employable in companies all over the world. Dance scholarship
in universities is developing fields of research, which encompass
choreography, new technologies and the diversity of performance
practice. As a school subject, however, it is hesitantly moving
from the margins of the curriculum to being recognised as an important
subject area. Cultural diversity and social inclusion are significant
areas of the dance ecology recognised by funding bodies, dance
companies and academia. Dance has a good record on working with
marginalised groups and is a thriving community activity for all
sectors.
That said, it remains a field dominated by female
practitioners and scholars who train and develop within the field.
Dance for young men is still an area of caution and still takes
courage for them to participate. There is a tiny proportion of
men training in dance compared to the numbers of female dance
students. However, jobs for male dancers are frequently advertised,
and seem to be more available than those for female dancers who
face much stiffer competition for jobs on graduation from training.
It is true that dance funding has expanded over
the last 20 years, and embraces a wider portfolio of dance activity
than ever before. There is also a strong infrastructure of institutions,
support organisations and funded venues for performances. The
allocation of funding remains an issue however. As a dance panel
member at the Arts Council of England for some years, I recall
that a great deal of time was spent discussing small applications,
which would barely support a choreographer and dancers for longer
than a few weeks. It was also worrying to find oneself discussing
an artist's work without a range of criteria.
Arts Council policy at times seems designed
to exclude from funding often outstandingly good work because
it does not fit an often poorly defined "strategic priority".
This term seems to be one implicitly understood by the funders
but rarely well explained in relation to the work actually funded.
It appears to relate to social groups, ethnicity, or regional
access but rarely to the work itself. Too rarely are practitioners
of the art of dance consulted about their views on funding and
funding policy. It is almost as if like naughty, indulgent children,
artists are managed, excluded from discussion and kept inside
tidy frameworks, which fit policy structures, jumping through
hoops to get or be denied funding. It appears that the Arts council
has by developing highly considered structures, in some ways become
cut off from the makers and shakers who create beauty, don't fit
the current funding orthodoxy, and yet move the art form forward.
Most worrying of all is the fact that the itinerant
dancer is not well paid. Dancers have a long arduous training
of discipline and self-denial. Training is expensive and post-graduate
opportunities of company experience (eg Edge, Transitions) the
most expensive of all. It is a harsh world where dancers with
talent have to pay even more to round off and intensify their
training. In other disciplines (eg certain MAs at the Royal College
of Art) are funded by the institution, with fees paid for the
gifted in order to bridge between training and the profession.
A dancer's career is short and often precarious with risk of injury
and the need to maintain technical skill between short-term contracts.
The pay is not good and does not reward adequately the skill,
artistry and dexterity embodied in the professional dancer. These
qualities are real and hard won, yet not always recognised sufficiently
as the dancer is faced with changing career at 35.
Investment in choreographers is essential if
the art form is to stay alive and not become stuck in outdated
modes of operation. The classical art forms, especially ballet,
need to address the business principle of investing in and developing
new work whilst protecting the heritage. Recent developments show
change here but it takes vision, enterprise and risk to support
emerging talent and give opportunity to the young who will shape
the future.
April 2004
| 
