Memorandum submitted by Rambert Dance
Company
Dance is one of our most powerful artforms,
incorporating all the other arts, notably music and the visual
arts. With its ability to reach all ages, crossing cultural barriers
and abilities it is a powerful force for our best cultural ideas.
Rambert is one of this country's most important
and significant arts organisations. It is the UK's flagship contemporary
dance company—and the only one performing regularly on the
large-scale—with a world-wide reputation. Not only does
it tour throughout the UK (something it has done since the 1930s),
but it flies the flag internationally too, and has a long and
fruitful association with the British Council.
British dance began in 1926 with the birth of
Ballet Rambert and which has been exercising its influence on
the artform ever since. It laid the foundations for companies
such as The Royal Ballet and nurtured some of this country's leading
choreographers, including Sir Frederick Ashton and Christopher
Bruce.
In the financial year 2003-04 Rambert gave 70
UK performances and 51,000 people bought tickets, which grossed
a total of £778,000.
NATIONAL PLANNING
Any expansion of large-scale contemporary dance
touring should have Rambert at its centre. Large-scale ballet
companies were reviewed and, as a result, additional funding was
allocated. There is no current plan to include contemporary dance
in the large scale review.
ECONOMIC ISSUES
In 2003-04 Rambert employed 39 full-time staff
and 19 regular independent practitioners. The top dancer salary
is low: £23,000. Few dancers at the height of their careers
can afford to buy even a small flat in London. Recruiting senior
Marketing and Development Senior staff is difficult and higher
salaries would, in these cases, help to recruit and retain high
calibre personnel.
The recent increase in employer national insurance
contributions cost the company £10,000. This reduced the
impact of the 3% increase above inflation awarded by the Arts
Council in our annual grant.
Rambert's work is only possible through its
annual grant from Arts Council England and the support of Arts
Council London. Project grants such as Stabilisation and New Audiences
funding from Arts Council England have been highly beneficial
to the Company but these tend not to continue beyond the medium-term.
Studio hire, foreign touring, advertising and
education workshops provide some small income streams beyond box
office but these could not sustain long term growth. Commercial
sponsorship of dance tends to be for traditional ballets such
as The Nutcracker or for education work. There is very
little sponsorship for the creation of new contemporary dance.
Investment and advice from the Arts Council's Stabilisation Department
has made a substantial difference in enabling Rambert to focus
on income.
Contemporary dance is programmed into large
scale lyric theatres which principally show musicals, touring
opera, pantomime and light entertainment. A high proportion of
work in such theatres is commercial and brings in a greater financial
return than contemporary dance. Ballet companies have classic
works such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker which
can attract large audiences and make a week of performances in
a large theatre financially viable. Contemporary dance doesn't
yet have classic works/titles which can guarantee audiences on
this scale. Theatre charges are high—very few venues give
fees, most share the box office income and then take off technical
and marketing costs. Most touring weeks lose money.
AUDIENCES
Dance is the fastest growing artform in the
UK and Rambert has the largest audiences for contemporary dance
in the country.
RAMBERT'S
NEW BUILDING
There has been a lack of long-term planning
for the development of professional contemporary dance on the
large-scale and touring companies such as Rambert suffer from
not having a permanent home. The creation of new, purpose-built
studios for Rambert within Lambeth and close to Waterloo will
help address this situation. These studios will enable the company
to create more large-scale choreography, capable of touring throughout
the UK and internationally. They will also enable the company
to offer its expertise and facilities to other choreographers
and dancers seeking wider experience in the development of contemporary
work. Contemporary dance is often seen as a "difficult"
artform and through a programme of master classes, workshops and
participatory practice Rambert will ensure more intellectual access
to it than is currently available anywhere in Britain. The new
building offers enhanced opportunities for Rambert's already extensive
education and community outreach programme. Rambert will develop
and deliver an education strategy which responds to the needs
of its new community in Lambeth and Southwark and will then act
as a template for similar initiatives in co-ordination with its
regional touring. The plans for this new building are dependent
upon support from both the public and private sectors.
EDUCATION AND
LEARNING
Education is a key element of Rambert's working
life and the Company continues founder Marie Rambert's tradition
of education and audience-building through a wide-ranging programme
of activities in schools and the community throughout Britain.
Performing Arts is the fastest growing subject
area in schools and Rambert Education runs over 300 dance workshops
in schools annually. Rambert's outreach team offers a range of
workshops in schools ranging from taster workshops with PE students
and after-school clubs through to in-depth choreographic residencies.
Rambert is committed to making creativity and creative learning
a key part of modern learning. Dance as an artform is a good partner
for other subjects and much cross-curricular work is undertaken,
for instance dance and literacy projects.
Rambert's rich artistic heritage results in
many of Rambert's productions and choreographers being studied
at GCSE and A Level. Practical workshops, educational resource
notes and Rambert's excellent and informative website provide
vital benefits to both students and teachers studying dance. Rambert
also acts as curriculum advisor for dance on TeachandLearn.net,
a professional development website for teachers run by the Open
University and BBC Worldwide. The Company has also been involved
in Arts Council education and audience development initiatives
such as New Audiences and Creative Partnerships,
and the DfES Gifted and Talented and Artsmark schemes.
Rambert also runs an active in-theatre education
programme to engage and inspire young people through Rambert's
performance work. Pre-show talks, open workshops and lecture-demonstration
matinees enhance the performance experience, providing added value
and offering increased access points to dance.
Beyond the Company's performance and curriculum
work, Rambert Dance Company undertakes significant work in promoting
the artform of dance—using Rambert's strong brand to access
new participants. Much of this work takes places through partnership-working
with other renowned organisations such as The National Trust,
The Institute of Physics and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.
These projects, including site-specific dance productions at heritage
sites and the creation of a dance/science educational DVD, enable
organisations to combine resources and knowledge with the aim
of attracting new participants and stakeholders for dance. These
projects have been successful in enthusing people about dance
and the outcomes are frequently forward thinking and inventive.
Whilst some of the education activities are
self-funding, for example evening classes and schools workshops
which bring Rambert a small surplus, the majority of activities
are reliant upon ACE funding or support from trusts or outside
agencies. Rambert has become increasingly entrepreneurial in the
production and delivery of its education initiatives, but is keenly
aware of the need to strike a balance between the delivery of
high quality education work which is often time and labour-intensive
and the needs of income generation for the organisation. Continued
and increased funding for education and audience-building initiatives
for dance is crucial.
The majority of those people who come into contact
with these education initiatives will probably never pursue dance
as a professional career. However, the self-esteem, improved self-confidence,
and sense of creativity, team-working and physical achievement
experienced by the 7,000 young people and adults who engage with
Rambert's education initiatives annually confirms the truly positive
benefits of dance.
TRAINING
Rambert provides an important role in professional
training and budding performers, arts managers, technicians and
costume makers also have opportunities to learn from practising
professionals through Masterclasses and tutoring on degree courses.
HEALTH
As Britons are increasingly encouraged to adopt
more healthy lifestyles, the promotion of the health benefits
of dance is crucial. Weekly adult evening classes at the Company
base in Chiswick are often over-subscribed. The classes, which
range from absolute beginners to intermediate level, provide a
fun and creative alternative to going to the gym. Dance is a popular
form of exercise and the athleticism, strength and grace of Rambert's
dancers and teachers provide positive role models to both students
and adult amateurs alike. With the gradual abolition of playing
fields, sedentary lifestyles and the growing problem of obesity,
dance can provide physical exercise that brings both well-being
and creative opportunity to young and old alike—and everyone
in between.
30 April 2004
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