Written evidence submitted by Dance UK
(arts 32)
This submission is from Dance UK the national
membership organisation representing the professional dance sector,
(www.danceuk.org). Dance UK has over 1,000 individual members,
including choreographers, dancers, students and dance managers,
and 200 corporate members including dance companies, vocational
dance schools, universities, theatres and dance agencies and support
organisaitons.
This submission is written by Dance UK to represent
the experiences of a range of our members working in different
scales and geographical areas across the UK.
DANCE—MORE
POPULAR THAN
EVER IN
2010
— Streetdance 3D the movie, topped the
UK box office in its opening weekend, beating Robin Hood starring
Russell Crowe and Disney's summer blockbuster, Prince of Persia.
Streetdance 3D took £11 million in its first five weeks after
opening and has become the most successful lottery funded film
ever.
— Dance is the second most popular physical
activity for young people after football. (Source PE and School
Sport Club Links survey.)
— 40% of girls have dropped out of all
sports activity by the time they reach 18. However, a survey of
over 50,000 year 9 pupils in over 700 schools in the North West
of England showed that dance was the top activity for girls outside
school.
— Dance as an art form is also growing
in popularity. The recent Arts Council England (ACE) review of
its regularly funded organizations showed that dance was the fastest
growing art form with ACE's dance portfolio increasing its attendances
by 103% over 12 months. (Source: published Arts Council England
"Regularly funded organisations: key data from the 2008-09
annual submission" April 2010, by Soheir Dani, Leila Davids,
Jonathan Treadway, Yvonne Harris)
— Dance has higher audience satisfaction
levels than theatre, musicals or opera, according to the latest
Society of London Theatre research published in April 2010. 71%
of dance attendees rated their experience as "very good",
compared to an average of 63% across theatre, musicals, dance
and opera. (Source: `The West End Theatre Audience Report 2010'
produced by the Society of London Theatre in partnership with
Ipsos MORI), link to more info on Dance UK's website: http://www.danceuk.org/metadot/index.pl?id=26782&isa=DBRow&op=show&dbview_id=2
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— Dance offers good value for money. Youth
Dance England runs national programmes for just 58p of public
investment for each school aged young person. This compares with
£38.21 per child for music and £79.47 for school sport.
— Dance helps children learn in many ways
and dance companies have created a range of innovative educational
projects. For example, Northern Ballet Theatre has devised a unique
way of helping primary school pupils engage with mathematics by
marrying the subject with dance. Dancing by Numbers will see NBT
work with youngsters aged nine to 11 in five primary schools in
Leeds to teach the Curriculum through creative dance.
August 2010
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