I can't tell you my own struggle to try to dance even part-time! In fact, I concluded by looking at my bank statements and calculating the number of classes I purchase, that I work so hard to try to find the time and money to dance, that I STILL, after many years in NYC, have not taken the number of hours of classes that equate to even two entire years of conservatory training. And yet, I am competing with those conservatory kids all the same. Yay.
Depressingly, asi speak to others, I am finding that is a conundrum all too many of us face -- both dancers and choreographers tend to arrive at the same question:
HOW DOES A SELF-SUPPORTING DANCER AFFORD TO DANCE?
HOW DOES A CHOREOGRAPHER AFFORD TO
MAKE DANCES AND PAY DANCERS?
MAKE DANCES AND PAY DANCERS?
So if you are an actual self-supporting dancer, and by this I mean that you are past the age of receiving family support (or you never had it to begin with); you have no trust fund; you have no prestigious conservatory affiliation that helps you "get an in"; if you are self-supporting in this regard -- as many of us are -- then this means that you need to get a "money job" to support yourself and to support your dancing.
Now that seems easy enough in a big city -- especially in the beginning when you are driven on pure excitement -- but that excitement wanes once you realize that employers don't like the idea of artist-employees, and even if you are the most productive member of the staff (which lets face it, mostly artists usually are!), they offer little to no true flexibility. Actually mostly it is the "semi-self supporting" who get those jobs.. those who can afford to take an enormously low-wage because they can essentially depend on support even as they seem slef-supporting.
Then you realize that all auditions are in the morning/afternoon (???!!!!!) and all classes/networking workshops are at times such as 2:30p-4:30p (an IMPOSSIBLE TIME for any self-supporting dancer!).
This all makes you realize that you are relegated to late evening work in order to just have the opportunity to get a paying job.
Then you realize all the evening jobs are too unstable to pay well, and often require working overtime into the wee morning hours, or they are for restaurants who are largely looking for "professionals" -- meaning career waiters. If you are not a career waiter you need to work the shifts the career waiters don't want: THAT MEANS OU ARE BACK TO SQUARE ONE: THE DAY SHIFTS! YAY!
This all on top of the fact that the expenses are enormous: Rent in NYC is easily at the very, very least $600 per month (for a room share! your own studio apartment will run you $1,400 and up), and dance classes, which are mandatory each day in order to keep one's skills at a competitive audition-ready level, are $18 a class (adding up to $200 per week) and then you have cross-training costs (the gym, Pilates, massage, physical therapy), shoe costs (for ballet girls, $80-$320/WEEK!) and food, the cost of dancing alone comes to a number close to a yearly wage.
So you then set yourself to the task of juggling 3 or 4 jobs to try to finagle a workable situation for an opportunity to dance for what amounts to only a handful of companies that actually pay a living-wage large enough for you to quit all your other jobs.
HOLD ON, YOU SAY!!! A HANDFUL OF COMPANIES THAT PAY A LIVING WAGE? IN NYC!!!?
YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!
Well dearies, YES! I am dead serious.
Even more! You often have to answer to your probing family and friends who are asking, so "where are you dancing"..."when are you going to get a real job?" "you chose this career!".. and on and on. (Why don't they ever say that to Doctors, Lawyers or Bankers who are out of work? Huh?)The reality is that there are only perhaps 15 companies in NYC where a dancer can work and earn a living. There is Broadway, Paul Taylor, David Parsons, Mark Morris, NYCB, ABT, Bill T. Jones, NY Theater Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Galim (???)....and I am racking my brain to find more.
Mostly, Choreographers -- even renowned ones! pay terribly little and use "pick up dancers" for each project. Even my own former employer, The Metropolitan Opera AT LINCOLN CENTER, hires dancers per each show. They offer no benefits, no health insurance -- nothing but that amazing opportunity to dance on one of the World's great stages. This does satisfy the doubters for some time -- but how does one explain, simply, it's not so easy.
So most dancers receive not only very little in terms of money -- but there is not even the guarantee that you will get more work after the show you are hired for is over. You may indeed, 90 percent of the time, have to go right back to square one -- you may have to take a ton of time off to secure a position somewhere that you hope one day will reward you with honest to god flexibility!
Add to this that for each job -- dance or "real world" -- there are literally 1000's of applicants! My first dance job there were over 400 girls auditioning and only 5 of us were chosen -- 2 of whom were our understudies!
The numbers are dire, folks! But before we go into full on Mad Dancer mode, let's look at it from the Choreographer's perspective:
If a Choreographer works with a mere 5 dancers and were to pay those dancers only $10/hour and rehearse a minimal of 2, 3-hour rehearsals a week that cost alone would be: $60/dancer per week, for a total of $300/week salary for the dancers. This of course does not take into account how difficult it would be for a Choreographer to get strong dancers who are willing to arrange their schedules (see above for the difficulty with that!) for only $60/week (this could only cover the cost of the subway for 2 weeks). Add into that the fee for studio space: $25/hour x 6 hours / week = $150/week. Already, we have a total of $450/week just to get 5 dancers and space for 6 hours a week. Now we have to consider the need for space for the choreographer to work alone -- in order to come up with ideas and movement etc. So lets say another 4 hours a week at the very minimum: that's $100 more.
Now we are up to a Choreographer needing at the very base minimum $550/week additional monies above his/her normal living expenses. That means at MINIMUM $2200 / month in additional monies.
That totals $26,400 of additional income per year!
This includes NO extra rehearsals;
NO performance space rentals;
NO costume costs, etc.
NO performance space rentals;
NO costume costs, etc.
Maybe this means if you want to be a dancer or a choreographer you should either come from a wealthy, fully-arts loving, fully supportive background, OR be an investment banker?
Unh-huh. That's the reality folks.
Clearly, we are in a place where it is nearly impossible for anyone who is not very-well-heeled and very lucky to even begin!
Yet still, the dance community complains about a lack of new choreographers, a lack of vision, a lack of new and exciting work to see, a lack of jobs, but nothing is said of the fact that dancers can't get ahead and new choreographers are having to compete with large companies with MASSIVE GRANTS and Patrons!
Each week we all spend the greens on Starbucks, on movies and magazines and such, yet when we have the opportunity to go and show support for those who, above all these obstacles are TRYING to create new dances and give work to dancers just like us, we all bail. Myself included.
And this is exactly why I am trying to bolster us out of complacency and give some honest to god working dancers and choreographers a chance.
ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 25th (LATER TODAY!) you (yes you!) will have the opportunity to go see working choreographer Chris Master's exciting NY premiere of "ghost of my legs" as a part of FLICfest'13 in Brooklyn.
"ghost of my legs" is a work that explores a re-construction of an installation created while in residence at an art gallery in Iowa City in 2010. It is an examination of remnant energies left from relationships past. As a means to anchor the narrative, "ghost" draws metaphoric parallels between these common human experiences and the phenomenology of phantom limb syndrome, a disorder experienced in amputees where the amputated limb continues to feel pain. Amputation and its connection to the existentialism of war, both public and private, are used here to give a precipice to the dance. People come and go, and we are investigating how these relationships, whether familial or intimate or professional, leave a lasting impression on the historical body and the sensorium. Building something great, and taking it away, is at the crux of the work. With the recent disaster from Hurricane Sandy, battling in Israel, and the tragedy in Newtown, this piece is proving to be incredibly timely, and artistically all of the collaborators in this project aim to build a conduit to empathetic dialogues or exchanges between witness and performer.
So besides seeing new work on a riveting topic, you can actually support CHRIS MASTERS, WHO IS AN HONEST TO GOD WORKING CHOREOGRAPHER: That is: one who carries a full-time "desk job" so he can afford to create new dances on fantastic dancers. It is exactly his spirit of 'do what it takes' that offers freelance dancers opportunities to grow and to work = and offers audiences a wider venue to see work. Can't we all show some support? For $25 (4.5 Starbuck's Beverages) you can actually show crucial support for the Arts!
Chris is doing his part -- and so can't we all do out part too?
Further it is not only Chris you are supporting -- but also FLICfest, a dance festival developed in Brooklyn, that is dedicated to supporting complete, evening-length work from established Modern choreographers. Over six nights, an array of choreographers will be presented in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn. FLICfest (feature-length independent choreography) is the first Brooklyn-based dance festival dedicated solely to feature-length dances. Each night of the festival will feature complete works by two choreographers, as well as informal cabaret performances encompassing a wide range of styles. The festival's producers believe that a feature-length dance (50 – 65 minutes) is important for both the artist and audience who is committed to works that present an aesthetic, narrative or a situation that requires time to develop. FLICfest provides these visionary artists a platform to explore the depth of their vision and audiences more time to linger.
As more choreographers create work that integrates movement, visual and musical elements into a new form of dance theatre, the support system for such work is deteriorating. Now more than ever, self-producing artists cannot take on the costs of presenting wholly completed work of 50-60 minutes and instead focus on creating short works that fit into showcases. By providing a venue and support to choreographers who are willing to take the risk and follow the vision necessary to create feature-length work, FLICfest is positioned to take a leading role in the revitalization and sustainability of modern dance.
All this goes to say that by reaching out and supporting these intimate, lesser-publicized events of those who don't have deep pockets, we are, as dancers and a community, taking back our right to work and utilizing our own power to expand our audience and our working opportunities.
Show is at 7:30 PM. Doors open at 7 PM
TOI! TOI! TOI!
B.
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