The Cost of Dance
This goes way deeper than dancing for fun.
Let’s be real, competitions and conventions are in it for the money and they’re not regulated.
That’s why they keep hiring “celebrity” dancers to be on faculty, why they keep asking for money a year in advanced, why they over schedule comps and pack in dancers into ballrooms, why they put on elaborate productions so parents and studios will think they deserve to win because they paid all of this money for it, why they post your children online because you signed a document saying they could in order to compete in the first place.
Dance can be very exploitative. It’s in its history, just look at ballet and vaudeville.
And for what? Varsity (owned by private equity) owns the dance team scene: USA, NDA, UDA, DanceOne (owned by private equity) runs a bunch of high level competitions and conventions, Star Dance Alliance, Break the Floor Productions, Dancerpalooza, and the Dance Teacher Summit, and private equity is buying up dance studios all over the country including the private equity-backed Ensemble Performing Arts.
There are so many good things that come from dance: self expression, discipline, accountability, hard work, artistry, teamwork, spacial awareness, inter-personal skills. But at what cost?
There are many dance studios that value their studio culture, their dance families, and their employees. And there are too many dance studios that don’t care as long as they look good and win.
Sometimes, families don’t have a choice in what studio they attend or they can’t leave their current studio for whatever reason. Dance is so personal it can be like an abusive relationship or a freeing release.
It all depends on that studio culture. Studio culture can be connected to competition culture. If comps reward big studios just for being there or score age-inappropriate routines highly even if it’s against their own rules or not move routines to the correct level, it sends a message. Conventions that only teach choreography and give out scholarships based on that tell studios to abandon technique and risk their students’ safety for the chance at being noticed and maybe videoed for social media.
It’s funny how expensive studio dance is when there aren’t really sustainable careers for most dancers. Teaching kids is not a full time gig for many. Choreographers don’t get big gigs unless they have an Emmy. Professional dancers are backup entertainment for other people like singers or NBA/NFL players. College dance teams certainly don’t get paid, they’re lucky if they have a dance studio to practice in, and are often seen as volunteers at school functions instead of the athletes that they are.
It’s only recently that there’s been a push for better wages, respect, and opportunities. The International Dance League for example, is trying to make dance a recognized sport. It’s for hip hop crews all over the world with the aim at making dance a career where they are the stars. The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders also made headlines with their salary increase due to the backlash from their Netflix docu-series.
Just because dancers, dance teachers, and choreographers are passionate, doesn’t mean they should earn less or be treated like props. And just because you’re one of these doesn’t mean you’re all of them. There are many choreographers or professional dancers who are not good teachers. Many good teachers can’t choreograph or dance professionally either.
With private equity rapidly taking over the dance education industry, the time has come for us to make a stand and create real systemic change.
Attitude Dance Project wants to be part of that change, but change costs money and connections.
So, would you rather feed the current machine? Or build something from the ground up that benefits and protects us all?
Join our Dance Educator Discord
Please join our Discord server: The Marley Burn Collective. I created this with my friend, Laurice, so we could create a community of like-minded dance educators.
https://discord.gg/WrTGPuTkZF (If the link doesn’t work, please email me at attitudedanceproject@gmail.com)
