Dance Mapping - Arts Council England

dance truly was universal, there would be no distinction between the dance found in theatres (and I
have spent many a year doing such things) and the dance found outside the theatre...which is where
dance began. Dance is part of the human condition; not conditional upon being an “artistic” human.’
‘Coming of age for an artform that had its first serious professional company less than a century ago,
and accepting that all styles and forms are valid.’
‘True partnership working and an understanding the importance and benefit of working together. More
engagement between the subsidised and commercial sectors and more thinking around business
models to support this and ethics around funding implications.’
‘Mainly to have an embracing dance community that is capable of admitting that there are many things
that are not working and that need to be changed.’
8. Workforce development
It was noted in stage one that ‘career development for dancers and choreographers whose
performing lives may be short, is poor. There are limited opportunities for dancers to develop
long term sustainable careers in the field. There are also differential levels of support for
artists at different stages of their careers.’
The life of a dancer is physically demanding. Dancing as a professional dancer brings
physical pressures and an intensity that can mean that the dancer's performing life is
relatively short. However, most dancers don't think about what happens when their
performing career ends and the impact of this can be profound both emotionally and
psychologically. And there are few career routes available for them. This has been noted in
the past (Devlin 1989; Clarke and Gibson 1998) and the report of the Culture, Media and
Sport Committee 63 (House of Commons 2004) highlights schemes that are now in place to
develop new skills and continuing professional development opportunities to those looking to
transfer their knowledge and skills into another area of the sector. 64
For some dancers, the transition creates opportunity to retrain and refocus and for
some it means a new role in dance. For others, it may mean leaving the profession
and changing direction. As we have seen, this is ironic in a workforce where there is clear
evidence of demand for excellent teachers.
Workforce development in this area must take into account the pool of performers whose
63 House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee (2004) Arts Development: Dance
64 The Dancer’s Career Development Fund offers professional dancers financial support to re-train in another area of
the sector ‘by building on distinctive strengths and transferable skills gained from [their] performing experience’
(House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee [2004] p.38).
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