Dance Mapping - Arts Council England

Cinema through digital and film agencies are also seeing the value of the catalogue of works
created for film. Opera is already being presented in cinemas and the back catalogue of
dance, plus the potential of live streaming of work, opens up new opportunities to increase
audiences.
As already stated this area of dance is populated by a small number of companies and
individuals. Promoters, on the whole, are either not interested in this form of showing, (in
some cases they consider it to be too risky for audiences) or do not have sufficiently
sophisticated IT systems. International counterparts are much further ahead, particularly in
Germany, the Netherlands and Australia.
Dance is in a strong position, because of its immediacy and strong visual impact, to develop
content in this medium. This might be individual artists making work for independent web-
based distribution or developing partnerships such as between universities or Dance TV
looking at work for niche markets. The challenge in all of this is to create financially viable
packages for whatever opportunities arise for dance in the diversification of broadcast outlets
Research initiatives are important. Two examples are South East Dance’s pay per view and
commercial partnerships research, and Sadler’s Wells’ commissioning of eight dance artists,
currently being screened on the venue’s Polyvision, with the intention of distributing to other
outlets, such as dance film festivals and big screens. Success in these areas could mean
significant audiences for small-scale and experimental work.
An illustration is set out below of artists taking the initiative, outside current structures. This
example has been drawn (and updated) from the report on digital capacity in dance.. The
range of programmes of work and the international dimension of their distribution is a lesson
for others.
Shiftwork – virtual distribution
Shiftwork was founded in Cambridge in 1999 by dancer and choreographer Chirstinn Whyte
and photographer and digital artist Jake Messenger.
Shiftwork is an artist-led organisation committed to developing original and innovative work
which crosses the boundaries between visual art, digital technology and dance.
Work has been created operating independently of traditional production, distribution and
funding contexts. The Shiftwork website has been active since 1999, and is an entirely
independent entity, without the marketing capacity of organisations such as londondance.com
or Sadler’s Wells. However, entirely without publicity, in 2008 the site averaged 320 hits per
month, with a high proportion of visits exceeding the 30 minutes and one-hour duration mark.
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