Dance Mapping - Arts Council England

Figure 15: Participation in dance activities
Source: Taking Part
In summary, the Taking Part research concludes that:
• attendance at all dance events is relatively low
• most of those who attend dance events do so relatively infrequently
• participation rates are increasing– with 9.2% of the population taking part in dance
activity at least once a year.
Interestingly, Taking Part found that there is an overlap between audiences for the different
types of dance. Around a third of those who had attended contemporary dance had also
attended ballet in the past 12 months 85 . But, taking this into account, the research concluded
that 7% of English adults have attended at least one of these types of dance events in the
past 12 months, while 9% have participated in at least one dance activity. The combined
reach of dance through either attendance or participation is therefore 14%, around 1:7
people. 86
Taking Part also asked those respondents who have attended or participated in dance, their
motivations for engaging, and those who have not engaged, why they have not done so. The
reasons that people cite are, however, very general – for example the most commonly cited
reason for participating is ‘enjoyment’, while the most commonly cited barriers to engagement
are ‘lack of interest‘ and ‘lack of time’. The research uses multivariate analysis to approach
85 See Exploring audience overlap, Taking Part briefing No. 3, www.artscouncil.org.uk/takingpart.
86 This assumes that those who participate in dance activity do not also attend performances so is a dubious figure.
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