A quick gender critical overview
the impact of covid 19 On the arts: dance sector
Here at the Feminist Directory we think that it is important to observe the world through a gender lens. Data shows that the COVID19 pandemic has disproportionately affected many sectors which are female dominated such as Healthcare, Early Education etc.
The pandemic has also led to a rise in unpaid care work which is disproportionately falling to women. We have researched how this combination of factors is affecting women’s mental health, physical health, economic stability and professional lives.
This video is part of our series investigating the impact of Covid19 on the Arts Sector. In this we will focus on the dance industry.
We will look at the international implications of Covid on the dance sector and we will highlight particular case studies in the UK, Australia and the USA.
We will apply a gender lens to our research and have a particular focus on how the pandemic has impacted women.
Whilst we acknowledge that many will have their own experience shaped by a number of factors and face an intersectional experience we will focus our own analysis on gender.
“Witnessing the devastating impact this moment is having on our dance and artistic community, generations of compounded inequities have become more evident since this crisis began. The dance community continuously remains adaptable, vibrant and resilient.
Nonetheless, arts workers must be financially sustained as we look to the future of our city and recognize that artists as our cultural bearers ….. Visionaries (who) will craft our way forward and must be included in conversations about how we safely return to our workplaces and sustain growth in the near future.”
Dance NYC, 2020
#ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers
This campaign video was curated by Dance/NYC from more than 150 video submissions of a cross-section of dance workers, choreographers educators, administrators and fundraisers who are displaying strength and power in numbers as a community. Dance/NYC declares loudly that #ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers. The campaign demands the acknowledgement, representation and integration of dance and arts workers into the decision-making that will envision our future in the arts post-pandemic.
#ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers Campaign Video 2020 | Dance/NYC Video Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ7gi8mC-Fw&feature=emb_logo
General Climate Pre Covid
The UN has reported that there is real danger of current inequities being magnified by the Co-did19 pandemic. They have warned that progress made across sectors in terms of gender, disability and diversity standards could be reversed and existing inequalities will be felt more deeply.
Gender based inequities have long been discussed in the dance sector. In a recent Forbes article, Kim Elsesser summarises the pre co-vid state of the industry through a gender lens:
“From a young age, far more girls than boys are interested in ballet, so much so that girls are estimated to outnumber boys 20-to-1 in ballet classes. Yet when it comes to leadership, there’s a shocking gender gap in favor of men. According to DDP, a whopping 72% of ballet companies have a male artistic director. Those women who do get the title of artistic director earn only 68 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. Sadly, only one woman made it onto DDP’s top ten list of the highest paid artistic directors.
DDP found that in the 2018-19 ballet season, men choreographed 81% of all works performed by the top 50 ballet companies. Of the four hundred and sixty seven works announced for the 2019-20 season, 79% were choreographed by men.
What is perhaps most shocking about the bias in ballet is that the ballet companies are supported by an audience and donor base that are largely female. It’s estimated that 70% of ballet’s donors and audience members are women.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2019/09/12/a-gender-gap-in-ballet-seriously/#71cc33042be6
Gender and Dance Pre Covid
With the majority of dance companies being made up of women, whether on the performance teaching or administrative side – it is alarming that women are rarely in directorship positions.
According to Luke Jenning’s article for The Guardian : In classical dance, female choreographers are rare indeed, and the dynamics of vocational ballet schooling are at least partly responsible. Boys see themselves as individuals from the start, but girls quickly learn how replaceable they are, and in consequence can become over-anxious to “fit in”.
This is corroborated by a recent article in VoiceMag entitled Different Gender Stereotypes in Dance :
“Males are seen as individuals from the very start and there is no one that is able to do what they do besides them … females are very quick to learn that they can be easily replaced and they are “lucky” to be where they are now if they are in this situation. This makes people feel as if they do not fit in where they are and become anxious about being themselves”.
The Guardian summarises:
“It’s 14 years since a woman was commissioned to create a main-stage ballet at the Royal Opera House. If this were true of women playwrights at the National Theatre, or female artists at the Tate, there would be outrage … Women quit because they don’t get the support that their male colleagues get, and having to push constantly against this outrageous gender inequality is infuriating … Difficulty was pardonable in a male member of the company – “Oh, they’d say, he’s a bit of a maverick” – it was unforgivable in a female employee. “It’s as if there was something abhorrent about a free-thinking woman. Something slightly disgusting. How dare she?”
Sexism in Dance? Where are all the female choreographers? By Luke Jennings Apr 2013: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/apr/28/women-choreographers-glass-ceiling
Gender Pre Covid
Table 1 : survey by Dance Data Project research. https://www.dancedataproject.com/research/
General Climate: Covid
In March 2020 the whole Arts sector went into disarray and theatres were closed worldwide. Dance shows were cancelled overnight, commissions halted, tours ended, training stopped and incomes were lost. Dancers and those working in the dance sector lost their jobs in a matter of hours. Reports showed dancers in the midst of warming up for their evening performance only to be told their work was cancelled indefinitely.
Whilst many large companies, have attempted to salvage some income by offering classes over Zoom or streaming previous productions (for example in Sydney, New York and London), the smaller companies are unable to compete and have suffered devastating consequences.
The industry newspaper The Stage, summarises the effects that have been felt around the world :
“While some companies have been able to honour contracts or projects that were set to take place in the next few weeks, that is not the case for every dancer. For many, the flexible, zero-hour side jobs that fit around the life of a performer, such as front of house at the theatres or teaching work, have also been lost.
Now, during this period of lockdown, dancers face not just the loss of their jobs and income but the challenge of maintaining their physical fitness across an indefinite period of time. Big companies have implemented home resources for their dancers, but for freelancers, a surge in online classes has proved invaluable, with dancers sharing their home workouts via platforms such as Instagram Live, Facebook and Zoom.”
– Rachel Elderkin, April 2020 https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/dancers-on-the-impact-of-covid-19-it-has-blown-my-mind-how-much-this-industry-has-pulled-together
Gender, Covid and Dance
The effects of the pandemic within the dance sector are likely to disproportionately affect women in a number of ways.
Women do the lion’s share of unpaid care work – the UN reports that globally, women perform on average three-quarters, or 76.4 percent of the total amount of unpaid care of work. During the pandemic, education systems have closed and unpaid care work has increased.
Many dancers have been training from home via Zoom but increased care responsibilities for those with children at home has impacted on the ability to train.
Many workers in the dance sector are freelancers. Those that are eligible for the SEIS scheme in the UK and global equivalents find that their entitlement is impacted by maternity leave. The scheme works by averaging earnings from the past three years and does not exempt time off for maternity leave.
Dance is known for its competitive nature and in a workforce that is already female dominated there will be an increased demand for work and increased competition.
The financial and psychological pressures of the pandemic are exacerbated for women who feel that they are unable to maintain the amount of hours usually dedicated to their work and levels of physical fitness. This places them at a disadvantage to their peers who may have trained more effectively through the pandemic.
Financial Implications
It is predicted that the pandemic will have profound and long-lasting negative financial impact on the dance sector. Performances are not viable on the scale of pre-pandemic shows with social distancing measures. To meet the needs of a show, performers, choreographers, directors, designers, technicians and company directors all require a salary.
In order to pay salaries, the companies rely on selling near capacity for some of their performances. Although exact amounts differ by venue, in order to break even, it is largely unsustainable to open with such reduced capacities.
A longer term view is summarised by The Activist History Review by Hannah Hall and Matthew Westberry :
“This pandemic will cause long term harm to our industry because buyers are not able to put as much money into dance companies due to the economic recession. Over time, companies will not be able to afford to maintain their building, stock, or pay their employees. Millions of people involved in the performing arts are unable to provide a sustainable income for themselves and their families, because they have been furloughed or fired due to COVID-19. An inadequate government response has done little to quell the anxieties of our industry. Not knowing what the future holds for dance, many of our classmates, friends, and colleagues may be unable to find work in the future.”
Benevolent Funds
Global organisations are beginning to look at the financial impacts within different sectors. Dance NYC implemented a survey which reveals the immediate and dire needs of those in the industry :
“Our current findings indicate that many freelance dance artists are struggling to cover basic living expenses such as groceries and housing in light of the lost income due to COVID-19. The crisis is causing an immediate shift in the size and makeup of the dance workforce that could have sustained, significant implications on the field. Additionally, our findings shed light on how artists across other arts disciplines are also being impacted by the virus and represent shared resources needed during and beyond this crisis”.
As with other workforces that consist of freelancers, most people undertake additional work to supplement income made in the dance sector. In many cases this work has also ceased to exist. Benevolent funds have assisted performers and other dance workers around the world. Many have fallen through the gap of government assistance.
One such benevolent fund is the Dance/NYC Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund. Which will help to “mitigate the growing impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak on individual freelance dance workers and dance making organizations based in the metropolitan New York City area and New Jersey state, particularly financial losses incurred due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus and the social restriction measures implemented to contain the spread of the virus. The Fund prioritizes supporting communities most impacted by COVID-19 including African, Latina/o/x, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA), disabled, immigrant, and women-identifying artists, as well as those at high risk including elderly and immunosuppressed artists.” Dance.NYC
https://www.dance.nyc/COVID-19/Relief-Fund/Freelance-Dance-Makers
Community
The closure of the dance sector does not only impact professional dancers but also the children, adults and young people who engage with dance classes. Dance is both a source of entertainment as well as a popular community activity for all ages. It is imperative that those working in the dance sector are supported in this time of global crisis so that in due course, the sector can return.
The UN reports in their article, The impact of COVID-19 on sport, physical activity and well-being and its effects on social development that the “lack of access to exercise and physical activity can also have mental health impacts, which can compound stress or anxiety that many will experience in the face of isolation from normal social life … Such online offerings can serve to increase access to instructors or classes that would otherwise be inaccessible. However, access to such resources is far from universal, as not everyone has access to digital technologies.”
https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/2020/05/covid-19-sport/
In the article Dance, Health and Wellbeing Special Issue by Angela Pickard and Doug Risner it is noted :
“Dance has benefits for wider populations. Physical activity of any kind has beneficial effects such as development of greater strength, fitness, coordination, confidence, motivation and an increase in adrenaline and endorphins from being physically active. The positive health and wellbeing effects of recreational dance interventions with children and young people include opportunities for expression and creativity, enhanced self-concept, confidence, optimism, hope, a sense of agency and capacity for resilience.
There is work developing to enhance inclusive dance environments for all ages, stages and abilities. There is evidence of the effectiveness of dance on psychological and physical health for example, cancer patients, those suffering from schizophrenia and depression. There is also a developing knowledge base in relation to dance for Parkinson’s disease and dance for dementia with wider populations of older people.”
https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/dance-health-wellbeing/
Australia
We shall now investigate some country specific responses within the Dance sector. The pandemic has been handled in different ways. Access to support differs across the globe. Let us look at Australia where the cultural and creative sector contributes $112 billion – 6 percent of Gross Domestic Product every year. Over 800,000 people work in cultural and creative occupations. The Australian Government added $550 per fortnight as a Coronavirus supplement for the unemployed during the first few months of the pandemic and has waived the asset test and waiting period for the Jobseeker allowance. It also proposed $800 million in additional support for the cultural and creative sectors.
AusDance states that:
“Artists have always been extremely resourceful in sustaining their practice through normal times. Their opportunities for other work though, have now diminished to the point of non-existence and, despite their many creative resources, the financial and artistic consequences for them are dire.
Eventually the pandemic will pass. We don’t know when. When it does, the creative industries, and especially the arts, will be the leaders in reviving the spirits of the community and working with all Australians to restore society and the economy. Everything possible must be done to ensure that artists are actually around to do so.”
https://ausdance.org.au/news/article/ausdance-calls-for-government-stimulus-to-include-arts-workers
Sydney Dance Company and Australian Ballet
Dance companies have been resourceful during the pandemic not only in attempting to support their workers with online physical training but also by providing the wider public with entertainment where scheduled seasons have been halted. The Sydney Dance Company and the Australian Ballet are two such examples.
Sydney Dance Company:
“The value and the power of the arts has never been more important than it is now. Dance, music and creativity bring us together, give us hope and help us feel alive.” Rafael Bonachela
Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director, Rafael Bonachela states that the “Sydney Dance Company is taking dancing in your living room to the next level: world-class teaching, at all levels and across lots of dance styles, direct to everyone, wherever you are across the world. There’s never been a more important time to stay active and dance is the perfect way to maintain your physical and mental health while having fun!”
Australian Ballet :
“Our new At Home with Ballet TV digital season will beam our premium-quality productions right to your couch for free. We’ve hand-picked a selection of our most beloved and inspiring ballets, and each will have a limited two-week season on our streaming platform, Ballet TV”.
Australia
Dance forms big business in the state of Victoria. From professional dancers and teachers, to after school children’s classes, thousands of Victorians are engaged in dance activities on a weekly basis. Privately operated dance studios and dance schools generate in excess of $300M in annual revenue and create an estimated 10,000 paid positions.
The impact of COVID-19 on Victoria’s dance studio sector has been devastating. Many dance studios and companies are not eligible for JobKeeper or state government Business Support grants. As a result, many will not survive 2020.
The dance sector is highly interdependent. With artists out of work, and with many studios ineligible for economic stimulus support, the flow-on effect for the broader dance ecology, in terms of economic, physical, and mental wellbeing, is profound.
Victorian Dance Studio Owner COVID-19 Business Impact Survey Report Ausdance : https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57f90df32e69cfd1ffabb07d/t/5f3fb771507fa636b22153c6/1598011268494/Victorian+Dance+Studio+Owner+COVID-19+Business+Impact+Survey+Report-Ausdance+Victoria+August+2020.pdf
UK
The dance sector is largely made up of freelance workers. In the UK many in this sector have fallen between the gaps of government financial support. The UK government has provided a £160 million response package to the Arts Council which is helpful to organisations but still leaves many individuals under strain. The pressure is not solely financial but psychological and additionally has effect on skill maintenance and development. All over the world, workers in the Dance sector are attempting to navigate the pandemic and maintain their physical as well as mental fitness.
Terry Hyde, who is a former ballet dancer with the Royal Ballet and now works as a psychotherapist highlights his concerns:
“It’s unrelenting pressure,” says Hyde. “Some of it is the self doing it, and some of it comes through the old-school approach that says you need to work through any pain.” Hyde says that traditional performance pressure has been replaced by anxiety about the uncertainty. “Now it’s all about fear of missing out because they’re worried and isolated,” says Hyde. “Is someone else able to work out more effectively while you’re struggling? Are they getting an edge?”
Positives
Whilst the Covid pandemic has caused much hardship in a sector that is largely dependent on live audiences and ticket sales, there is an overarching sense of community within the industry. Acts of kindness have been reported across the ecosystem of the dance world. Companies and individuals have pulled together to support one another. It is a catch twenty two : where companies do not survive, there will be no work to come back to and without the workers companies cannot run.
One positive area is the increased availability of classes via Zoom. This has led to a sense of togetherness and continued community for company dancers who are still able to train together. In addition, it has enabled the wider public to take classes with professionals they may not usually have access to. As such, dance companies have a way of generating a small amount of revenue. The Sydney Dance Company for example receives revenue for weekly or flexible passes.
The transition online has also connected us to a global dance community. Dancers and teachers have collectively adapted to continue training. Online classes and virtual platforms are by no means a replacement for in-studio dance classes, but we are a part of an industry reinventing itself in the face of unprecedented obstacles.
Dancing Around a Pandemic: An Industry and Community Altered By COVID – https://activisthistory.com/2020/08/31/dancing-around-a-pandemic-an-industry-and-community-altered-by-covid/
Further acts of community are evident in the set up of benevolent funds where many individuals, companies and organisations have joined forces. The previously mentioned Dance NYC fund, for example, is made possible by collaboration between the following :
New York Community Trust, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the Arnhold Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund in The New York Community Trust, the Booth Ferris Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the GKV Foundation, and the Harkness Foundation for Dance.
USA Case Study
Early in the pandemic we were only able to predict the outcomes of the disaster. However, as the pandemic continues, data is collected and we are able to see the real impact. The data below is taken from the Impact Survey carried out in NYC by DanceNYC.
Individual dance workers report a cumulative loss of at least $4.7M in income related to 6,100+ canceled dancer performances, 12,100+ canceled rehearsals, 8,500+ canceled teaching engagements, 2,100+ canceled commissions, and 3,200+ other engagements. The smallest organisations are most impacted, expecting losses that amount to 74% (avg) of their total annual operating budgets.
– 1,196 valid survey responses from independent dance workers
– 93% of respondents work as freelancers
– 63% of survey respondents report cash flow issues
– 76% need funds for housing
– 74% need funds for food/groceries
– Nearly three-quarters (71%) of organizations, groups and projects are experiencing cash flow issues and/or in a state of financial hardship.
Survey responses reveal disproportionate needs and impacts for dance workers who identify as disabled, ALAANA, and genderqueer/non-binary as well as older dance workers, immigrant dance workers and those living in the Bronx.
https://www.dance.nyc/covid-19/Impact-Survey/OrganizationalData
American Ballet Theatre – Case Study
The below extract is taken from Marina Harrs’ article for The Neworker, entitled ‘Dancing on Their Own During the Coronavirus Crisis’:
There’s the partnering: hands on bodies, sweat, dancers breathing into each other’s faces as they channel physical effort into something that looks like magical ease. At first, neither Lopez nor the dancers were paid. That quickly changed; the company’s private donors and corporate sponsors stepped in. Additionally, there is now an A.B.T. Crisis Relief Fund, and a federal Small Business Administration loan has provided assistance.
Kara Medoff Barnett, the company’s executive director, told me that the company is projected to lose approximately eighteen million dollars in revenue from ticket sales and touring fees. The dancers’ salaries are only guaranteed through early July, when their New York City season would normally end. A fall season has been announced, but it remains anything but certain.
The uncertainty wears particularly heavily on dancers. Most have been working non-stop, since the age of ten or eleven, to become the high-performing artists that they are. Many have forgone or deferred college for a dance career. Like an Olympic sport, dancing requires total devotion and sacrifice. “They have to forgo much of the pleasure that others have been able to indulge in to achieve their goals,” Robin Smith, a psychologist and ordained minister who was known as “therapist in residence” on the “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” told me. (Smith, who refers to herself as a “trauma surgeon for the heart and soul,” was invited to speak to the dancers via Zoom at the beginning of this month.) “And now the payoff has gone up in smoke. Depression and anxiety are a part of this.”
An hour and a half of class via Zoom can’t replace the seven hours a day of hard physical work that these dancers are used to. When it’s all over, “Some will be more in shape, some less,” Lopez said. “But, if you sit on your sofa, you won’t be ready to go back, of that I can assure you.”
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/dancing-on-their-own-during-the-coronavirus-crisis
Mental Health
Mental health challenges have always been notorious in the dance sector given the pressures for dancers to look and perform in particular ways. Indeed, dancers are 3-5 times more likely to struggle with an eating disorder than the general population.
The organisation Minding the Gap supports and reports on the mental health of those in the dance sector. Minding the Gap was set up in 2018 by former dancer, writer, and nonprofit development professional Kathleen McGuire Gaines. The tables to the right display their findings.
There is concern that the pandemic will exacerbate pre-existing mental health challenges as well as contribute to new ones.
Isolation may be particularly challenging for dancers to navigate and can lead to depression and anxiety.
A loss of structure : dancers thrive on their routines. There is a fear that dancers may ruminate, and turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms such substance abuse to deal with that loss.
Dancers may be far from home and desperate to be with loved ones with concern for their health and well-being.
Without the opportunity to dance, dancers may become overly concerned or even obsessed with their physical fitness during time away from the studio.
Mental Health
More mental health resources are springing up around the world to assist dancers with coping mechanisms and mental health support.
Minding the Gap have organised a ‘Town Hall’ with expert advice and IADMS. The example below is from a streamed series of webinars.
Webinar 3: Stress and Coping
This webinar explores stressors that dancers may experience in association with COVID-19. Drs. Matthew Grierson, Nancy Kadel, Lynda Mainwaring, Bonnie Robson, and Paula Thomson discuss with the president of IADMS, Mr. Peter Lewton-Brain, how COVID-19 impacts dancers and how the body responds to stressful situations. Strategies for coping with stressful events are offered.
Physical Health
The Covid19 situation does not only pose a risk to the mental health of those working in the dance sector, but poses various physical risks.
Dance USA raises the following concerns over dancers safety:
Social distancing recommendations in general become significantly greater when dancers and athletes are exercising indoors. Being in an enclosed, indoor space, sharing the same air for a prolonged period of time (> than 10 minutes) increases the chances of exposure and infection.
– Standard social distancing guidelines of 6 feet are not as effective as the time of exposure is increased and even a low dose of virus is within the air.
The English National Ballet school raise other concerns, in relation to students fitness:
“From the Healthcare and Performance perspective, our biggest fear and our top priority was to fight deconditioning of our students. Depending on the country of residence, some students were able to continue dancing in a studio; however, lockdown was very stringent in some other countries, and some students were under strict confinement in their flats for over 6 weeks! Reduced activity rapidly leads to loss of strength and to muscle atrophy, with long term detrimental effects, especially for elite ballet dancers.”
Conclusion
“While the current circumstances are not ideal, this ordeal provides a learning experience about adaptability. A key quality to have as a dancer is being able to turn on a dime and adjust to whatever life throws your way. Finding innovative ways to stay in shape, be creative, and dance in the space that is available will leave dancers with a newfound respect for tenacity that will follow many of us throughout our careers. Dancers are finding motivation in various outlets inside of their homes to keep dancing and improving. The effects of COVID-19 are something that all of us are faced with. Still, in the midst of crisis, we dancers have found a global community.”
The Activist History Review
Further Reading
Dancers on the impact of Covid-19: ‘It has blown my mind how much this industry has pulled together’:
https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/dancers-on-the-impact-of-covid-19-it-has-blown-my-mind-how-much-this-industry-has-pulled-together
A Gender Gap In Ballet, Seriously?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2019/09/12/a-gender-gap-in-ballet-seriously/#71cc33042be6
Ballroom Dance Instructor Details the Impact of COVID-19 on Dancers and Ballrooms
Dance NYC Impact Survey and Findings:
Dance NYC Impact Survey and Findings – Independent Workers
https://www.dance.nyc/covid-19/Impact-Survey/IndependentDanceWorkerData
Dance NYC Impact Survey and Findings- Organizations:
https://www.dance.nyc/covid-19/Impact-Survey/OrganizationalData
Ausdance calls for government stimulus to include arts workers:
https://ausdance.org.au/news/article/ausdance-calls-for-government-stimulus-to-include-arts-workers
Media Release: The Cultural and Creative Sector and COVID-19:
Dancers: honor your mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak:
https://www.wearemindingthegap.org/post/dancers-mental-health-covid-19
Dance NYC Impact Survey and Findings:
Dancer Mental Health Town Hall #3: Food and Body Image During COVID-19:
How the Healthcare Team at English National Ballet School Handled Lockdown:
https://www.onedanceuk.org/how-the-healthcare-team-at-english-national-ballet-school-handled-lockdown/
Dancing on Their Own During the Coronavirus Crisis:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/dancing-on-their-own-during-the-coronavirus-crisis
An industry in freefall: UK dance sector calls for urgent help:
Dancing Around a Pandemic: An Industry and Community Altered By COVID: