Dance Manifesto
Photo credit: Dani Bower Photography, Dancers Chloe Derry and Jack Smith
“Becoming disabled changed the way I thought and felt about myself. I felt diminished and that I had lost part of myself to it. Dance has helped to heal some of those wounds and helped me rediscover the parts of myself I felt I had lost.”
Rebecca Fowler
Photo credit: Dani Bower Photography, Dancer Rebecca Fowler, Freewheelin Dance
Show your support for Dance
Enable every child and young person to have access to dance
Ensure a thriving dance sector post-Brexit
Harness the benefits of dance for health and wellbeing
Foster equality of opportunity for dance artists and leaders
Improve dance artists’ working conditions
Champion UK dance at home and abroad
The UK Dance Sector –
A UK success story
The UK dance sector, in all its forms, is a UK success story and one which must be celebrated and championed.
The UK dance sector boasts world-class companies such as The Royal Ballet, Akram Khan Company, Hofesh Shechter Company, Rambert and many more, who bring a range of dance to wide audiences across the UK and the rest of the world.
One Dance UK calls for politicians and policymakers to support, champion and invest in dance.
40,000
workforce employing not only dancers but also artistic, administrative and technical support staff as well educators, musicians and a wide supply chain of individuals and businesses supporting the sector
17,000 of workforce are dancers and choreographers
4,500 dance degrees a year
11.2% 17% of adults engage in dance of the population are attending dance performances
Photo credit: Brian Slater Photography, U.Dance 2019
“The UK is a leader and innovator in dance.” Michael Ellis, Former Conservative Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism
The freelance dance workforce is a significant contributor to the UK’s knowledge based economy; reducing public expenditure on national health care and improving labour productivity; and increasing national income through tourism.
4.8 million
10 million
People participate in community dance each year in England
Viewers regularly watch BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing
Photo
A Powerful Force for Change
“The UK dance sector is vibrant and diverse and a flagship UK industry; as well as being a great UK art form, dance has a unique and important role to play in education, health and wellbeing, community cohesion, social mobility and diversity; dance is at the heart of our UK creative industries.” Cross-party Parliamentary motion #2171, tabled March 2019
“I am someone who believes passionately in the power of dance –its contribution to social and cultural cohesion; its positive health advantages - both in the literal activity it encourages - but also in countering loneliness and mental health issues. Dance is one of the most potent art forms - it has the ability to bring people together, it unites them. What could be more important particularly at this moment.” Baroness Bonham Carter of Yarnbury, Liberal Democrat Member of the House of Lords, Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport and Co-Vice-Chair of the Dance All Party Parliamentary Group
“Dance encourages physical exercise and promotes mental agility, especially the ability to concentrate. It develops an appreciation of music, raises the spirits and boosts the ability of self-expression. Dance also encourages team work, personal goal setting and discipline. I fully support more opportunities for dance across all age groups and sections of society.” Dame Darcey Bussell DBE, former Principal of The Royal Ballet, BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing Judge and President of the Royal Academy of Dance
CASE STUDY – Cre8ting Change: Using Dance for Social Change
In collaboration with One Dance UK, partners and Street Factory, a pilot project in Plymouth used dance to change the lives of young men not in education, employment or training (NEETs).
Over a six-month period, the young men learned dance, boxing and Jiu-Jitsu, followed by six months’ one-to-one mentoring.
The project sought to address the challenges that these young men face: controlling anger, being ‘assertive not aggressive’, communicating with others, exploring their feelings and being fit and healthy.
Interacting with dance, boxing and Jiu-Jitsu enabled the young men to face these challenges head on. The mix of physical activities helped them to develop different ways of behaving and understanding. For young men who find spoken and written language difficult, the physical realm proved very effective for learning and development.
Eight out of the eleven participants have made very positive changes in their lives, including full-time employment, apprenticeships and college enrolment.
Enable every child and young person to have access to dance
Studying dance provides young people with vital academic and creative skills needed to flourish in the world of work including discipline, communication skills, teamwork, analytic ability, resilience and confidence. Dance is proven to support good physical and mental health in young people. Whilst dance is currently offered in the national curriculum within Physical Education, dance in education has suffered with dramatically reduced entries into GCSE (-41%) and A Level Dance (-51%) between 2010 and 2019. We believe this is a direct result of the EBacc performance measure for schools, which excludes dance and creative subjects.
Pledges
A commitment in real terms and investment in dance education is urgently needed now, to foster future generations of UK dance artists able to perform at the highly skilled levels required to maintain the UK’s position as a global leader in dance. This includes not only vocational training and further and higher education, but also embedding and recognising the value of creative and artistic subjects in Primary and Secondary schools’ curricula, making it an integral part of every young person’s education.
Scrap or reform the EBacc performance measure for schools to bring parity between creative and other subject areas.
Level the playing field in terms of investment in dance for children and young people, when compared with other artforms.
Invest in more specialist dance teachers in schools and protect dance as a unique subject in the curriculum, to ensure better quality dance provision.
Ensure equality of access to quality dance provision inside and outside of school, supporting social mobility for children and young people.
“The integration of the arts in the school curriculum is essential to develop creative, confident and dedicated young people. Education in the arts builds the communication and collaborative skills needed to help create rounded individuals who are able to work with others and thus to develop genuine team work, so essential in life, work and society in 21st century Britain.” Stephen Hume, Head Teacher, Gelthorne High School in Surrey
Photo credit: Brian
“The arts are what melts the divide and unites us in humanity... to protect artists we must keep the relationship open.”
Emma Snellgrove, Dance Artist
With thanks to Emma Snellgrove: https://www.emmasnellgrove.com/performances
Photo credit: Dani Bower Photography, Dancer Austyn Farrell
Ensure a thriving dance sector post-Brexit
If the right safeguards are not put in place when and if the UK leaves the EU, we anticipate a detrimental impact on the UK dance sector, including on dance artists, companies and the artform itself. Dance artists are frequently self-employed, regularly work at short notice, and often live on low incomes. An end to ease of movement could result in a loss in revenue from EU touring of over £350,000 for some companiesalmost half of some major dance companies’ revenue. It could also result in increased costs of more than £130,000 per year - equivalent to almost 10% of annual turnover for some major UK dance companies.
Pledges
Ensure continued ease of movement across borders to safeguard against the significant detrimental impact that restricted movement of people and objects would have on the health of the UK dance sector - the direct impact on touring work in particular, a major source of income generation for large to mid and smaller scale UK dance companies.
The UK dance sector must continue to be able to recruit artists from a global talent pool to ensure that the UK’s thriving and world-leading performing arts industry remains competitive.
Any arrangements must take into account the reliance of the sector on migrant workers from the EU and the rest of the world, as well as the huge number of freelancers doing important work in our sector.
This must include a quick, easy and either no or low-cost, long-duration, multiple-entry visa or work permit arrangement for creative and cultural workers. A future skills-based immigration system extending the Points Based System for Migrant Workers to EU nationals and applying a £30,000 minimum salary threshold would make it significantly harder to access international talent and thereby pose a threat to the viability of the dance sector.
“The
dance world relies on free movement of creatives - dancers, choreographers, designers and technicians. We don’t have resources to deal with hundreds more visas each year.” Tamara Rojo CBE,
Artistic Director and Principal Dancer, English National Ballet
Harness the benefits of dance for health and wellbeing
Dance is a powerful force for achieving a healthier lifestyle, with proven success in tackling particular challenges including inactivity, falls, Parkinson’s Disease and loneliness. Physical inactivity contributes to 1 in 10 deaths - equal to smoking. More women get their physical activity through dancing than cycling and yet investment in dance has been minimal compared to cycling to improve heath. Older people who routinely partake in physical exercise can reverse the signs of ageing in the brain, and dancing has the most profound effect. Dance is clearly recognised as an essential part of creating an active nation.
Pledges
Embed dance in health strategies delivered by local Government, health and social care services, encouraging dance participation across the life course with a particular focus on children and families, older people and people living with long term health conditions.
Maximise the impact of dance in tackling inactivity in underrepresented groups by rolling out programmes such as Dance On nationally.
Increase direct investment in the dance sector to meet heath and social outcomes.
“Physical activity projects can provide a good return on investment, with some projects showing that for every £1 invested, £7 is saved on health and social care costs.” Former Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson
CASE STUDY – Dance On: Tackling Inactivity Amongst the Elderly
One Dance UK is working in partnership with Yorkshire Dance and darts (Doncaster Community Arts) to deliver a £495,000 dance programme to tackle inactivity in areas of Yorkshire.
The Dance On programme aims to study the effect of dance participation on the health and wellbeing of older people. Existing research shows dance participation can improve mobility, reduce falls and improve mental wellbeing all of which are high priorities for Health and Social Care. Dance is particularly effective at engaging women who are more inactive than men. Dance On targets women over 65 years from disadvantaged communities including those living with long-term conditions as they are a group at high risk of inactivity and it’s associated health problems.
Dance On has established 39 community dance groups across disadvantaged areas in Bradford, Leeds, and Doncaster and over the last year, engaged 607 older people in regular, fun, social dance activities. 528 of whom were women who can be notably more difficult to engage in physical activity. 348 of the participants were doing less than 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week, so the dance class makes a significant difference.
Initial research findings by the University of Leeds are showing promisewith significant improvements in balance and mobility, increased physical activity levels, and enhanced wellbeing. The programme can also potentially make cost savings for Health and Social Care services.
Foster equality of opportunity
The UK dance sector is diverse and increasingly inclusive. However much more can be done to redress the under-representation of people with disabilities and from diverse ethnic and social backgrounds, particularly in leadership positions within the sector. Dance has some of the highest rates of diverse led organisations that applied for the Arts Council England 2018-22 National Portfolio, in terms of BAME, LGBT, and gender equality.
Pledges
Support the sector in creating more equality of opportunity for everyone to be able to participate in, experience and learn about dance.
Create pathways for future leaders working in dance of the African diaspora, South Asian Dance and other dance forms to help increase the diversity in dance leadership.
Encourage increased participation in and access to community dance programmes.
Foster greater links between the dance and tech sectors to enable practical support for the exciting work taking place with dance and immersive technologies. This work brings a new dimension to cultural experiences and deepening engagement with those who might not otherwise be able to access and experience dance.
“Everyone involved in supporting dance should be asking themselves whether they are enablers or disablers when it comes to diversity in dance.”
Rashmi Becker, Founder Step Change Studios
“Dance is a universal language that anyone can relate to, no matter what their background. It can bring communities together.”
Carlos Acosta CBE, Artistic Director, Birmingham Royal Ballet
Photo credit: Dani Bower Photography, Dancer Aishani Ghosh
Improve dance artists’ working conditions
Dance artists are highly skilled and highly trained professionals. Supporting the sustainable and healthy development of these artists is key to the continued development and maintaining levels of excellence of the UK dance sector. One Dance UK supports all those working in the dance sector to acheive excellence in dance performance, education and management and enhance dancers’ health, wellbeing and performance.
Pledges
Level the playing field with other sectors of the creative industries in terms of dance artist rates of pay, contracts and benefits, including extending childcare tax breaks to working parents in the performing arts.
Ensure dance artists are adequately supported by a strong infrastructure of dance support, including holistic healthcare and career development.
Recognise the importance of dancers’ mental health and recognise and take action to address increased risk factors such as negative body image, self harm and suicide, and safeguarding young people, and level the playing field for dancers as elite performers, as is done for sport and athletes in terms of training, injury and support.
“A study of subjects involved in competitive ballroom dancing found substantial increases in the stress hormone, cortisol, compared to non-dancers [which] was due to mental stress…One meta-analysis of 33 dance studies taken over a 47 year period concluded dancers’ risk of having an eating disorder is three times greater than the general public.” Dr Allan Johnson, Consultant Sports
Psychiatrist
Photo credit: Dani Bower Photography
Dancer: Callum Findlay-White, Birmingham Royal Ballet
Champion UK dance at home and abroad
Dance is at the heart of the UK’s creative industries, a sector worth over £100 billion, the fastest growing sector of the economy and employing almost 2 million people. The UK is a centre for world class dancers and choreographers who are choosing to train in the UK and build their careers here. Theatres and touring dance companies across the UK present high quality and innovative dance productions at home and abroad enjoyed by audiences of all ages and backgrounds, and expanding their outreach programmes to local communities.
Pledges
Maintain levels of public investment in dance companies, venues and organisations
Support independent and freelance artists working in the dance sector
Increase local funding for accessible and affordable community dance spaces
Champion dance as a great UK art form locally, at home and abroad, recognising and supporting local dance artists, companies, schools and organisations that contribute significantly to cultural, social and economic capital in local constituencies
“The UK’s conservatoires are rightly acknowledged as world-leaders and demand from international applicants is consequently strong. Students from outside the UK audition despite the far cheaper training many could access in their home countries. Dance training in the UK leads to vibrant and meaningful careers and should be as highly valued at home as it is abroad.”
Professor Anthony Bowne, Principal, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
We are a registered charity which supports and represents all those working and taking part in dance in the UK.
As the Sector Support Organisation for dance in Arts Council England’s National Portfolio, we are working to remove barriers and promote the national profile and diversity of dance for everyone in the UK. We are also the Subject Association for Dance in schools. One Dance UK is working to lead the way to a stronger, more vibrant and diverse dance sector.
If you would like to find out more about how One Dance UK is working to creating positive change for the UK dance sector, on behalf of our members, email advocacy@onedanceuk.org and go to www.onedanceuk.org.
Contact: Andrew Hurst, Chief Executive One Dance UK, T 020 7713 0730
Andrew.Hurst@onedanceuk.org www.onedanceuk.org @onedanceuk
One Dance UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee | Registered in England and Wales No. 2931636 Registered Charity No. 801552 | Vat Registration No: 451 0858 58
Photo credit: Dani Bower Photography
Dancer: Tamar Dixon