4 minute read
Dancing Parents
By Katie Stevens
After dancers’ enforced time off resulted in a mini baby boom, One Dance UK’s Katie Stevens looks at the organisations and researchers advocating for resources for dancing parents and their growing families.
Forced time off recently gave some dancers a chance to step back from gruelling schedules and grow their families without missing out on their performing career once touring life resumes. The Royal Ballet alone saw four of their dancers starting families in the past year. However, now that restrictions have been lifted, and performances and touring are back in the picture, how is the dance sector evolving to support these new dancing parents and carers?
Chloe Hillyar, founder of The Pregnant Dancer, found in her research that 27 out of 50 dance artists she interviewed have children, and out of the 23 who didn’t, 18 expressed that they wanted them. When 45 out of 50 artists either want or plan to have children or already have them, it’s clear to see that more robust parental provisions are extremely important to those working in dance.
Aside from the well-resourced Royal Ballet, there are some dance companies setting a standard for the dance sector. For example, New Adventures commits to supporting their parent and carer workforce by putting in place family-friendly practices such as extra assistance with accommodation and travel arrangements, and are keen to keep the dialogue open and flowing to allow for changes to suit each individual. This has been life-changing for the ‘dance parents’ involved.
The stark reality is, however, that there is little support for freelancers, and smaller companies don’t have the infrastructure to support working parents. In Northern Ireland and Ireland, the picture appears bleaker; there are no dance companies that operate full time across the entire year and maternity leave is a real luxury that few in the sector can afford.
Image Dani Bower for One Dance UK
Positive steps are being made to improve the situation for parents and carers. Dance Mama, Parents and Carers in Performing Arts (PiPA) and The Pregnant Dancer amongst others are all making waves to help drive the conversation forward and encourage companies to allow space for parents, carers and their children to feel supported when returning to work.
What seems to be clear when looking at the work that these organisations are undertaking is the requirement for a large-scale cultural change. Professor Angela Pickard, Dance Lead and Researcher for PiPA’s forthcoming study about dance parents and Professor at Canterbury Christ Church University, explains “although the more established dance companies have the infrastructure to support parents and carers, steps can be made to improve the setup for the small to mid-scale companies.”
Professor Pickard highlights the recent example of Vincent Dance Theatre incorporating a budget line specifically for childcare and parental support in a successful Arts Council England funding application. Although other companies may have tried a similar approach unsuccessfully, if each funding application included a similar line for childcare, it would make the need for acceptance of dancing parents’ support more visible and help push forward this culture change.
Additionally, if dance companies are providing provisions for parents and their children, Dr Aoife McGrath, Senior Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast, says that there is still the need for these children to be accepted into these professional spaces. If dancers aren’t seeing the acceptance of their children in sharing the space, then they have very few alternatives left other than to leave, especially if the mother is breastfeeding.
Image Dani Bower for One Dance UK
When reflecting upon this, Aoife described the long history of parents feeling as though they must hide the fact that they are mothers or fathers and that having a child in tow in a professional space doesn’t fit the image of the ‘serious artist.’
She notes: “Organisations can help break down this barrier by introducing a family friendly policy by asking their dancers what they need to be a performer and have a family. This might include nannies on tour with extra provisions for additional accommodation, allowing for flexibility in a timetable including extra provisions to allow for unavoidable last minute schedule changes, or relaxing the working environment to allow for breastfeeding.”
Parents returning to performance are suddenly met with a whole new level of planning of their life. Lucy McCrudden, founder of Dance Mama, provides a much-needed space for dancing mothers to develop their practice and manage this return.
So far this year, Dance Mama Live! has supported 80 women in different stages of their pregnancy or motherhood, some of whom have expressed their plans of leaving the sector before this opportunity presented itself. Dance Mama Live! was designed to be parent-friendly and the sessions, also available as recordings, take place remotely, removing the barriers of childcare and time restrictions, all of which help parents navigate through their career with children.
Lucy McCrudden, Dance Mama
This notion that you must stop working to become a parent or carer and a dance career and parenthood don’t go hand in hand is outdated and many people in the sector have proved otherwise. A change in the way support is offered can help these parents continue to dance.
Further information
To get involved with PiPA's research:
www.bit.ly/PiPADanceFocusGroup
To get involved with Parenting in Dance Network, email
hello@dancemama.org
For more resources or information for parents: Dance Mama
www.dancemama.org
PiPA Campaign
www.pipacampaign.org
Pregnant then Screwed
www.pregnantthenscrewed.com
For more information on pregnancy and dancers: The Pregnant Dancer
www.thepregnantdancer.com/resources
Dance Mama
www.dancemama.org/resources
One Dance UK Information Sheets
www.bit.ly/PregnancyODUKInfoSheet
Katie Stevens
Photo Dani Bower for One Dance UK
