Pay The Dancers!

Today, I was made aware of this video created by commercial dancers based in Australia, that have chosen to speak out about a particular high profile instance of 'low to no pay' work in order to create awareness for the endemic that is occurring within the dance industry. 

The video has huge relevance towards my inquiry as the issue of 'low to no pay' work is often excused by high profile clients as 'good exposure' or 'experience' on a set with celebrity artists. The celebrities are very often not to blame for this, as they play little part in recruitment, however the dancers are very much exploited by the employers themselves. 

The issue of ‘Enforcement,’ means that dancers feel unable to speak up and assert themselves due to a lack of confidence in their employment rights and the fear of insecurity during short-term contracts: ‘Across the economy many workers with minimum wage problems are often too scared to assert their rights.’ (Equity, 2013)

Empowerment when it comes to saying no to ‘low to no pay’ work is only likely to be obtained by the strength of union therefore our reliance on Equity to fight with the government for better enforcement of employment rights is imperative. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfippeabpAg

Equity UK, 2013. Work Not Play: The rise in Low Pay and No Pay work in the entertainment industries. (PDF) Available at: < http://www.equity.org.uk/documents/work-not-play-brochure/ > (Accessed 15 February 2014).

HAPPY EASTER!

I am sat working on my review while eating a ton of chocolate!

Easter is brilliant, however this one is involving some heavy thinking... I am struggling with how to put together my artefact at the moment, has anyone finished theirs and have any advice?  

Finalist Workshop- Module 3

I attended a finalist workshop this week with Paula, Lizzy, Sophie and Carla (on Skype!) I thought I would quickly share some of the points that I found helpful from the session...

Appendices: Should be part of the Critical Review Document, not separate documents, and is put directly after the Bibliography. Can include a title/contents page in order to list what appendices are included. If you are struggling with too many words in the main text, try and put larger descriptive paragraphs/ full literature review within the appendices.

Word Count: If you are having difficulty being concise, don't worry! The word count is indicative anyway but its better to include everything into your first few drafts for feedback from your advisor. This feedback will help with being more specific. It is better to have less points in greater detail than hundreds of points that are unexplained.

Literature: Should be around 10-20 sources of literature within your WHOLE review. This includes any quotes/literature you use in the Intro and Evaluation sections too. In some cases, it may have been difficult to find enough literature for your topic (I'm talking about myself here!)...this doesn't matter as long as the sources you have found are substantial and highly relevant.

Artefact: If you haven't started working on your artefact or decided what you are going to create: now is the time to start brainstorming and make a decision. Remember its for your professional audience and should be 'meaty' and make an impact on the audience. Try to think about what your audience wants or needs to see. For example, if you are directing your artefact towards sixteen year olds- think about the music/ content/ images/ language they would be interested in.

Writing Style: Write in the past tense when discussing your inquiry, it is research you have already completed and analysed. This may seem obvious but wasn't to me! Also, be assertive within your writing, show your interest and enthusiasm for your topic. Separate big blocks of writing out into paragraphs as much as possible, and only separate and indent quotes that are longer than a sentence.

Analysis: Make your point and back it up. Use expert knowledge and quotes to do this. These ideas may be a work in progress- there is not always a simple conclusion to every point you make, this doesn't matter.

Hope this helps in some way! Paula has also posted information from the session on her blog too.

x

The Literature Review...

Spence, S, 2011. Low pay/no pay week: Equity’s Stephen Spence (online) The Stage. 

Available at: <http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/newsblog/2011/07/low-pay-no-pay-equity/> 

(Accessed March 21 2014)

This article was written in 2011 by Stephen Spence, Equity’s Assistant General Secretary, for a special ‘low pay/no pay’ issue of The Stage magazine. The online article aims to inform the reader of the complicated issues surrounding ‘remuneration’ in the arts, and how Equity, the trade union for performers, is trying to bring greater ‘clarity’ to the situation. Due to his position in the union, Spence is indeed very biased towards the rights of performers, although his points are well rounded and have much evidence supporting them.

The main issue involved with ‘low to no pay’ work is complex. It involves the concept of what defines a ‘worker’? If you are defined as a ‘worker’ then you are entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW), however ‘non workers’ or ‘volunteers,’ are not entitled to the NMW:

“workers, voluntary workers and non-workers can look remarkably similar from a legal point of view. It’s the details of how the arrangement was made and of what a person is actually doing that determines their status, and whether the NMW should be paid.”

Spence underlines here that each situation is different, and the legislation covering the type of employment you find in the entertainment industry is vague, meaning that each case has to be looked at separately. He comments on the fact that HMRC has very little ‘sector specific’ guidance for employees in entertainment industry roles, and that The Low Pay Commission has advised the government of the need for more specific industry standards regarding this, to little avail.

Towards the end of the article, Spence discusses the idea that Equity is a trade union, not a regulating body for the entire industry. There are some areas of the industry that are more ‘unionised’ than others meaning Equity’s presence is felt more strongly. This is not the case for the commercial dance sector of the industry, as there are very few Equity contracts available:

“Until Equity can unionise an area, low-paid work is offered and many union members join the ranks of the working poor, trying to keep bread on the table and milk in the fridge on bargain-basement wages.”

This may explain why fewer commercial dancers are members of Equity, even though they support the values the union upholds. Low paid work is inevitable in an area of the industry that is yet to be ‘tackled’ and during the current recession, employers in our domain are less and less likely to become unionised when they can employ workers for ‘low to no pay’ and get away with it. This really poses the question: ‘how does this sit with civil rights or even human rights?’ and ‘how does that advance ethics in our industries?’ It appears to be ‘up to us’ as dancers to demonstrate the real need for ‘union’ and promote a higher ethical standard in our workplace.