Full discussion paper. Dance Participation in New Zealand A discussion paper by Dr. Tania Kopytko August Introduction

Transcription

1 Full discussion paper Dance Participation in New Zealand A discussion paper by Dr. Tania Kopytko August 2013 Introduction To explore participation in dance in relation to the dance industry, future opportunity, sustainability, funding and support is an interesting challenge. Participation is a grass roots activity, while industry sustainability, particularly professional dance performance, is usually viewed from a top down perspective. It is important to investigate what participation means and looks like, to enable any meaningful engagement within the industry. This discussion of dance participation in New Zealand explores the nature, diversity and needs of the sector, gaps in provision, as well as opportunities for the wider industry (particularly the business and professional performance sector) through greater engagement with the grass roots of dance. Dance should be more visible and understood in its ability to address New Zealand s health and community development agendas. It suggests that relationships and opportunities need to be developed out of mutual understanding and respect. Established dance attitudes sometimes fly in the face of engagement with this sector. The movers and shakers in the dance world are finding that engagement with elements of this sector is valuable on many levels. Participation in dance is seen as broad and the discussion covers youth, community dance, the private and education sectors and adult dance. For the size and significance of the sector, visibility and support is currently poor. The size of dance participation Dance participation is associated with fun, challenge, health, wellbeing and recreation. It therefore covers a diversity of dance styles and involves people of different ages, abilities and backgrounds. Dance research by SPARC now Sport NZ, plus the dance activity statistics provided by festivals such as Te Matatini, Polyfest, The Body and TEMPO and various national and regional dance competitions or congresses, shows high New Zealand participation in dance and it is the major activity within the dance industry. DANZ conservatively estimates that 630,000 New Zealanders dance annually. It is the 8 th most popular physical activity for New Zealanders, potentially more popular than participation in rugby and netball combined. Dance participation contributes to physical fitness, wellbeing, identity making, creativity and cultural generation. As a result of this activity teaching dance is the main paid occupation within the industry, though a proportion of that teaching or coaching is also voluntary. But participation is more complex than involvement in these large events. Like the wider industry, within participation there are sectors and genres, each with its own cultural characteristics, purposes, worldviews, weaknesses and strengths. This offers different opportunities for wider industry engagement in terms of sustainability of performances, touring, or the 1

2 development of our future dance cultures. Engagement needs to be based on understanding this diversity and finding appropriate connections. Active or Passive Participation When we are talking about participation within the dance industry are we referring to active or passive participation in dance - that is as a dancer, or as an audience or supporter? Audience is often defined as passive participation and yet the engagement of the mind, kinaesthetic senses, emotions, spirit and concentration in a captivating dance performance can be highly active. It has the capacity to be more engaging when the audience member has both context and physical knowledge of dance, as it allows them to engage all senses fully and deeply. Active dance participants have a higher potential engagement with dance performance because of these developed kinaesthetic skills. Audiences are more engaged if they have greater exposure to dance, which could be through touring or visual media such as film, TV or YouTube. Therefore the connection between audience and dance experience is important. Unity within Dance Participation When DANZ started 20 years ago one of the desires in forming the service infrastructure was to create a sense of unity out of the perceived weakness of fragmented genres and organisations and their differing purposes and attitudes. Unity within the industry continued to be a desired outcome of the NZ Dance Industry Strategy. To some degree we can say that there have been positives shifts in this very broad and difficult area. Shifts have been due to a variety of factors such as deliberate actions by dance groups and organisations to create connections between genres that had not traditionally worked together e.g. contemporary and hip hop dance or DANZ s various projects. The rise in social media and the easy communication and access this and technology has created, has enhanced this process enormously, nationally and internationally. Seeing and sharing new ideas, approaches and successes are constant and frenetic. Much of this is generated at the grass roots level resulting in a democratisation of dance and arts and significantly contributing to the huge growth in participatory dance world-wide. Yet it is an area that is not fully realised by the commercial and professional sector in their engagement with participants. The future use of social media, live streaming and trans media may transform dance forms and performance exponentially. Organisation and Ownership of Participatory dance We need to understand how physical participation in dance is sustained and owned and the implications of this for engagement and support. The characteristic of dance participation is that it is either supported through the private dance business sector and so therefore is user pays - or it is not for profit community based. As a major recreational activity it is not supported in the same way or degree to which other popular physical activity, such as sport, is supported. Given dance s popularity and size, the funding and support structures are not equivalent to the grass roots support for sport in New Zealand. Nor is there comparable recognition of dance s social, community and health benefits. The development of dance at community level is limited by its voluntary organisation and funding capacity, a lack of affordable and appropriate venues, or by the demands of competing private dance enterprise and controlling dance bodies. Because much dance, like other arts, is supported through the private business, this has caused confusion over how to fund and support this sector. The dance business sector is often not strongly sustainable and the providers of private dance 2

3 training often see their work more as a vocation and dedication to the art form than a lucrative economic enterprise. This dance provider confusion has an effect on funding and support for the training of young dance participants, nurturing of talent and cross industry engagement. It contributes to the visibility problem, as traditionally businesses should pay for exposure, as their activity is not perceived as a community good. The voluntary dance sector punches well above its weight when we see the enormous effort that hip hop or kapa haka teams put into fundraising and competitive effort in order to reach their competition goals. The results of this volunteer effort are deeply significant affecting New Zealand cultural identity and direction, health and wellbeing. Community dance practice is a specialist area of the industry that seeks to use dance as a tool to develop community. This practice emerged in the 1980s and was set back by the arts council structure reforms of the 1990s. It has emerged again more recently through developments such as the Otago University Caroline Plummer Fellowship, university courses which include this philosophical approach in their degree programmes and some dance artists choosing this form of engagement for their practice. Integrated dance and dance work with special populations is also part of this approach. Once again the value of these approaches is only recently being re-recognised. While it fits well with health and community development agendas, current support and visibility is low within the dance industry and wider society. Youth Participation We need to examine what physical participation looks like in order to develop its potential broader opportunity and strength. The first major sector of participation is young people. They are found dancing in a huge variety of environments from Marae, community projects, church halls to dance studios, in rural and city environments. Each of these dance genres and venues may have little in common. Some may be well-connected with other dance experiences (competitions or performances, summer schools or further opportunities and talent scouting) while others are completely isolated. In this pool of diverse dance talent lays New Zealand s future dance makers and culture bearers. This amorphous mass of participation is significant and needs to be nurtured and engaged with. It is not conveniently found only in cities and nor in studios. It is hugely diverse haka and kapa haka, Pacific Island dance forms and dance that comes from different ethnic groups, Bollywood, Latin and ballroom, as well as new forms such as fusion dance, B-Boying, hip hop and street dance, - these currently, and in the future, will form the hybrid dance forms that will speak to and of New Zealand. Within this huge youth sector are points of engagement that could increase our industry s strength, sustainability and future direction. Youth are largely learning dance for recreational purposes, with only a small proportion of students move through to a professional career. The key to the continued success of dance businesses and projects is the dance teachers understanding and provision of dance aligned to the recreational dance interests of their students. Teaching dance is largely unregulated and the need for New Zealand dance teaching qualifications that covers pedagogy and appropriate approaches for the different participants is recognised and in the process of being developed. The interface between studios and ballet is fairly well established. Thousands of young people currently learn and have learned ballet over the years. These participants, now parents and 3

4 grandparents, are influencers, audience members, supporters and also participants in adult ballet classes, which are a growing trend. That is not to say that the relationship cannot be strengthened and more made of the opportunity. The interface between studio sector and contemporary dance is far weaker, with a distinctive New Zealand contemporary dance style coming from tertiary training that is often very different from the contemporary style and approach coming from studio syllabus approaches. They can look like different languages. And yet both are producing young people who want to dance and have a developed kinaesthetic awareness and capacity. From an industry perspective how could studios be better engaged with? What relationships can be created to make some new meeting points? Some artists are beginning this process and seeing returns in support and audience attendance, for example the work of Lyne Pringle with studios on the Lily project and Tanemahuta Gray in taking contemporary Māori dance to the studio environment. Like all successful relationships there has to be a solid and mutually agreed basis with mutual benefit. A relationship between contemporary dance and the studio sector could result in more dovetailing of the contemporary training with the performance style that is seen and expected at professional level. New youth focussed contemporary dance projects are emerging such as youth dance companies, dance company led summer schools and non-competitive dance events. Engaging with young people who live in rural areas, or dance though Marae, church or community supported projects, is a challenge. There is currently little infrastructure and funding support for the difficult logistic challenge of taking dance out to regions and rural areas or for a deep sustainable level of community engagement. However in terms of equity and access to New Zealand work, these are challenges for touring and also for dance makers in terms of making work that is the right fit for these audiences and spaces. If there is a continuum of dance being produced ranging from accessible to challenging, then new audiences need to be led along the continuum. The risk is that they are challenged in such a way that they decide that their first experience of dance will be their last. The participant as audience needs to be respected and encouraged. This creative challenge should excite dance makers and suggests the need for a range of touring repertoire that is also venue flexible. It will require a greater use of strategic approach, collaboration and new relationships, beyond the usual connections of the dance sectors. Progress on this needs to be taken step-by-step and engagement with a new community requires relationships to be built, so the community is ready to receive the group and the work, and the most is made of the engagement. Currently this approach stretches our fragile dance companies to the maximum. Much more solid and joined-up infrastructure support is needed to ensure these engagement, access and producing gaps covered. Participation through Education The next major area of participation is the education sector, from preschool and primary through to secondary and tertiary (polytechnic and university). When dance came into the school curriculum there was great hope placed on its impact on the dance industry. People anticipated employment in schools as dance specialists, only to find that the education approach to dance is quite different from a studio approach. Also as dance does develop it is clear that dance artists need to understand the curriculum approach in order to engage deeply and successfully with a school. Providing art experiences for their own sake are not enough there has to be relevance in the material presented and the students need time to explore, create and critique dance themselves. 4

5 Sadly with the change in government approach and tertiary policy, there has been a reduction in arts support at all levels of education, from schools to teacher training and professional development. This has resulted in the current uneven development of dance in New Zealand schools and very weak dance education networking and support across the country. It is dependent on a few highly over-stretched support agencies, many of which rely on volunteers in a time-poor environment. At its best, in some schools, there are skilled dance education specialists preparing highly knowledgeable young people for dance units, NCEA and scholarship, or in others, team teaching where dance is used as one of the methods of learning in any topic. This approach to dance is very exciting from a New Zealand educational perspective, as it acknowledges and reinforces that many of our cultures in New Zealand favour kinaesthetic learning methods. This is particularly important for students from Māori, Pacific Island backgrounds, but also migrants from Africa, Latin America and Asia and has enormous potential for student motivation and success. Currently the education sector is involved in some of the country s largest participatory dance events such as the Secondary Schools Polyfest, Stage Challenge, Bring it On and Arts Splash. Dance participation in the education sector could have a major impact on the industry, producing informed dance lovers and dancers; representing a wide variety of genres and new hybrids we are yet to see at performance level. Engagement with this sector needs to happen at all levels to help it achieve its potential and feed into the dance industry. Like the studio sector, today s dance students will become the influencers and supporters of the future, as well as be a pool of future talent. The uneven development, lack of support, up to date New Zealand dance resources and ability to see live New Zealand dance in schools is problematic. Adult Participation in Dance The third major participation area is the large and rapidly growing adult dance sector. Social dance is attracting adults because they want to dance, meet people or want the multi layered sensory engagement that dance offers in an increasing lonely, sedentary, head and IT focussed world. Adult s ballet, jazz and ethnic based dance styles are also growing. However, dance attitudes, teaching styles and marketing messages are not always in tune with the adult recreation dance sector s needs. Teaching adults dance is vastly different from teaching young people. Different adult age groups have different interests and needs. The industry and arts organisations could improve their attitude and respect for adult participants and recognise that they are dancers in our community. Adult dance participants are role models, culture bearers and influencers, just like the studio parents who once learned ballet. They bring their adult skills and networks to any dance project; they have disposable income and a knowledge and love of dance. This sector presents opportunities for the industry to explore and develop. Like all relationships they need to be thought through and slowly and strategically developed within a mutually beneficial approach and sincere respectful engagement. Some dance studios are taking fresh approaches and are nurturing adult involvement, finding support and sponsorship through these links and in turn offering their clients challenging, fun-filled, exciting social experiences. This concept is not a million miles away from understanding who your dance whanau is and engaging with them honestly and adventurously. Reasons for Dancing 5

6 We must remember that dance participation is about fun, engagement, challenge, sociability and accessibility. Sometimes the culture and behaviour we build around dance gets in the way. The image of young, beautiful, perfect dancers flies in the face of the potential honest engagement with all ages, backgrounds and abilities. There is a major assumption in many dance forms that taking exams, performing or competing is the only way dance participation for the masses can be managed and presented. We should examine what this gives and takes away from our engagement with dance participation and if we need new approaches. The messages we give about dance at all levels are often very limited compared to dance s complex capacities. They seldom address the wellbeing, social cohesion, education and health agendas. The visibility of dance through national media networks is very low in comparison to participation numbers and the reason for this also needs to be fully examined. Change happens with the first step. It gathers momentum when buy-in happens slowly across all levels, particularly through sharing of information and successes. There are always the movers and shakers and the followers. Some areas of dance will not change until they see that others have taken a successful step and it is safe. Hearing and seeing the success stories is vitally important. We all need to do our bit at whatever level we work at. But joined up thinking through consultation, sharing, trust, networking and dialogue will help this occur smoothly and efficiently rather than haphazardly. A sense of unity and purpose has been building in the New Zealand dance industry. It is time to take this further. Let us hope that the process of reviewing dance will open the doors to our next collective development steps. The challenges Higher visibility and understanding of the role of dance in relation to health and social benefit Adequate support and funding for the not for profit areas of this sector Affordable and appropriate venues Encouraging changes in attitudes and teaching practice to reflect the range of engagement needed for participants across a diversity of genres, backgrounds, abilities, ages and geographical areas Well-resourced development, touring and producing infrastructure with strong regional links and community engagement knowledge Lack of support and resources in the dance education sector New Zealand dance seen across the country Traditional dance attitudes and values Understanding the complexities of dance participation and identifying what aspects of this sector can be engaged with and how The opportunities 6

7 Recognise, embrace and develop dance at community level Advocate for and develop appropriate funding and support for the grass roots dance sector and community dance practice, to encourage innovation and wider engagement Develop industry best practice teaching and health and safety Identify dance provision gaps in the participation market and develop strategies to develop and strengthen these Develop the interface between adult dance and the wider industry for increased sustainability and capacity Develop an understanding of the private sector of dance and how it can be valued and supported like other business sectors Build on the developing sense of unity and develop strategies that build capacity, sustainability, diversity and strength in the dance of Aotearoa New Zealand that involve and recognise the whole industry Encourage cross industry engagement to develop collaborations based on mutual benefit, respect and contextual knowledge Promote engagement success stories Promote New Zealand cultural and societal wellbeing and strength through dance dance addressing wider agendas such as health, education community development and Local Authority community benefit agendas What can CNZ and the NZ dance sector do together to address these in the next 5 to 10 years? Review and create effective arts council funding and support for community based dance (recreation and community dance practice) Work with the industry to develop a cross industry engagement strategy and develop priorities and a time line Advocate for the wide benefits of dance (arts, education and health) Identify gaps and develop greater support and visibility for recreational and community dance Develop and implement best practice teaching and dance provision Develop strategic projects that create meaningful engagement and enable relationships to build between dance genres, projects and organisations Work together to change dance attitudes towards recreational dance and encourage honest engagement Develop strategies at different levels according to roles within the industry, for example, CNZ working with industry to advocate for changes e.g. in education; DANZ working at organisation level to bring sectors together e.g. the studio sector; dance companies identifying who in the sector they could work with to optimise their support base and contribute to the participants well-being. Develop a well-resourced infrastructure for touring and regional engagement Develop New Zealand dance resources for the education sector 7

8 Dr. Tania Kopytko Tania Kopytko is the Executive Director of DANZ Dance Aotearoa New Zealand. DANZ is the national service organisation for the dance industry and supports the development and diversity of dance through advocacy, leadership, advice, professional development and training and strategic projects. DANZ provides the key communications infrastructure for NZ dance. Originally from Palmerston North, and of Belarusian and New Zealand descent, Tania started her dance training like many, by learning ballet and other dance styles, as a child. Tania studied Anthropology at Massey University and went on to complete a PhD in Dance Anthropology at the Queen s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland in Her subject of study was a comparison between Ballet and Breakdance - looking at who owns, controls and teaches the styles and their cultural, social and economic context. Prior to joining DANZ Tania has worked extensively, both overseas and in New Zealand, in arts and dance administration and development, taught dance at community and tertiary level, run her own dance business and worked free-lance to develop community development projects. 8