Abstract
This chapter discusses a threefold chase: a vicious cycle of chasing funding, chasing programmers, and chasing papers. Project-based subsidies engender a precarious position because one is dependent on financial support that is temporary and conditional. There is a manifold sense of uncertainty when applying for funding. The search for funding, and thus work opportunities, is accompanied by maintaining a network of professional contacts. A career in contemporary dance develops between institutions, which demand certain competences in order to sustain itself. The persistent chase after programmers requires networking skills and self-promotion abilities. The social dynamics at play prove to be fundamental in advancing contemporary dance artists’ careers. The third kind of chase deals with the bureaucracy that comes hand in hand with autonomous work.
Keywords
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
The overview of Koruga’s work in relation to the artistic production process is recapitulated in an article published in the European Journal of Theatre and Performance available online: https://journal.eastap.com (Van Assche 2020).
- 2.
The observations here are based on a performance in Weld, Stockholm, in December 2013.
- 3.
Yet it should be kept in mind that even though grants are generally tax-free, they often do not count for calculating one’s pension.
- 4.
However, it should be noted that this difference in income is also related to the fact that due to the strict requirements to obstain the status, artists benefiting from it are generally older and their salaries have grown according to the seniority wage scales.
- 5.
However, it merits mention that upon publishing this book, a change seems to be happening in Flanders: in November 2019, cultural policymakers recommended to curtail project-based subsidies in the arts sector with 60% for 2020, whereas the longer-term subsidies would be reduced for merely 6%.
- 6.
Own translation from Dutch.
- 7.
It is not mandatory to follow these in French Community of Belgium.
- 8.
The fee has been reconsidered in 2017 to respectively 2300 and 2660 euros per month.
- 9.
I will elaborate on the legality of how some artists handle their tax returns further in this chapter.
References
Abbing, Hans. 2008. Why Are Artists Poor: The Exceptional Economy of the Arts. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Auer, Peter. 2010. What’s in a Name? The Rise (and Fall?) of Flexicurity. Journal of Industrial Relations 52 (3): 371–386.
Beck, Ulrich, and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim. 2002. Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and Its Social and Political Consequences. London, Thousand Oaks, and New Delhi: Sage.
Bologna, Sergio. 2006. Die Zerstörung Der Mittelschichten: Thesen Zur Neuen Selbständigkeit. Graz: Nausner & Nausner.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1986. The Forms of Capital. In Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, ed. John Grissen Richardson, 241–258. New York: Greenwood Press.
———. 1993. The Production of Belief: Contribution to an Economy of Symbolic Goods. In The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature, ed. Pierre Bourdieu and Randal Johnson, 74–111. Cambridge and Oxford: Polity Press.
Burt, Ramsay. 2016. Ungoverning Dance: Contemporary European Theatre Dance and the Commons. New York: Oxford University Press.
Currid, Elizabeth. 2007. The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art, and Music Drive New York City. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
De Certeau, Michel. 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gielen, Pascal. 2003. Kunst in Netwerken: Artistieke Selecties in De Hedendaagse Dans En De Beeldende Kunst. Tielt: Lannoo Uitgeverij.
———. 2009. The Art Scene: A Clever Working Model for Economic Exploitation?. In A Precarious Existence—Vulnerability in the Public Domain, ed. Jorinde Seijdel et al., Open, 8–16. Rotterdam: Nai Uitgevers.
Hesters, Delphine. 2004. De Choreografie Van De Danscarrière: Kwalitatief Onderzoek Naar De Carrières Van Hedendaagse Dansers in Vlaams-Brusselse Context. Unpublished master dissertation, University of Leuven.
Janssens, Joris, and Simon Leenknegt. 2017. Tussen Pot En Put. De Evolutie Van Projectsubsidies En Beurzen Via Het Kunstendecreet (2009–2016). Brussels: Flanders Arts Institute.
Kunst, Bojana. 2015. Artist at Work: Proximity of Art and Capitalism. Winchester: Zero Books.
Laermans, Rudi. 2015. Moving Together: Making and Theorizing Contemporary Dance. Amsterdam: Valiz.
Menger, Pierre-Michel. 2014. The Economics of Creativity: Art and Achievement Under Uncertainty. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Njaradi, Dunja. 2014. Backstage Economies: Labour and Masculinities in Contemporary European Dance. Chester: University of Chester Press.
Peters, Tom. 1997. The Brand Called You. Fast Company 10 (10): 83–90.
Pewny, Katharina. 2011. Das Drama Des Prekären: Über Die Wiederkehr Der Ethik in Theater Und Performance. Theater. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.
Poláček, Richard. 2007. Study on Impediments to Mobility in the EU Live Performance Sector and on Possible Solutions. Brussels: PEARLE, Finnish Theater Information Centre, IETM.
Rambach, Anne, and Marine Rambach. 2001. Les Intellos Précaires. Paris: Fayard.
Ridout, Nicholas, and Rebecca Schneider. 2012. Precarity and Performance: An Introduction. TDR/the Drama Review 56 (4): 5–9.
Rosa, Hartmut. 2003. Social Acceleration: Ethical and Political Consequences of a Desynchronized High-Speed Society. Constellations. An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory 10 (1): 3–33.
Sorignet, Pierre-Emmanuel. 2010. Danser. Enquête Dans Les Coulisses D’une Vocation. Paris: La Découverte.
Standing, Guy. 2014. A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
T’Jonck, Pieter. 2013. Dance in Flanders 2007–2013: An Outline of the Dance Landscape. In Perspective: Dance, ed. Vlaams Theaterinstituut, 11–30.
Vallas, Steven P., and Emily R. Cummins. 2015. Personal Branding and Identity Norms in the Popular Business Press: Enterprise Culture in an Age of Precarity. Organization Studies 36 (3): 293–319.
Van Assche, Annelies. 2018. The Socioeconomic Dimensions of Artistic Labour: Lessons from the Contemporary Dance Scene in Brussels. In Cultural & Creative Industries in Brussels: Creativity in a divided City, ed. Rinschberg, François, Eva Swyngedouw and Jef Vlegels, 141–162 Brussels: Brussels University Press.
———. 2020. Chasing Your Own Tail: The Inclusive Artist’s Process in Project-Based Contemporary Dance. European Journal of Theatre and Performance 2: 3–39.
Van Assche, Annelies, and Rudi Laermans. 2016. Contemporary Dance Artists in Brussels: A Descriptive Report on Their Socio-Economic Position. Ghent/Leuven: S:PAM/CeSO.
———. 2017. Contemporary Dance Artists in Berlin: A Descriptive Report on Their Socio-Economic Position. Ghent/Leuven: S:PAM/CeSO.
Virno, Paolo. 2004. A Grammar of the Multitude. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e).
Vujanović, Ana. 2013. Notes on the Politicality of Contemporary Dance. In Dance, Politics & Co-Immunity, ed. Gerald Siegmund and Stefan Holscher. Current Perspectives on Politics and Communities in the Arts, 181–191. Zürich: Diaphanes.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Van Assche, A. (2020). The Fast. In: Labor and Aesthetics in European Contemporary Dance . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40693-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40693-6_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-40692-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-40693-6
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)