In most college dance programs, the curricular focus toggles between physical training and theoretical study. But one critical area is often overlooked: the business of dance. Despite how important it is, students are often not equipped with the tools or knowledge necessary to navigate the complexities of the dance economy. The omission is striking, given the financial realities dancers face, including low pay, little to no access to insurance and other benefits, and a lack of job security.
These circumstances raise an important question: Why aren’t more college dance programs teaching students what it means to be financially literate? That has a lot to do with the more immediate goals of dance academia, says Achinta McDaniel, a professor at the University of Southern California and the artistic director of Blue13 Dance Company. “In higher education, we are focusing so hard on students’ research and trying to get them to the finish line, so we’re not always taking care of what it’s going to be like for them after they graduate,” she says.
But there may also be a political component at play. Dance is a feminized field, which means dance education can be affected, even shaped, by sexist attitudes. “There is this old mentality that women are going to get married and a man is going to take care of us,” McDaniel says. “So, no matter what power we have onstage or out there as choreographers, society says we don’t need those skills—and shouldn’t have them.” The consequences—debt accrual, difficulty saving, financial instability—are far-reaching and often lead to exploitation. “Dancers who are not financially literate can be taken advantage of and feel forced to comply with lower pay or unfair compensation,” McDaniel says. This exploitation contributes to a broader issue, says maura nguyễn donohue, an associate professor and the director of the Master of Fine Arts at Hunter College in New York City. “It means we stay unprotected, and that means we stay expendable.”
Especially in this time of economic volatility, marked by increased costs, decreased purchasing power, and a looming political landscape that is already seeing arts budgets shrink, financial literacy ensures a dancer’s artistry is supported by a foundation in money management. Without it, dancers are left ill-prepared to sustain their careers.
To begin making financial literacy a more permanent part of college dance education, consider embedding these three topics in your curriculum and expanding curricular offerings from there.
Defining Basic Terms
Understanding what financial literacy means is the first step to embodying it. At the baseline, McDaniel says, financial literacy is “understanding what you need so that you can eat” and meet all other basic, physiological needs.
It’s also about grasping the realities for most working dancers and planning for the long term, even with modest means, donohue says. “Most artists are subsidizing their performing careers through other jobs, so financial literacy means learning how to do more than just live paycheck to paycheck,” she says. “It means thinking about long-term investments, even at the smallest amount, and understanding that if dancers can’t get financially stable, they can’t stay in dance.”
Writing a Budget
If students know how to create a budget, they can better organize their personal finances and secure funding. In fact, a realistic budget can determine whether an artist is awarded grant money at all. “I’ve been on selection panels for grants with people who go right to the budget,” donohue says. “They want to know if you live in reality or not.”
Crystal Davis, head of the Dance Area in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, notes that students could learn these skills as part of a research-methods class, providing practical skills and getting them to think critically about the resources required for their research. “I could also see it going in the professionalization classes, where students do their CVs and cover letters,” she adds.
Devising Artist Statements
For aspiring choreographers, understanding how to craft compelling artist statements that clearly convey their artistic identities is fundamental, donohue says. “The first thing a grant-selection panelist typically sees is somebody’s artist statement, so it’s key to be in a practice of articulating and defining what you do.”
To clarify their perspectives, Davis encourages students to identify and amplify their biases. “The more they can actually lean into articulating what their biases are, as opposed to trying to sweep them under the rug, the more fully realized they can become as an artist around what their values are,” she says. “They shouldn’t be afraid for their values to be different than the next person’s. That increases their value, because they are now unique.”
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