The music doesn't have to work itself to death to highlight the dance, or the dance create havoc, as was stated in an essay by Merce Cunningham.
At a halftime show, the dancers can aspire to be as flashy as the music. The dancers frame the action, not creating havoc. That is paramount in a football stadium. Like a corps de ballet, they bring structure to the stage.
There will be 115 professional dancers in the Super Bowl halftime show. The dancers will contribute more than they are given credit for as they push their bodies to express the emotion and force of the music.
Theirs isn't the only body involved. Along with the professional dancers, the ones who get paid, there are volunteers, or field participants, who have been incorporated into the shows for years in various ways, often cheering on the musical artists and moving to the beat as enthusiastic audience members. There will be around 400 this year.
There was immediate outrage among dancers and their advocates after some professional dancers reported on social media that they had been approached to be volunteers.
Taja Riley, a dancer and activist in Los Angeles who has been a vocal supporter of dancers throughout the drama that has sprung up around the halftime show, wrote a post asking if any dance artists had been contacted.
I don't have to explain but the Super Bowl is the most profitable global sporting event.
She said that this isn't the first time a professional dancer has been asked to be a field performer.
It is a fine line in terms of the movement they are asked to execute.
She said that in some cases they are learning how to perform full sets of eight counts of movement.
The producers of the Super Bowl halftime show have met and had an open and frank discussion with the union that represents artists working in film, television and radio. Professional dancers should not be working on the Super Bowl halftime show without being paid.
Problem solved? Not completely. The halftime show conflict is not just about the Super Bowl but about the way in which dancers in any discipline are valued. They get away with it because it is a non union job. Sometimes they can work on microbudget scale, a designation reserved for performances that meet certain strict financing requirements.
She said that they can work down rates for dance artists.
Dancers are continually underpaid in overtime because of the way rates are calculated.
They're also anonymous. Who can identify a dancer in a video? Who can name a choreographers? Fatima Robinson is doing the honors at the Super Bowl.
Dancers are devalues as artists if they don't get adequate compensation. It suggests that dance is just a hobby. Riley danced in two Super Bowls, one featuring Beyonc and the other featuring Lopez, and he sees a problem.
She said that there was no difference between her pay scale and the dance artist that just moved to L.A.
She said that dancers are stuck in the mailroom.
Dancers and volunteers are different at the halftime show. The professional dancers are separate from the volunteer-based, non-choreographed field according to a statement issued by the executive producer of the halftime show. It is up to the volunteer candidates to participate. Volunteers aren't asked to learn how to dance.
It is confusing. 72 hours is the amount of time for the volunteers to rehearse for the game. That's a lot if they're not learning. Where does minimal or everyday movement end? The pedestrian movement taught us a lot.
Melany Centeno wrote that dance is work no matter how simple it is. Good luck.
If volunteers aren't asked to learn how to dance, what were they doing last year when they danced to the Weeknd?
There was a sea of dancing bodies performing in the stadium that expressed the angst of a Pandemic year. We were transported back to the days when only the kind of dancing you did at home could be considered safe. Even getting them onto the field was a striking act of timing and precision. They were more than a corps de ballet, they were the picture. It was a performance that was unforgettable on television.
The volunteers were just as important as the dancers. The Super Bowl was held in Florida and one of the volunteers was a dancer with the Magic. He thought it would be a way for him to expand his range by working with a choreographer.
Williams said he received an email explaining that if he could learn a TikTok dance, he qualified. He found the situation to be different when rehearsals began. It is more organized. It is more structured than in TikTok dancing.
He said that it was serious and that he had to run it back. Nope. From the top, run it back.
He said the rehearsals were long and took up to 10 days to complete. Williams said that he got to keep his costume, helmet and gloves because they were provided. You can't make a living from exposure.
The Super Bowl confidentiality policy makes it difficult to expose yourself and promote yourself. They were watching everyone during rehearsal.
Dancers are seen as replaceable and disposable, but what they bring to a production is priceless. Musical acts without dancers are shown in halftime shows. It was lonely. Desperate. Adam Levine and Maroon 5 performed at the Super Bowl. He had a drum line and a choir, but he saved the dance, an unfortunate striptease, for himself. Its awfulness was amazing. He doesn't move like a person. Dancers can do more.
At an event that promotes physical prowess by the players on the field and where, like dance, precision is prized, dancers are so devalued. The players and dancers will need ice baths after the game. We are athletic, artistic performers. At an athletic sporting event, no athlete should be doing that for free.
Will the recent uproar affect dancers? The guild took a stand. The world is paying attention. The more we accept those underpaying jobs with bad conditions, the more we can never move forward.
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