Unifying the L.A. Dance Community

 
At left, day panelists, from left, agents Julie McDonald and Jim Keith, Grand Performances Executive Director Michael Alexander, choreographers Liz Imperio and d.Sabela grimes, and moderator Sasha Anawalt. At right, from left, evening panelists Lula Washington, founder and artistic director of Lula Washington Dance Theatre; Tina Landon, Emmy Award nominated creative director and choreographer; Julio “Lil” Cesar Rivas, original B-boy pioneer and founder of First Hip Hop School of the Arts; Toni Basil, choreographer, director, producer and filmmaker; Nigel Lythgoe, executive producer of So You Think You Can Dance; and Laura Zucker, executive director of Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Photo: Luke Fontana for the SAG Foundation

Visibility is power. This was the recurring theme of the Dancers Forum IV on July 23 at SAG-AFTRA headquarters in Los Angeles. Organized by the Career Transition for Dancers in partnership with SAG-AFTRA, the SAG Foundation and DanceMapLA, the Dancers Forum dedicated a full day to stimulating a deeper understanding of the dance community, specifically in L.A.

The day workshops and panels were dedicated to focusing on DanceMapLA survey results. Conceived by Douglas McLennan and Sasha Anawalt, DanceMapLA is a project of USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, and was designed to help identify, measure and inform the L.A. dance community with relevant news and data. Led by specialists in the varied disciplines, the results of the DanceMapLA survey opened up discussion before dividing attendees into groups.

Low wages is one of the major ongoing issues in the dance world and the issue was addressed by participants and panelists. The survey showed that 15 percent of the DanceMapLA survey respondents earn nothing for their work, while less than half reported that they earn about $5,000 per year. Read all the results here.

After the day workshops concluded, an evening panel took place at the SAG Foundation’s Actors Center, where panelists shared stories and discussed how the dance world has evolved. Moderated by Sasha Anawalt, the head of DanceMapLA and director of arts journalism programs at USC, panelists included Toni Basil, Tina Landon, Nigel Lythgoe, Julio “Lil” Ceaser Rivas, Lula Washington and Laura Zucker.

This item was originally featured in the September 2015 local newsletter.