What do dance producers need to succeed?

With the dance sector facing considerable challenges, the Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network* brought together arts professionals and academics to reimagine an inclusive and sustainable ecosystem for dance in the UK. It did so through focusing closely on the knowledge and perspectives of those involved in producing dance – whose professional roles are described by a range of job titles in the area of cultural leadership that include but also extend beyond the role of dance producer.

Curiously, little is written about producing in dance, in contrast to the extensive literature on dance as an art form in which the roles and perspectives of the dancer and choreographer are well-represented. There is also a vast literature on the related fields of arts management, theatre production and music production. So why does this crucial part of the dance ecology – centrally concerned with making dance happen – remain largely invisible?

In terms of training provision, there are programmes that embrace dance producing in their wider focus on arts management and creative producing, yet to date there is only one dedicated programme in this area in the UK – the MA Dance Producing and Management at the London Studio Centre, which was launched in 2021.

Interestingly, in contrast to related professions such as arts curators – often celebrated for their curatorial vision – dance producers are much less visible, further compounded by gender imbalance as a female-dominated field. Yet their work can be visionary, caring for the future of our world through considering questions of equitable and sustainable practices.

Open forum events

Such considerations repeatedly emerged across the various open forum events we held at partner institutions including at Yorkshire Dance (Leeds), FABRIC (Birmingham), the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with The Work Room (Glasgow), University of the Arts (London) and Dance City (Newcastle). Each offered a set of questions for discussion, seeking input from sector professionals, specifically those involved in producing dance. The events also sought to build closer relationships between the professional dance and the related higher education sectors.

The first, at Yorkshire Dance, involved freelance professionals who considered the key relationships in the UK dance ecosystem, with discussions highlighting the complex interplay between artistic practices, institutional structures and the broader socio-economic context in which dance practitioners operate.

The reductions the sector faces in terms of funding and drastically shrinking dance provision in higher education, heavily impacts the independent dance sector specifically where low-paid work of freelance practitioners, who often lack career prospects, partly prop up the current dance ecosystem.

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Super Normal Extra Natural by Requardt & Rosenberg, performed at the O2 Centre Finchley Road in March 2025. Photo: Roswitha Chesher

At the Dance Hub space in Birmingham, discussion of producing revolved around complexity of the work – involving curatorial aspects, close working relationships and understanding of artistic practice, and business skills alongside navigating funding and institutional landscapes. Indeed, making dance happen entails connecting various parts of the dance ecosystem, which is undergoing drastic change with growing precarity. 

In Glasgow the focus was on what kinds of ecologies of producing dance exist and can emerge when disability and ‘crip’ (as an affirmative model of disability) are central. The event considered different ways of knowing and doing as part of the network’s aim to address broader societal and cultural issues of equity and inclusion.

Questions on producing as a social practice for equitable ecologies – as well as a critical practice and also in terms of research – were followed up at the University of the Arts event. The final one in Newcastle was concerned with how we might reimagine making dance happen, pondering new models and understandings. It highlighted the need to better understand dance audiences.

Sector survey

As part of a scoping exercise, the network undertook a survey which confirmed a low confidence about the dance sector. It also revealed that a weakened funding landscape is perceived to be the main barrier affecting those who are attempting to make dance happen.

The survey outcomes resonate with the notion of value that has underpinned many of the forum events, in particular regarding how those producing dance recognise success. Feeling valued – either through funding, networks, organisations, spaces or  community – was a core enabler for respondents. Similarly positive, 52% of respondents identified as employed in higher education, illustrating the scope for alignment to build a better future together and to reduce the gap between the dance sector and educational institutions.

These forums have produced some collective propositions about how producing dance might be sustained. The cultural context in which dance exists is impermanent and destabilised. This raises questions about the histories and legacies of dance production that need to be more widely understood and strengthened for a better future for making dance happen.

A key theme that has re-emerged throughout the forums is the precarity of the current sector. Contributors shared concerns over the lack of possibility to take risks in the creations and production of dance work, seen as largely owing to the rigidity of terms imposed by funding sources. The initial findings of the sector survey reveal that freedom to express ideas and experiment is what enables success in producing dance.

Recommendations

This has implications for producing as an inclusive and equitable practice when considering flexibility around timescales, collaborations and partnerships. It is also notable that the sector is diverse, with dance practices characterised in many ways, via genre, purpose and the mode of performance/dissemination as examples. This highlights how producing dance is nuanced and cultivated in accordance with an artistic ethos which means that moving forward with the breadth of producing as a culture of practice is a substantial undertaking.

A number of recommendations have emerged from the many rich and diverse conversations at the forum events. A key consensus is that those working to make dance happen recognise the need for a more equitable distribution of labour and power. Participation in these discussions highlights the fact that dance producing is a well-established field of expertise in the UK. For example, 69% of survey respondents identify as having been involved in dance for ten years or more.

The notion of models for producing also prompted questions about how established ways of working could be reviewed and reconsidered to support different and more sustainable ways of working. Overall, these events have begun to establish a framework through which both higher education and professional sectors are opening up discourses and interactions with the shared aim to support this crucial ecosystem.

*Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.