Chicago Dancer Pay Transparency Project

Development of the Chicago Dancer Pay Transparency Project

The following is a summary of how we developed our different surveys and how we reached out to members of the dance community in Chicago. To solicit responses to our surveys, we posted on our social media pages (Instagram and Facebook) and asked influential figures in the dance community to share the posts to their stories. We also created listings in Dance Enthusiast and Chicago Artist Resource. Darvin Dances distributed the survey in our newsletter (148 subscribers). Our first surveys to dancers in May 2023 included the following questions which can be seen here.

For our next dancer survey, we worked to develop questions that included more precise language giving definitions for terminology such as “employee” versus “independent contractor”. To make the data easier to sort, we included company names at the beginning of the survey. You can see the August 2023 Dancer Survey here.

After receiving responses from companies in our first survey to dancers, we decided to make a separate company survey in August 2023. This was published on social media and included in the Dance Enthusiast and Chicago Artist Resources listings. You can see that survey here.

We only received 12 responses (including Darvin Dances) for the company surveys. You will notice in our results that are a few companies who submitted their pay but their dancers did not or we only received one response. Any company where we received only one response or unclear data was not included. After putting together, the two data sets from the both dancer surveys, we began analysis. We then reached out to companies via email to verify the data and ask for comment/correction to the data set on January 26th 2024 along with follow up emails on February 9th and 12th. Some companies did not verify the data which is noted or said the data was inaccurate which is also noted. Viewers may notice that each company either has 1 - 5 respondents or 6 - 10 respondents range listed. These ranges are used to protect the identity of the dancers who responded to the survey and protect them from any retaliation.

Our first forays into survey creation and data analysis have been a learning experience. Our surveys for dancers were anonymous, self-reported data. As a disclaimer, the two people involved with the data collection, analysis, and presentation have worked with several of the Chicago dance companies surveyed (be it as a dancer, choreographer, or in other capacities). We welcome any and all feedback. Our goal is to grow this project over time by adding data throughout the coming years. This is just the start, but ultimately, this project is meant to move the dance industry forward and help future dancers navigate this field.

To the dancers reading this data, please take into consideration the following; dance companies have many different overhead costs such as paying other artists, designers, consultants, marketing, liability insurance, renting space and all while putting aside money in savings accounts to plan. Not all companies can afford to pay hourly or include benefits in compensation. This is partially because of the decreasing funding for the arts, the lack of a single payer healthcare system found in other countries and an overall decrease in audiences. As with for profit businesses, the funding landscape varies year to year. Companies can get a huge grant one year and only small ones the next. This can also affect dancer pay as well.

Thank you for your consideration and thought process when looking through this resource. We had 168 responses across both surveys which is a small sample size that we hope grows from years to come.

TERMINOLOGY SOURCES

Company comments may have been edited for clarity