Respectful Ways to Respond to Issues

An image from my work, Glass House - Dancers Toby Lewellen & Amanda Sewell

As a freelance dance artist, you may find that you are often responsible for negotiating terms of your own contracts; including pay, housing, travel, and more. While some of these situations can be slightly uncomfortable, things are usually fine once you get everything in writing and sign on the dotted line. Unfortunately, though, as with many things in life, complications can arise that cause agreements to be violated or induce stress on your work in the studio. When this happens, your working relationship with that employer may suffer greatly. Dancers often choose the submissive path that they are taught to follow during their intense training years. But while it may be more comfortable to avoid conflict and let certain items pass by without even mentioning the issue to your employer, letting item after item slide by can be very damaging to your career and psyhce. From injury to disappointment, to anything as far as full-fledged burnout (which I recently discussed on my Pas de Chát podcast), not standing up for yourself can have dangerous implications.

There are many situations that may be better to leave unaddressed, but there are also a handful of topics that I strongly feel need to be touched upon. To offer all of my readers and those working dancers out there that don't have the luxury of turning to a union to deal with workplace issues, please read below to see my thoughts on how to best approach certain issues that may present themselves while on the job. With three years behind me working as a union delegate for Pacific Northwest Ballet and 5 years guiding my own career as a freelancer, I feel that I have a ton of valid experience to lend you some sound advice on how to respectfully respond to workplace issues.

Pay:

This is one area in which I have actually had relatively few issues throughout my freelance career. Of course, there is always that uncomfortable period when you are negotiating pay. But for the most part, employers respectfully follow through with paying dancers what they agreed, when they agreed to do it. Still though, every once in awhile I have heard of dancers that have had issues of non-payment.

When I have had an underpayment in the past, I have contacted my employer and casually mentioned it to them under the assumption that it was an honest mistake. This can be easier to discuss via email (and is more ideal for documentation purposes) because money is always a touchy topic to bring up. After an initial conversation, any errors or issues are usually resolved immediately (and with apologies).

I do remember an instance where an entire company of dancers wasn't paid for their work. After scrolling through angry, public Facebook outcries posted against the organization, I wondered how it could have been handled better. When a contract is being violated, it can be difficult to understand the correct route of execution to resolve complicated issues. For this reason, I hold legal insurance. This inexpensive assistance offers me access to talk directly to lawyers about any issues that I have free of charge beyond the $10 monthly rate. If their advice doesn't help you resolve your issue, they are also available to write letters to try to create an open path of communication. I strongly suggest stepping away from Facebook to announce any decrees against a company. While it may make you feel better, it could actually be used against you by the company, future employers, or cause issue if legal action needs to take place.

In the end, if there is no way to resolve the issue, you will need to determine if it is necessary for you to take legal action to reclaim your losses. I always suggest that you do everything in your power possible to avoid this. But a dancer should never feel like they can't protect themselves by accessing the power of the law.

Studio Conditions:

Rehearsing w/Oakland Ballet in 2014

Before I suffered a severe injury while dancing for Oakland Ballet, I actually told the director that I was concerned for my safety. After only a few days of dancing at their facilities, I recognized that the floor wasn't sprung and that they weren't turning the heat on (during the chilly 50 degree mornings of the East Bay spring). I started to change the way I approached my days. For instance, I stopped jumping altogether during class and wore gloves at barre. I'm not sure why, but this was one of the first times in my career that I was remiss to walk straight up to the director and ask for resolution.

After a few days of not jumping in class, the director pulled me aside and stated that he wanted me participating until the end of class. I wasn't too pleased with his request, as it showed me that he didn't understand the inadequacies of the facility and why commonplace items like a sprung floor are important to have for dancers performing at a professional caliber. In response to him, I calmly stated that I was concerned that I was going to injure myself due to the lack of spring in the floor. He acknowledged my concern, but still requested that I continue jumping. At that point, I responded, "I understand where you are coming from, but I am concerned that I am going to become injured. And while I would like to follow through to please you, you are not providing workers compensation in the event that I do get injured. So, I do feel it is necessary for me to continue working in the capacity that I am." He calmly agreed, though, I don't think he was very pleased with my response.

The best route of action to deal with studio conditions is to approach these issues earlier than later. If you have been dancing on a floor that is frighteningly slippery for a month and you finally reach your maximum threshold, it may be confusing to a director if it was never brought up before. Be sure to approach issues sooner than later. The way in which I interacted with the director may not appropriate for all dancers. I was lucky enough that I was more senior and had experience with talking to management about issues. If you feel that certain conditions may be endangering your body, but don't feel comfortable to approach management about the issues, I would suggest reaching out to a more senior dancer or somebody who seems to be on a more friendly level with the director. There is always a pathway to communication, even if it isn't direct. 

Rehearsal Conditions:

Some of you may look at the above section about studio conditions and assume that I am talking about the same thing. Let me differentiate this for you. Studio conditions involve the physical condition of the studio; like sprung floors, slippery floors, temperature, size, ceiling height, etc. Rehearsal conditions are the way that you are treated by whomever is running the rehearsal. Issues like this may include not being given appropriate breaks, demoralizing remarks, proper rehearsal structure, etc.

Back when I was dancing with another company in the Bay Area of San Francisco, I had an issue with rehearsal conditions. At the time, I had been flown in with one day's notice to replace an injured dancer in two difficult ballets. Within the time frame of 2 rehearsal days, I learned these two 20 minute ballets. This was an extremely difficult task, but my ability to retain quickly meant that we had more time to rehearse the ballets before they were put onstage. On the 3rd day of rehearsal, I was told by the ballet mistress that we would be running the 2nd ballet that I had just learned. We had hours of rehearsals and four more rehearsal days until we were in the theatre, so there was still some time left. I was concerned that running this fresh work full-out could possibly injure myself or cause me to injure my partner due to the lack of freshness in my mind. Instead of following common rehearsal procedures of breaking the work down into sections and rehearsing the sections separately before putting the whole ballet together, they wanted to skip to the final step.

As with the last section about studio conditions, it is important that you set up a pathway for communication. Make sure you say something before rehearsal gets underway. And if you aren't comfortable speaking up for yourself, don't be shy to ask for assistance. This should be approached in the same way as I mentioned above. You are responsible for your own health and career. And nobody knows what your body needs more than yourself.

Housing Issues:

Sometimes, people live differently...with ants all over their kitchen

This is yet another tricky topic that freelancers like to talk about among each other, but don't really like to address in the moment. I have had a great range of experiences with my housing while traveling the country to perform on stages small and large. Sometimes, I have stayed with host families. And, at other times, I have stayed in hotels. My experiences in both of these situations has ranged from the most amazing experiences of my career to the worst anxiety building periods of my life. At its finest, I have made lifelong friends, career benefactors, and more. At its worse, I have felt in genuine danger. It can really be a mixed bag when you are living in somebody else's space or staying somewhere unfamiliar that is booked by someone else.

First things first, when you start to feel uncomfortable with your housing, take a step back and out of yourself. Are you particularly uncomfortable only because you are out of your comfort zone? This is normal. Maybe the host doesn't like to turn on the heat until it is well past cold. Or, perhaps, your host smokes marijuana and you prefer to keep your distance from such substances. There are many situations that can feel frightening when you are trying to find your own comfort outside of your home. I always remind myself that there are many ways to live. My way of living is only one way, not the only way.

If there really is an issue with something, kindly ask to discuss the issue with your host, if you are comfortable. Most of the time, these people are housing you because they love artists and want to make you feel at home. I have had host families go way out of their way to accommodate my comfort. It is always best to have a personal conversation first because things can get awkward if you have to go through certain channels to relay a point. If worse comes to worse and you need to have somebody outside of the housing address it, it is not improper to ask your employer to change your housing situation. In the end, you are on-site to deliver your product, which is your dancing. If you can't relax, rest, and properly recoup at the end of your work days, you are more likely to get injured, less valuable to your employer, and less likely to return to a gig again.

Issues with Fellow Dancers:

It was the first day of a job and the choreographer had asked us to pair up with a peer. We were asked to improvise a duet together based off of a certain concept. By the time we had finished up, the choreographer had really latched on to the phrase that my partner and I had created. After sharing our choreography with all of the dancers, we were asked to do this again. I'm not sure what happened between the first and second exercise, but my peers mood quickly turned from camaraderie to anger. We were trained in different styles of dance, therefore we had different approaches to creating movement. The place we were working from previously was mutual, but once we hit a roadblock all of this dancer's communication skills broke down.

My first reaction to this breakdown was to try to resolve it myself. I apologized to the dancer for the miscommunication and asked if he would be a little clearer in what he was asking. At that point, the dancer turned to me and told me that they would figure it out on their own and I should figure it out on my own, then we could just dance our separate solos like a duet beside each other. I was in my 30's by this point and wasn't really interested in having a tense, dramatic in-studio experience.

I was really proud of how I approached this situation. I didn't make a big fuss out of it. I raised my hand and waved the choreographer over to speak to us. Instead of laying the blame on my fellow dancer for the anger that he was displaying towards me, I calmly mentioned that we seemed to be having a misunderstanding and some miscommunication and needed assistance to get back on track. The dancer snapped back in defense of his actions. Instead of trying to rat this dancer out, I continued to keep my calm and said, "I'm not trying to cause any issues, I just feel that we need help communicating and I'm hoping that he can assist us with that." The choreographer saw what I was trying to do and did a really great job of calming the other dancer down and getting us back to a good place.

So, if you find yourself in a similar situation, please follow my lead and seek out assistance to create a dialogue versus assigning blame. Blaming your fellow dancer will only cause immediate and, likely, future issue. Dance is very competitive and dancers almost always want to be seen in the best light possible. If a dancer feels like you are trying to make them look bad for your own personal gain, you will never resolve any situation.

Injury:

When most people think of an injury, they imagine those scenes in movies when a dancer goes down screaming in pain and hugging an ankle or extremity. While these dramatic injuries do happen, there is also a range of problems that don't always manifest as immediate or cringe-inducing traumas. Back in 2014, when I suffered the injury that took me out of dancing with Oakland Ballet, I landed a Horton-based jump that required me to drop out of the air in a contraction over one leg. I didn't feel or hear any pop. And I didn't feel any dramatic event immediately after execution either. In fact, I didn't notice it until after we finished running this difficult Molissa Fenley work. At the completion of the run, I noticed that my back was becoming mildly tight, but it didn't present itself as anything more than a bit of overwork. It took me nearly an hour outside of rehearsal to notice that something had went wrong and about 3 hours to know that something had gone severely wrong. As my back continued to seize up to the point that I almost had to call an ambulance to get out of bed the next morning, it became quite clear that it was unlikely that I was going to be able to make it to rehearsal that day, let alone the performance 8 days from then.

This is how I approached the situation. If you have a dramatic, clear take you out kind of injury, there really isn't much conversation to be had. You know you will be recovering for awhile and need to address whether you have the right to workers compensation or not. But if you have an injury like the one that I had in Oakland or a slowly building stress injury (stress reaction or stress fracture), it may be harder to assess if you need to be replaced or if you can muster up the strength to move on without causing further harm.

If you find yourself dealing with an injury that may resolve in time for a show or that you can continue dancing on without causing irreparable damage, you need to assess where you are today, if it is feasible to make it until the end of the show, and what type of physical therapy you can get to help cope with pain, swelling, or immobility. Once I assessed my injury and considered the amount of time it could take for me to get back to a functional place, I used my fastest path of communication to talk to the director. He had given me his phone number, so I texted him that I was injured and needed to have a conversation. If you don't have such direct access, an email should suffice. I wasn't quite ready yet to take myself out of the program. So, I sought medical assistance and started to take the powerful steroid Prednisone. Once that kicked in and the muscles around my spine started to calm down, it became clear to me that I was in pain beyond the immobility caused by muscular spasm to protect my injured spine. At this point, I had to make a decision between selfishly holding on to my roles in the performance (under the assumption that I probably wouldn't make it through the show) or to humble myself and request to be replaced in the performance.

I chose to relieve the company from the stress over whether I would make it through to the end and take myself out of the performance. While this was a difficult conversation to have with the director, it was necessary for me to give him time to figure out how to handle replacing me. Some directors take this news well, and some do not. So, be prepared to have an honest conversation based on reality. If you are concerned that the director doesn't believe your injury is bad enough or that they may feel that you should push through your pain, perhaps consider getting your doctor involved in the conversation. As dancers we are taught to do whatever it takes to please our bosses. But I urge all dancers to take care of themselves and prevent making an already bad injury worse. It is not worth living in pain beyond your dancing years to make it through one program of performances.

Inappropriate Conduct:

Dance is no ordinary workplace (Photo: Jeffrey Crane)

Overstepping sexual boundaries or making unwelcome statements is a rarity in our career field. Touching one another in inappropriate places and making raucous jokes isn't only common, but a part of the job. Keeping a light atmosphere in an intensely focused field is often important to the health of any dance organization. Additionally, while things like placing a hand high up an inner thigh for a press lift, kissing your Romeo/Juliet, or caressing one another's body for a romantic pas de deux are completely appropriate in context, there are times that lines are crossed. If this is the case, an offense that could be considered sexual harassment should not be taken lightly.

The first time that poor conduct occurs, one may not be completely aware of whether it was intentional or not. This doesn't matter. If you are uncomfortable with something that happened, I'd first suggest talking to your partner, ballet master, or whomever committed the act that was beyond your comfort zone. If everybody's intentions were good, a simply put, "Please don't touch me there when it isn't a part of the choreography" or "When you talk to me like that, it makes me uncomfortable," will likely lead to an immediate apology and acknowledgement of error (whether intentional or not). This will usually resolve any issue.

If you find that bringing up your discomfort doesn't yield a successful result, it is time that you bring this misconduct to the attention of somebody in power. First, assess whether you are overreacting to a norm in choreography. If you come from a more conservative background and aren't used to the requirements of partnering, perhaps ask a friend what they think.

Now that you've determined that what is happening is truly inappropriate, reach out. Always, always, always reach out to the Human Resources (HR) department first. This area of most organizations is responsible for dealing with any concerns or work place issues. In smaller organizations, though, these companies can't always afford to create an HR department or hire one employee devoted to HR. If this is the case, consider who would be best to talk to. A director isn't always the best person to chat with considering they often have a great deal of stress to work around. Additionally, you don't want to soil somebody's image if you mistook their intentions. If your dance partner or coworker is being inappropriate, talk to the person in charge of rehearsal privately. Do not do this in public, as there is nothing worse than embarrassing a colleague, especially if they didn't understand that what they were doing was inappropriate.

If the issue you have is with a Ballet Master or Rehearsal Director, you may need to approach the Artistic Director. Make sure that you know how you want to approach the director first. If you come off as overly emotional or aren't completely clear on what resolution you would like, they may see you as being dramatic and out of touch. You want them to take you seriously, so be clear and try to remain relatively calm.

If you have an issue with your director, there is no HR department available, and you have discussed your concern directly with them, you may need to reach out to somebody who the director respects. Be aware that if you reach out to a lawyer for advice and you have them contact the director, your relationship will change dramatically. And whether you want to keep your job or not, it will certainly end your time with that organization in the near future (whether on your terms or not). If you encounter this rare, unfortunate situation, be extremely sensitive, have clear examples, and try to stick to the facts. The moment that tears or yelling get involved, your voice is a lot less likely to be heard.

Determining Rates for Teaching

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Dance/USA and offered a press pass to attend their annual convention in Austin, Texas. It was super exciting to hear that they consider me an influencer throughout the dance community and wanted me to report on conversations and happenings taking place at this great organization's convention. While I was unable to attend due to my previous commitment running my summer intensive in Anchorage, Alaska, I was greatly honored by the offer. Especially, by their consideration that I have an authoritative and recognizable voice in my community through my work on this blog and on my podcast on the Premier Dance Network. With this honorable endorsement and respect from my community for my work, I look forward to continuing the art of sharing my knowledge and experiences with the world of dance.

With all of this said, in this post I want to share some information with you that I offered an acquaintance I recently met in class at Steps on Broadway. After hitting it off in a friendly locker room conversation, this gentleman reached out to me on Facebook asking for my advice in an area that most freelance dance artists will explore at some point in their performance or post-performance careers. This guy had recently been offered the opportunity to teach a few master classes in the Denver metropolitan area. Having never had to negotiate his own rates for his services, he was at a bit of a loss about the best approach to determining his rates and how to present them to this employer. I'd like to share this information with you, as I think it is valuable to many of us in our field.

Teaching Contemporary Technique

There is often a great deal of confusion when it comes to how much one should get paid to teach, whether giving a general class or offering a master class experience. There are so many factors that go into choosing a rate; from performance experience to teaching experience, to travel and organizational budget. Honestly, there is no exact science to determining and/or negotiating your pay for sharing your art form. But there are a few tips I am happy to offer you, which you can read below. 

The first thing to consider is your base rate. This fee is the absolute minimum that you are willing to work for. Generally, most of the classes I teach are paid for at an hourly rate. So, we can start there. Honestly, I don't think anybody should be accepting work to teach for a rate any less than $25/hour. If an institution isn't willing to pay you at this rate or above, then I feel they don't really respect the value that an instructor can bring into a studio. One would be better off working a restaurant, bar, barista, or office job than accepting a rate lower than this. A dance instructor can't work 40 hours a week in the studio without severely burning themselves out. So, this is a practical place to start. A $25/hour rate is still quite low. Generally, I would only say that an instructor with little to no professional performance credits or teaching experience should be accepting this minimum teaching wage rate. If you look at your resume and only have minor, local performance credits or are looking to begin your teaching career, this is a good place to start. Otherwise, it is my opinion that an instructor with quality professional performance credits should charge no less than $40/hour for instruction.

Depending on your experience, you may want to consider sliding your value up the scale. For instance, when I began teaching back in 2011, I started charging a rate of $50/hour. Considering that I had danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Houston Ballet, and had a stint at American Ballet Theatre, I felt that my performance experience made up for my general lack of time working in the studio. Most teaching jobs are looking for instructors who have some degree of studio time with students. But impressive company credits can help increase your value and the interest of institutions to bring you in at a higher rate. While I started my teaching career charging this fee, if I felt that an opportunity was worthwhile and a school couldn't pay my rate, I was willing to work at my absolute minimum rate of $40/hour. This was my true base rate, as I wasn't willing to accept a valuation lower than that. No matter the opportunity offered, I felt that any level of pay below that rate was disrespectful to the skill set that I brought to the table. Finding a reasonable and respectful base for yourself is the most valuable piece of information I have to share with you.

Once I gained more studio time and added local, regional, and national experience to my resume, I felt that I could begin to improve my rates. While a few of my staple schools that helped me start my career have only received minor rate increases, my overall value has increased greatly since those first years passing on my craft. Each year that I teach, I assess my achievements and new experiences and decide whether an increase is justified and/or reasonable. Now that I have been teaching for 5 years, have taught for professional companies like Eugene Ballet and Koresh Dance Company, have taught at national schools like Peridance Capezio Center, and have successfully coached students to place at Youth America Grand Prix, I am comfortable asking for increasingly respectful wages.

Teaching Contemporary Choreography

The major determining factors for me in accepting work and negotiating a fee is whether or not I want to do a job. If I am really interested in working with an organization or feel that I will gain much out of an experience, I generally accept any fee that doesn't drop below my base rate. The fulfillment from these jobs is well worth getting paid a little less. If I feel that a job might be a little more work or is less fulfilling, I will charge a higher rate than my minimum. Additionally, if I have to travel a great deal or I may potentially have a greater opportunity during the period of time asked to teach, I will tag on a higher fee. It can be easy to burn out if you are constantly accepting work that doesn't fulfill or is overwhelmingly far to travel. Getting paid a little more can help relieve these burdens. But be aware that getting paid well doesn't prevent burn out. Be sure to use caution when accepting uninspiring work or positions that require you to travel for extended periods of time on a regular basis.

One area of the teaching realm that is a bit different when it comes to charging fees is when one is asked to teach master classes. Today, generally, a master class differs from regular classes only in marketing. Back in my training days, master classes were only taught by instructors that had a great deal of experience and a proven track record of greatness in performance and/or instruction in our field. These days, most anyone can market their instruction as a master class. All it takes is offering your services outside of a school's regularly scheduled class offerings. As for these special types of workshops, I sometimes change my rates dependent on how much a school is planning on charging their students. Some schools have a pool of cash that they have already collected from students at the beginning of their season for these types of classes. When this happens, I generally charge the higher end of my class fee and my transportation costs. Again, this is only if I feel that it is fulfilling enough to go out of my way and help bring something new and exciting to an institution. If the school is charging a per head fee for the master class, I'll generally ask them to pay my top rate, plus a fee per head after, say, 8-10 students. That way, the more they make, the more I make. I feel this is especially important because if you are the main draw of bringing in more students and making the school more money, you should benefit just as much (if not more) as the school is from bringing in your unique brand.

I've discussed the art of negotiating in previous blogs on Life of a Freelance Dancer, so I don't want to get too detailed in my opinions and tips on negotiating. But just a reminder for those of my new readers. One should always negotiate in good faith, trying to be fair while gaining your true worth. I always find it best to ask what the pay is from the beginning. If a school offers you a lower rate than you would take into consideration, tell them what you feel you are worth. In the event that a school wants you to tell them your fees, be sure to let them know that your rates are open to discussion if you are concerned that they will be scared or turned off by your ask. Most everybody is trying to provide the highest quality services for their school, while running their business as effectively as possible. So, it is uncommon for most institutions to be unwilling to have an open discussion about rates if they are truly interested in bringing you in. Be sure to have at least one communication via email that clearly states the rate that you will be paid for your gig. It is rare that an organization will purposefully shaft an artist on fees, but I know a few dancers that have had to deal with this unfortunate experience. It is always best to get terms in writing, whether contractual or via a time-stamped e-communication.

Teaching is one of my passions

As you can see, determining your rates as an instructor isn't an exact science. Just as there is no formal basis to license or verify quality of training at any particular dance school, there is no perfect system that helps guide freelance dance instructors on how to charge organizations for their services. Take some time to evaluate your experience and determine a justified value that you feel is fair and respectful. Much of this art is trial-and-error and fine tuning from experience to experience. I hope that this helps set you on your path to career success and a fruitful financial future.

How Much Should I Get Paid?

Today, I’m going to discuss a topic that I’ve mostly avoided since starting this blog. It’s not that I’ve avoided talking about money because I’m afraid to share my worth. It is more that money, in this funny dance world, is a very complicated matter that isn’t always affected proportionately by worth and experience. With each experience that we have, our value should grow. But in the dance world, you can be offered to dance in two works of equal value in the same time-frame with the same company with one year in between them and get offered grossly disproportionate sums of money that, in reality, should be a marker representing your true value as an artist. Beyond that, there is always a chance that a dancer will underestimate their worth because they are afraid that they will be turned down for work. For these reasons, salary talk for freelance dancers is a tricky, fickle beast.

Most people would avoid putting their yearly salary out there for the public to see. I don’t feel it would be effective for me to announce my freelancing salary, but I am happy to share that when I left Pacific Northwest Ballet; after 7 years in the corps, collecting unemployment during lay-offs, and working as a union representative, I was making over $60,000 yearly. It was a cushy job that had great benefits and showed a personal investment by the company in my dedication to my workplace. Each year, whether I got bumped up in status (Apprentice, Corps, Senior Corps, Soloist, Principal), I got a seniority raise that loosely represented my accrued value to the company. Once I left PNB and started freelancing, I didn’t really know what to expect when it came to salary.

When I first started taking freelancing work, I would generally accept the financial offering of whomever was willing to hire me. Whether I was getting paid per show or per week, I wasn’t comfortable negotiating my own fees and I didn’t really understand how to properly define my worth. At the start, it was challenging for me to go from making $1,325 per week to being offered $400 per week. I often felt like I was selling out on my true worth. But what it came down to was this. Do I want to work or do I want to sit on my ass looking for work that made me feel like I was being compensated at my appropriate value?

I was lucky that I had my partner talking me through this challenging period. He kept reminding me this, “You built yourself up to the level that you were at with PNB and that took some time. You can’t expect to jump into freelancing and for everybody to treat you just like that. You need to put in the time and effort as a freelancer and build yourself back up from the beginning.” This advice turned out to be quite true.

People don't just hand you things! (Abby Relic & me wasting time backstage during rehearsal at PNB)

My first season dancing in multiple shows of the Nutcracker, I made less than half of what I make at the moment. Where I used to take whatever offers came my way and leave negotiation for my pay out of the equation, now I have a set rate that is generally non-negotiable (whether per week or per show). If my rate can’t be met, then I will pass the gig on to a friend that may need to build up their freelancing portfolio. While it wouldn’t be wise to share my rate publicly, I will note that I feel that after nearly four years of freelancing, I am getting paid somewhere near what I think my value is as a national-level Principal Guest Artist.

As for programs outside of Nutcracker, this is a completely different story. While I definitely do negotiate my rates for weeks of works and performances, it is trickier to determine what is acceptable for my services. My first freelancing jobs were somewhere within the range of $400-$600 per week or $500 per show. Most of the work that I performed ended up being on a weekly rate (which I always try to negotiate in the event of injury. If you get injured during a three-week rehearsal period and are getting paid per performance, then you are not getting any compensation for the work put in). The challenge of this period was that I couldn't afford to pay all of my bills, saving for self-employment taxes, and paying off debt that I had accrued during off periods at that rate. I took the work because there wasn't a great many calls coming in and because I was afraid to negotiate a different wage that might have changed the opinion of the director offering me the gig. During this period, I essentially ate up all of my savings that I had built before leaving my cushy job with PNB.

After a year of freelancing, I started making more sense of my negotiation strategy. When a company would low-ball me for my salary, I would tell them the absolute minimum figure that I had determined I needed to pay my bills, save for taxes, and put a little in savings for time between gigs. I knew it would be easier to negotiate my rate without feeling uncomfortable asking for more if I told the directors that it was the minimum for me to survive month to month. This went over well and showed that I wasn't greedy. The funny thing, though, is that my first job offering with the Colorado Ballet at the young age of 18 was for $500 per week. With nearly ten years of experience, I was traveling around the country begging companies to pay me just a little more than that base salary.

After my second year of freelancing, I started to realize that my work, my blog, and the validation that my product was very good was becoming better known. When work started coming my way, it was very rare for job offers to come in at the lower end of my survival number. Only two non-Nutcracker gigs came my way that were below the level of salary that I was regularly accruing. I finally hit a place where I felt that my value was being appropriately assessed. In the end, the reason that I chose to take those two jobs with a lower salary rate was because I was more interested in the experience than negotiating myself a higher salary. I was interested in working with the companies, directors, and choreographers that were involved in those programs. I also didn't negotiate with them because I was concerned that negotiating would deter them from holding their offer to me for work.

I always wanted to work w/ this lovely lady! Amy Seiwert running rehearsals at Alaska Dance Theatre

One tricky aspect of obtaining work as a freelancer is negotiating mindfully without overstepping the comfort zone of your possible employer. While many directors have a moderate range of flexibility with their financial offers, others have no wiggle room in their budget. Depending on the director and how much they want/need you, you could get what you want or turn them off from working with you. For instance, if you are working for a gig that will include 8 dancers and all of the dancers are being paid the same rate, it will be more difficult to negotiate a higher wage. Yes, maybe you have a bigger resume then them, but is it fair to pay differently if you are all performing the same load of work? There is no right or wrong answer to this, but there are exceptions. Often directors wont be comfortable giving preferential treatment to one dancer over another. Sometimes, it is beneficial to ask if there is any leeway in a company's budget before asking to negotiate. In these instances, you can only be hopeful that the director is being honest instead of tight-pocketed.

In the end, it is up to the dancer to assess their own value. Look at your experience, look at your recent work, and look at your monthly financial needs to determine what is an appropriate amount to seek. If you danced with a small regional company, don't go out looking for over $1000 per week. If you have a bigger name company on your resume with famous roles in well-known ballets, it will be easier for you to negotiate up. Even those dancers sometimes have to build their freelancing portfolio before they can survive off of this kind of work. Know your true worth, and not your ego's worth. And know that your true worth is malleable dependent upon the budget of the people offering you a job. Unfortunately, our arts world doesn't exist on the same plane as the sports or major for-profit worlds work. Don't accept work away from home (b/c if you are home, you can work multiple gigs, teach, etc.) if it doesn't cover all of your monthly bills, travel, and housing. And do your best to be thankful to those employers that offer you work at a rate that is too far below your standards. While you may feel offended by a low-balled offer, they may be in a building phase and trying to get, you, one of the best dancers they know. Take it as a compliment!

Always be gracious - Dancing Romeo w/ Fort Wayne Ballet (Photo: Jeffrey Crane)

How to Negotiate a Contract

Here I am at 10 pm on Friday night, sitting in front of my tv watching the Olympic opening ceremony, sipping on a glass of wine, and blogging. For a freelance dancer, searching for work and building your profile never ends. This aside, there are many aspects of freelancing that I have wanted to share with you since the inception of this blog. I have been hoping to discuss the ins and outs of negotiating a contract with a potential employer for quite a while, but I get nervous every time I think about it. Negotiating is tricky and can vary greatly from job to job, even if you are working for the same person. Please keep in mind that I can't share every detail of this process. If I did, it could jeopardize my own future negotiations. With all of that said,  I will share as much as I can to guide and educate all of you in the art of negotiating.

Even though you've enticed an employer to hire you through an audition, video reel, or word of mouth, you haven't officially solidified the job until you have agreed upon the terms of a contract and signed on the dotted line. For the first decade of my career, I was lucky enough to join professional companies that were governed by the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), the union that represents most professional ballet dancers in national and regional companies across the U.S. The union negotiates contracts in 2 to 4 year spurts and any dancer that joins the company is offered a contract that is set in stone and unchangeable. In my last three years with Pacific Northwest Ballet, I was elected as a delegate for AGMA to represent the dancers of the company. Being a very active delegate, I was offered the opportunity to learn many of the inner workings of a ballet company. Not only was I responsible to insure the comfort and safety of the dancers, but I was also in charge of relaying information to dancers about specific aspects, including the financial state, of the company. In my final season with PNB, I put together a very intricate set of proposals and took on a major role in the negotiation of dancer contracts. I learned a lot in this process and have been able to use that knowledge in my own negotiations with companies and schools.

The first thing that comes to mind when people think about negotiating a contract is money. One thing I always take into consideration when negotiating is that nearly all of the organizations offering me work do not have the budget of a major ballet company. I can never approach negotiations as aggressively as I did when I was with PNB. I prefer to let a potential employer make an offer, instead of telling the company a "going rate." This gives me a good idea of the financial abilities of the company. If the pay offered is reasonable, I will automatically accept the monetary aspect of the offer. If it doesn't cover my monthly financial needs or is something I can't work with, I always make a gentle and polite counter offer. Somebody is offering you work, so be sure to thank them for their original offer before you counter offer.

Before countering with a new number, I suggest you take a look at your rent, utilities, groceries, etc. to determine your monthly needs. Keep in mind that if you are staying on location for an extended period of time, you may have excess bills beyond your home expenses. I also suggest that you research the company/school/project before beginning to negotiate. Check their website, reviews, and other online resources. This will give you a better idea of their budget and the functionality of the company. Money is the touchiest subject in negotiations. Keep in mind that most employers are making offers somewhere within a range of their maximum pay. Most companies that use freelancers have fewer resources and are doing everything they can to keep their company afloat on a smaller budget. There is often wiggle room, but if you jump too high in price or ask beyond your skill level you are likely to end negotiations and lose the job offer. Be reasonable and take your experience into consideration when you are creating a "going rate."

The last aspect of salary to take into consideration is whether you should be paid per week or per performance? I generally ask to be paid per performance if I am learning the choreography on my own and will be spending less than a week or two on-site. If I will be spending a few weeks with a company and will be learning the choreography on location, I will often request to be paid per week. If I am working considerably more on a performance week than during rehearsal weeks, I have negotiated to be paid a greater amount for the week of shows. All in all, though, come to an agreement that is fair, covers your monthly expenses, and represents your value as a dancer.

Unfortunately, most dancers and employers don't put much emphasis on the next aspect of negotiations. Often, these issues are discussed after the fact or arise while an artist is already working for an employer. I won't pretend that I haven't done this, but I have learned through my own and others' experiences that it is important to negotiate needs/comforts into your contract. Who will you be staying with? Your host family lives 5 miles from the studios. How will you get there? Will you be required to pay for shoes? You are staying in a hotel without any kitchen. Will you receive per diem for meals? Transportation from home to the location, requirements outside of studio rehearsals and shows (outreach, lecture demos, promotional activities, etc.), and therapy options are a few things to keep in my mind when you are getting things in writing. Many of these items tend to be discussed, but are never put on paper. If it will make you more comfortable to put things in a contract, you must mention it during negotiations. A lot of dancers prefer to keep needs and comforts out of their contract to speed negotiations along and avoid any uncomfortable disagreements. This is perfectly fine. But if something is important to your comfort, I would suggest having details written down in an email. This will protect you in the small chance that you need proof that something was promised to you. Companies almost always produce the contract that you will sign. They will be putting everything in writing that is necessary to protect them. Why shouldn't you do the same for yourself by requiring certain protections in place for you.

To be completely honest, I don't think anybody involved in negotiating dancer contracts is ever excited to discuss money and needs. Companies want to put on high-level productions and dancers want to dance. Nobody wants to sit down and have potentially uncomfortable conversations. Unfortunately, it is very important to have a contract signed by both parties for your own protection. I will almost never agree to dance without having signed a contract first. If you don't have things in writing and a company decides not to pay you, you are limited in your ability to recover that pay and relationships can quickly fall apart. The only instances where I have worked off contract have been while working with the school that trained me as a child and when details have already been discussed via email and a contract was being produced. Even with that information, I strongly suggest having a contract signed prior to working at all times.

Negotiating a contract is an art and requires a lot of careful thought and consideration. There are many more details about negotiating, but much of them are very personal and specific to each individual negotiation. If you would like some advice or need some more information, please feel free to leave a comment and I would be more than happy to contact you to help out. Happy negotiating and merde!

Freelancing isn't all glory

Nearly every person that I speak to about my freelancing career usually responds with "You're life is so exciting!" I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but at times it is also exciting in a less than glorious way. I have been freelancing for about a year now and part of that time I was relying on regular, seasonal work with a company in Philadelphia. It was only at the beginning of April when I was forcibly placed into the role of full-time freelance dancer. I am not stating this to take away from the depth of knowledge that I do have about this field. While I am experienced, I am also continuing to have new experiences and learning about specific challenges that freelancers face. Unfortunately, freelancing is a lot of "you live, you learn." In the process of learning, it may present challenges to see how industrious and strong a person you are.

I know that this post is much darker than other writings on this blog, but there are certain realities that freelancers or those that wish to become one need to be aware of. Yes, I get to travel the world to dance. Yes, I get to follow my passion. Yes, I am my own boss. But there is also a harsher side of freelancing. First and foremost, pick-up dancers are not governed by a union that negotiates their contracts for them. Instead, it is the dancer's responsibility to make sure that all of their needs are met and put down in writing before committing to a gig. Unfortunately, most dancers don't realize exactly what this means until they have an experience that brings one of these needs to their attention. A majority of the time these issues relate to environment or transportation, but it can also relate to commitment and pay. Just read this article about the poor state of financial appreciation/respect for dance artists. When negotiating a contract, some employers will low-ball a dancer's pay. They may not be doing this to disrespect a dancer, but instead to preserve the financial well-being of the company. At the same time, it can be impossible for a dancer to meet their monthly needs at $400-$500/week. This can make it difficult to commit to work. Dancers want to be working and there is always the question of whether a dancer will be able to find better work during that period. So, negotiations need to take place. A dancer who is in demand may find that they are negotiating multiple contracts at once, which makes it easier to make little mistakes or miss a clause that is important. And being a young individual negotiating with the person who will presumably become your employer can be quite uncomfortable. Learning how to effectively negotiate salary is important for a freelancer. It is an art and it is a different process with each potential employer. A dancer doesn't want to appear selfish and egotistical. But at the same time, why shouldn't a dancer have the ability to pay their bills or put a little bit of money in their savings account? This is, in my opinion, one of the hardest parts of being a freelance dancer.

Another aspect of freelancing that presents a great challenge is covering your bills when you are not dancing for an employer. You can read about different things I do to survive in my previous blog, Summer Slow-down. Even though there are a lot of great ideas there, dancers can still encounter certain challenges in making ends meet. I am one of those dancers that prefers to find work that helps enrich my dance career, instead of seeking part-time work outside of my field. When I am not dancing, I am usually able to find work teaching master classes (I am lucky enough to be well connected in the Philadelphia region since I was raised in the suburbs). I have also obtained work at national competitions and performing minor gigs. Since I choose not to get a job outside of my field and my weekly offerings change, I don't necessarily have a great way to gauge exactly what my monthly income will be. Also, these teaching/judging/gigs don't typically work on contract. I recently had an issue where I committed my workday to teach for an organization and spent hours creating new choreography for them (I even paid for music for the event). I was given 36 hours notice that the event was cancelled. Not only was I out on the salary that I was expecting, but there was not enough time to find new work to replace lost income. This isn't a frequent occurrence, but freelancers need to be efficient about spending and saving their money for times like this. It is difficult to hold somebody accountable for issues like this, as most of this type of work is done off contract. But now you can see how important it is to negotiate work that will leave you a certain amount of savings.

Lastly, freelancers have to figure out how to deal with injury. One of the scariest parts of freelancing is that many dancers can't afford health coverage. You can read further about this and find important information about how to seek coverage, if you can afford it, here. I am lucky enough that I have been able to maintain my health insurance to this point. But even with health coverage, injuries can present great problems. One of the most difficult aspects of dancing is knowing when an injury is going to take you out. Obviously, if there is a major fracture involved (knock on wood), you are not going to be able to dance. But most dancer's injuries occur from overuse or include various levels of sprains. These injuries can sometimes be pushed through. Other times, they can be pushed through to a degree, but may eventually do more serious or permanent damage. So, first a dancer needs to know their limits and determine when it is acceptable to continue working. Freelancers have a tendency to work through injuries more than regularly contracted dancers. Not only because they tend to be more aggressive and strong minded, but also because they often have no choice. "Do I pay my rent this month or do I end up back at home or living couch to couch with friends?" This is one of the hardest and scariest aspects of freelancing. If you have a great support system from your parents, the freelancing life can be simple to navigate. But if you are on your own or far away from home, there will be times that challenge your strength as a dancer and person.

There are other aspects of freelancing that are not as glorious as they seem, but negotiating work, making ends meet during off-times, and dealing with injuries are three of the harshest realities of this lifestyle. There are ways to work with each of these, but a dancer must be aware of the challenges that lay ahead of them when they choose this path. My upcoming blogs will bring "Life of a Freelance Dancer" back to more positive posts. My feelings, though, are that this blog should share every aspect of freelancing and, unfortunately, it isn't all glory.