Fabulous Article! I really appreciate everything you have said- similar to our brief discussion in Winnipeg at the Manitoba Dance Festival.

Congrats on your new position at Harbour Dance… I really look forward to working with you and supporting this awesome community.

Cheers
Andrea

http://www.thecoast.ca/ArtAttack/archives/2011/06/10/sun-news-margie-gillis-and-misinformation

Funny that host Krista Erickson is SO opposed to the funding of the arts when she herself is in the television industry. Without the arts and arts funding, she wouldn’t have a job. Idiot. Perhaps she should be educated in politics before she starts hatefully voicing opinions about politics. Shitty journalist. You can see the hate oozing out of her, it’s nauseating.

Not to mention, hypocrite. Krista Erickson doesn’t support government funding to the arts but she does indeed support taxpayer’s money paying for her cheesy spray tan as well as the numerous flights and accommodations to a variety of locations so that she can meet up with her 63-year-old politician “boyfriend”. Client might be a more appropriate term. Taxpayer’s dollars haven’t bought them a little romp pad yet so that’s why she feels that 1.2 million could’ve been better spent. GROSS. Krista Erickson SUCKS.

Go Margie Gillis! What an angel!<3

DO NOT WATCH THE STATION, the most constructive and supportive action you can do is to write to the CRTC http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/info_sht/g8.htm and complain about the lack of journalism/fairness on the Sun News station.

Be productive- not destructive. Yes, the interview is appalling… but Margie holds her own… and represents all artists in a very eloquent manner. Now, support Margie by voicing your distaste for approach this station takes on belittle the arts and culture community.

Andrea

Thank you for this article and for articulating your experiences as both a dancer and a woman. We must always celebrate who we are, all aspects of our lives- being a dancer, a woman, a sister, a mother, a daughter, an administrator, adjudicator etc. These are all parts of what make us up… and celebrating our wholeness is what makes us incredible artists.

I agree with so much that you have said and would welcome you to visit me at the Dancer Transition Resource Centre office in Vancouver to perhaps further share the need for recognition of a dancer’s health, well-being, career and personal life.

The DTRC is a National not-for-profit service organization (www.dtrc.ca), celebrating our 25th anniversary as a leader in supporting professional dancers with all their transitions through a lifetime of artistry: into, within and from their professional careers.
As a world leader in dancer transition, we are active participants in international conferences and research initiatives and help drive change within the dance community.* Fact, we have been in much communication with the various professional athletic programs on how to best start a transition program for our respected professional athletes. We have even hired local sports psychologists who work with these athletes for some of our workshops and in studio discussions. Finding the parallel of the issues that professional dancers and athletes share.

We recognize that dance is one of the most challenging professions, physically, emotionally and financially, and that transitions are inevitable. Our goal is to ensure that dancers have the tools they need to reach their potential throughout their dance career and after retirement from dance performance.

We offer resources and workshops to all dancers in the community as well as professional counseling, awards and grants to our eligible members.

The DTRC is founding member of the International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers. IOTPD

Since 2002 we have run a BC regional office, our national office is in Toronto, we have a Montreal regional office and regional representatives in Manitoba, Alberta and Nova Scotia.

Christie Manning attended our annual ‘on the MOVE’ conference this year and wrote a lovely article about it and the DTRC on the Industry Dance Magazine website (I will paste the link in below). On the MOVE (http://dtrc.ca/english_services/content/on_the_move/) is a full day of courses on the business skills required for a graduating/emerging dancer in order to succeed in your career. OTM is free, open to everyone of every dance discipline, training and age and we encourage studio owners, teachers and parents to audit the day. The DTRC coordinates the conference but partners with all local, regional and national dance service organizations to best envelope the full scale of support available to dancers and all the various careers in dance. OTM is just one example of the free professional conferences and workshops we coordinate every year.

We invite all dancers to reach out to our offices for any assistance they may need, use our resources, make suggestions to us on what you feel is missing in support for dancers and the future of dance, not just in Canada but world wide.

I am very excited to have an opportunity to meet with you and together we can perhaps make a difference for the advocacy and betterment of all dance.

Cheers and Thank you
Andrea Gunnlaugson

This interview opens a lot of topics, and there is lots that can be said about the way capitalism works. Which is pretty much “If you are not profitable, you should disappear”. A super cold way to view the world in my opinion. The Government exists also to redistribute some of the wealth and creating opportunities for industries that are not as profitable as others. If everything was about free market, the Government wouldn’t have a reason to exist.

My background is in Financial Analysis, but I have a second career, I am also a dancer and choreographer, and I wake up everyday thinking on how to make dancing and other performing arts profitable.

I understand both ladies points of view, but I really hate the way the interview was handled. The artist was put on the spot and was demanded to justify the reason of her life’s work existence. Totally unfair to her. I wish I could have been there to ask the blond girl if she was happy at her job, If she did what she really loved and why was not her in Afghanistan… The point is, should a form of art disappear just because it is not profitable? There are many reasons why dance and other form of arts are not profitable, but here is one example, one: Too many people is willing to do it for free, which closes the doors for everybody to make a living doing something you absolutely love. Is this a sin? Making money doing something you love and receiving support from the Goverment? Apparently it is for the interviewer….
$1.2M in 13 years is really not a lot of money, specially if it was to support several artists. Maybe the ideal world for the interviewer is a cold artless world full of money making corporations with soulless robot employees, without a Government supporting less fortunate and less wealthy people.
On another note, I do believe that we can make money with what we love doing, we just have to start working together!