Dear Kim and Faye,

(that’s Kim Cullen, Executive Director of NYLA)

We, the Leadership of Dance Artists’ National Collective, have been in correspondence with Faye regarding her recent audition call for a new NYLA-commissioned work. As a group of dance workers that has spent the pandemic working together to advance ideas about how we can improve wages, working conditions, and equity within our field, we have a number of concerns regarding the audition call as well as the proposed wages and working conditions for performers to be cast in the work. Like so many in the dance community, we are eager to return to the studio and stage. However, we feel it’s important that our field never return to its pre-pandemic status quo of unsustainably low wages, exploitative working conditions, and inaccessibility for dancers from marginalized backgrounds.

Below we have included our original letter to Faye sent last week, as well as, Faye, your response received yesterday. We feel this response failed to substantively address our concerns, especially those about accessibility and the minimum acceptable wage for dancers, including any additional compensation for the level of physical risk and emotional and psychological labor of consenting to violence, nudity, and simulated sex in a work environment.

The NYLA website says that the Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist program was created “to address what we perceive to be an overall lack of support for mid-career artists.” We applaud the program’s inclusion of a salary and health benefits on top of a commission for the selected artist. However, we are disappointed to see that under the banner of this flagship program, the audition process itself and the proposed wages and working conditions for the performers who will bring the commission to life fall far short of what is equitable. We hope to engage in a dialogue with you both, that considers the impact of your roles as presenter (NYLA) and commissioned artist (Faye) on freelance dancers. We’d like to discuss how you plan to provide access for “all bodies” and ensure livable wages and safe and equitable working conditions for dancers throughout the process of this project.

We understand that these conversations take time. However, we feel a sense of urgency because the week of in-person callbacks for this project is fast approaching. Kim, we hope you will read our letter below and be willing to discuss next steps with us. We would be happy to discuss this further via Zoom.

Sincerely,

Dance Artists’ National Collective