Article19 Note: This letter was prepared by a group of dancers then co-signed by approximately 400

individuals and the submitted to The Stage. A copy was also handed to Akram Khan personally.
Thursday, January 21, 2016

Dont have more female choreographers for the sake of it

Dear Akram Khan,

We, the signatories below, contemporary dance artists, members and supporters of the
international dance community, take issue with your statement published in The Stage concerning
the imbalance of female and male choreographers. This is a public response to you and to others
working in and around dance, who are responsible for making change.

Your considerable influence and visibility in the dance sector, both professionally and in national
curriculum education, gives institutional weight to your opinion. Statements can easily be taken out
of context by the press to sensationalize stories: this we understand. This is not meant as a personal
confrontation but rather a necessary response to the issues raised in the interview. However, you,
and others in positions of power, must be aware of the context and responsibility of your position,
and the damage that you can inflict.

Therefore it is our obligation to address our concerns publicly as well. In the article you acknowledge
inequality as an issue worth discussing, however the suggestion that imbalance merely fluctuates
over time undermines the experience of those affected by it. You quote two famous female
choreographers (who lived nearly two generations apart) as proof of a historical imbalance for male
choreographers. Given how many male choreographers of these eras received much acclaim
(Laban, Joos, Cunningham, Ailey, Forsythe, Morris and more), this is hardly plausible.

There is currently a desire in the dance sector to address gender imbalance evidenced by a spate of
recent articles - Luke Jenningss response (18 Jan 2016) as well as public and industry discussions
(ie. Rambert, Autumn 2015, Cloud Dance Festival, Jan 2016). In The Stage, Georgia Snow refers to
the problem as the lack of female choreographers. This is inaccurate; there is no shortage of
choreographers who are women. The real issue is the need to redress the gender biases steering the
channels of support for artists, which negatively affect the number of women who achieve certain
levels and types of representation. Failure to acknowledge this subtle, embedded imbalance will
create a long term silencing of womens artistic voices, and those of future generations.

Gender imbalance is deeply embedded in society at large; to suggest that in dance it exists by
chance rather than because of sexist infrastructure is disingenuous and misleading. Patterns of
discrimination, we well know, occur across all areas of culture and employment. Currently, out of 16
Associate Artists at Sadlers Wells, only four are women; of the 36 companies showing work at

British Dance Edition (the industry showcase), only 10 are led by women. Only four women in the
entire history of the Academy Awards have been nominated for Best Director. Women account for
8.6% of all executive roles of the largest companies on the London Stock Exchange (as of 2015), and
currently only 22 world leaders (out of nearly 200) are women.

In seeking equality, we do not want to simply have more women instrumentalised by the existing
power structures of the dance scene. Artistic success can be measured and constructed in many
ways, not only in quantitative terms (by venue size, international tours, ticket sales etc) but also by
the artists own criteria: not everyone wants to show work at Sadlers Wells. We do not wish to
perpetuate the damaging assumption that there is a single top, or that quality will rise to this top
regardless of support.

This letter aims to challenge any flippant dismissal of the need for positive discrimination in the
dance sector. We do not live in a meritocracy -- all the data proves this. The way in which we ascribe
merit is itself socially constructed and gendered. For there to be change we cant just wait around
for the next wave of dance godmothers to emerge from the woodwork. Change needs to be
constructed carefully and patterns of support for the marginalized need to be learnt. We need to
have a responsible infrastructure which discriminates in transparent ways and holds a longer view
for change.

For someone whose work has exemplified how dance can be a site of cultural resistance and
critique, your recent statements demonstrate a failure to acknowledge the ongoing importance and
multi vocality of cultural critique. It is in language as well as action through which change can be
made.

We hope that you will feel free to respond to this letter in your own words.

Referenced News Piece: http://www.article19.co.uk/thenews/the_news_jan_18_-_jan_22.php