A Dance Producer

I receive many questions about my profession and what I do in my freelance life beyond teaching dance - my short answer is I make things happen in the dance industry. So what does a dance producer do?

Dance producers work with artists or organisations to support their vision coming to life. It can mean organising a dance event or festival, helping to plan and fund an artistic project, getting a show on tour, supporting a research and development process, strategising a year, applying for funding and more.

Image by Feyi Daina.

We don’t only respond to emails and do admin for the artist, and we should not be perceived as personal assistants. Producing goes far beyond this, and we carry a lot of responsibility in communicating and representing artist’s/organisation’s ideas correctly, finding and setting up the right partnerships and in general working closely together with everyone involved to achieve the goals we set out. 

A producer removes a lot of pressure from self-producing artists - it is overwhelming to create quality art while strategising income, seeking for support and planning your next big project. And we are here to help. 

Creating a trusting producer-artist relationship takes time and it’s ok to admit that we work better with some people, and with some it just doesn’t work out - just like in a real relationship. When choosing who to work with it is worth discussing everyone’s knowledge as well as values and vision, as producers will have varying experience, networks and expertise in different fields. For example, majority of my interest/passion/experience lies within festival organisation as well as hip-hop scene, events and hip-hop theatre.

I always aim to work WITH the artist or organisation and not FOR someone, as we come with our strengths and knowledge in different areas. I see the whole process as hand-in-hand, back and forth, with all parties actively invested and respectful of each other’s roles. 

Behind the very successful people you look up to there is always a team of people supporting them - producers play a huge role within the dance industry and driving it forward.