![\"Louise](\"https:\/\/www.danceinforma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Louise-Hradsky.-Photo-by-Karolina-Turek-2.jpg\")
<\/a>Hradsky\u00a0is accomplished, having choreographed for\u00a0productions like\u00a0To All The Boys: Always and Forever\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Charmed<\/em>.\u00a0Her committee co-chairs Jeffrey Mortensen and Melena Rounis\u00a0are\u00a0equally\u00a0accomplished,\u00a0with\u00a0credits\u00a0on shows\u00a0like\u00a0Zoey\u2019s Extraordinary Playlist\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Peacemaker<\/em>, respectively.\u00a0Most recently, Hradsky and Mortensen won a LEO award and have been\u00a0nominated for\u00a0an Emmy\u00a0for their work as choreographers\u00a0on\u00a0Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies<\/em>.\u00a0This is clearly an\u00a0experienced group, but when did they finally feel\u00a0established enough to\u00a0take on this leadership role?<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it was around my 15-year mark of being in film and TV,\u201d says Hradsky. \u201cSince my first job, I had been hearing dancers voice issues, but only amongst themselves, always maintaining this culture of \u2018keep your head down, work hard, and don\u2019t complain.\u2019\u00a0I strongly believe\u00a0it\u2019s possible for dancers to maintain the great work ethic we\u2019re known for, while professionally communicating certain basics required to do a quality job. Whether it\u2019s appropriate rates or rehearsal time, discussing what\u2019s needed\u00a0to deliver high caliber work is important.\u00a0After 15 years,\u00a0I realized I was in a place as a leader in the community to foster something.\u201d<\/p>\n In late 2020, the UBCP film union contacted\u00a0their choreographer and dance members\u00a0about forming a focus group,\u00a0before heading into negotiations with producers for the British Columbia Master Production Agreement. The BCMPA establishes protocols and minimum rates for cast and\u00a0some\u00a0crew in\u00a0BC\u00a0Film and Television. These negotiations only happen once every three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSome key members showed up enthusiastic and prepared for the focus group,\u201d\u00a0explains\u00a0Hradsky. \u201cWe were articulate and concise with our discussion points. It became clear to UBCP, and to us, that we could really benefit from working together. Formation of our committee snowballed from there; we started chatting with different dancers and choreographers in our community, and had informal meetings on Zoom. We had incredible guidance from UBCP, and\u00a0modeled\u00a0the structure of our committee off of the existing UBCP Stunt Committee.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0Stunt\u00a0Committee is a force \u2013 when safety is on the line, voices need to be heard and respected. Stunts carry the risk of high\u00a0impact\u00a0accidents\u00a0\u2013 but much like dance, it also\u00a0affects\u00a0your body over time,\u00a0resulting in \u2018wear and tear\u2019 injuries. While dancers might not seek the\u00a0same\u00a0hazard pay stunt performers\u00a0require, a bump in pay to account for the necessary physiotherapy, chiropractic and other\u00a0body\u00a0maintenance seems like a reasonable ask.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hradsky, an active member of the stunt community herself, was inspired by how much ground they\u2019ve covered by coming together. \u201cOther than risk,\u00a0the job we do is\u00a0very similar. You have to be able to learn choreography, perform for camera and\u00a0figure out\u00a0all the\u00a0physical\u00a0logistics.\u00a0When I saw that parallel, and how cohesive the stunt community is, it inspired me.\u201d<\/p>\n While Hradsky includes pay increases in\u00a0her\u00a0goals for\u00a0industry reform, she makes clear that\u00a0pay\u00a0isn\u2019t the only inequity that needs attending.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes, there\u2019s a feeling of\u00a0disconnect\u00a0with\u00a0other departments on what dancers and choreographers bring to the table. I had run into dismissive attitudes towards our contribution many times,\u00a0but all that changes once they see what we bring to a scene,\u201d Hradsky notes. The Dance Committee seeks to solve that with education and representation, but also by shifting the culture inside the dance community\u00a0itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cProfessionalism on set is critical.\u00a0In many cases, there\u2019s an inherent youthfulness to dance which can be perceived as play instead of work,\u201d Hradsky says. \u201cWe\u2019ve trained our whole lives to do this,\u00a0though, and we have a responsibility to conduct ourselves\u00a0in a way that represents that to\u00a0other departments, producers\u00a0and\u00a0directors.\u201d\u00a0Historically,\u00a0infantizing dancers\u00a0is a common issue, and with that comes silencing or disregarding their voices. But on a film set where there are so many moving parts, if you don\u2019t learn to speak up,\u00a0you won\u2019t get what you need.\u00a0<\/p>\n And\u00a0choreographers are the designated\u00a0spokesmen. \u201cWhat we have to understand is the choreographer is the supervisor, the head of department for all the dancers. That means you\u2019re responsible for their safety and wellbeing,\u201d Hradsky says. \u201cIt\u2019s something no one teaches you, but is critical to get a sense for.\u201d\u00a0Dancers need to feel safe voicing concerns to their choreographer,\u00a0and choreographers need to feel comfortable\u00a0addressing\u00a0them\u00a0with production so that\u00a0they can be resolved.<\/p>\n Hradsky\u00a0has built a reputation for taking care of her\u00a0performers,\u00a0advocating for what they need while working with production to make it happen. From figuring out the logistics of pointe shoes with the costume department, to ensuring her dancers aren\u2019t asked to repeat demanding choreography without adequate breaks.\u00a0The committee accomplishes this on a larger scale.<\/p>\n She\u00a0notes that only pushing for change every three years when the BCMPA gets renegotiated isn\u2019t an effective path forward.\u00a0\u201cWhat is effective is if we come together\u00a0and\u00a0decide what we want to work towards. Even if it never makes it into the written agreement, if all the choreographers agree that this should be standard, and all of the dancers understand that their choreographers should be providing that for them,\u00a0then we are moving in a positive direction.\u201d<\/p>\n Then by the time that three year\u00a0re-negotiation\u00a0rolls around, there\u2019s precedent established in the community already. \u201cIt\u2019s important we\u2019re all on\u00a0a\u00a0similar\u00a0page about what\u00a0it takes to deliver a job,\u201d Hradsky says. \u201cContracts can vary depending on experience level and production budget, but if we can pin\u00a0certain things as standard, we\u2019ll gain power through consistency,\u00a0regardless if they\u2019re in the written agreement or not.\u201d<\/p>\n These goals are similar to the ones the American WGA and SAG strikes are working toward. Hradsky\u00a0recognizes,\u00a0\u201cI have some incredible friends and colleagues in the U.S. who are helping make huge moves. They\u2019ve just formed the Choreographers Guild, so for the first time film and TV choreographers have the consistent opportunity to be unionized, which has been a big difference between working in the United States and Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n The Canadian\u00a0film and TV\u00a0market is competitive in the global scene, and is taking steps for their\u00a0dancers\u00a0to\u00a0maintain competitive compensation.\u00a0\u201cAs Canadians, it\u2019s easy to\u00a0have stars in our eyes for other big cities in the world in terms of the caliber of dance\u00a0and\u00a0professionalism,\u201d Hradsky says.\u00a0\u201cHowever, cities\u00a0like Vancouver\u00a0and\u00a0Toronto\u00a0have so much work flowing through them,\u00a0so many artists gaining\u00a0extensive\u00a0flight time and experience. We have an incredible community of professionals, and\u00a0the work we\u2019re delivering on camera is second to none.\u00a0The other layer to this\u00a0is,\u00a0what can we do to advance the\u00a0perspective of\u00a0what choreographers and dancers bring\u00a0to projects.\u201d<\/p>\n And that\u2019s a global moral for dancers everywhere. We have to recognize our own value\u00a0in order\u00a0for\u00a0others to see it, too.\u00a0Organize within your community and\u00a0advocate together\u00a0\u2013\u00a0committees are\u00a0formed from\u00a0communities.<\/p>\n By Holly LaRoche of Dance Informa.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n The post Dance committees: How community commitment can make a difference<\/a> appeared first on Dance Informa Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the recent SAG-AFTRA strike, we checked in with our neighbors north of the border,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiplemta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiplemta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiplemta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiplemta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiplemta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/multiplemta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317,"href":"https:\/\/multiplemta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions\/317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiplemta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiplemta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiplemta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiplemta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>