What's on the Agenda for Dance?

Berlin’s Dance Agenda highlights the challenges and urgent needs facing the city’s renowned dance scene as it strives to secure its future amidst growing financial and infrastructural challenges.

Despite being regarded as the hotspot of today’s dance, Berlin’s dance community faces a precarious future due to inadequate funding and infrastructure.

While financial support for dance has increased since 2018, it still lags far behind other performing arts sectors, with dance receiving only a fraction of the cultural budget.

This underfunding threatens the sustainability and growth of the dance scene, risking the loss of both emerging and established talent.

The call to action is clear: to secure dance's place in Berlin's cultural landscape, substantial investment and recognition are urgently needed.

This means aligning dance funding with that of other performing arts, ensuring fair compensation, and creating a resilient infrastructure that supports artists across all generations.

Now is the time for policymakers and cultural leaders to prioritize dance, fostering an environment where it can continue to thrive and inspire.

The Dance Agenda 2024 was published on June 4, 2024 by Network TanzRaumBerlin, Zeitgenössischer Tanz Berlin eV and Tanzbüro Berlin.

Action Day at the Brandenburg Gate

Mark September 13 for a dance happening at the iconic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The gathering will be a powerful statement and demonstration of the diversity and potential of dance in Germany.

The event features a dynamic array of performances, presentations, and participatory activities aimed at engaging everyone from citizens and passersby to politicians and policymakers. It culminates in a grand dance rally in front of the Brandenburg Gate, where artists, cultural associations, trade unions, and political representatives will unite under the banner #TogetherWeDance. The goal is to highlight the diversity and impact of dance, pushing it onto the political agenda. Thirteen performances, selected through a nationwide call and jury process, will be showcased on the main stage, alongside various projects in videos, talks, and interventions. Dancers from diverse styles and backgrounds will come together to reflect the theme: "Dance Creates Cohesion."

The purpose of this demonstration is to highlight the critical need for increased cultural and arts funding. In the wake of the pandemic, many dance professionals in Berlin and across Germany are struggling to sustain their artistic careers due to funding cuts and collapsing structures. To ensure that dance artists can continue to create, perform, and engage in meaningful cultural dialogue, there is an urgent call for more substantial and sustainable financial support. The Day of Action underscores the vital role that dance and culture play in fostering community and democratic dialogue, emphasizing the need for political backing to sustain this essential work.

Day of Action: “Dance Creates Cohesion” is hosted by the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland, in collaboration with Bureau Ritter and JOINT ADVENTURES / NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ

Unethical Cuts in Federal Funding

The Ethics Commission of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland warns of the federal government's planned funding cuts for the independent dance scene and the resulting discrimination and power imbalances.

Many artists and cultural workers in the dance sector are already living in precarious situations. In addition to their artistic work, they often have to take on second jobs and worry about the next project commitment in order to secure their finances. The current funding guidelines are already associated with high requirements. They demand constant innovation and new ideas, so that projects cannot be repeated and can only be developed further in exceptional cases. All these structures, combined with a high level of bureaucracy, make sustainable work almost impossible at present.

The planned funding cuts and the cancellation of the budget for the Alliance of International Production Houses (Bündnis Internationale Produktionshäuser) endangers the fair practice of the dance profession and threatens the continued existence of the independent scene. A lack of financial, material and human resources not only has a direct impact on artistic quality, but also on interpersonal relationships. Fair fees, fair working hours and well-equipped teams are essential for ethical co-operation. The federal government's efforts override ethical principles (such as anti-discrimination, sensitivity to structural power imbalances and sexualised violence), which the Ethics Commission advocates.

Through this political decision, the representatives of the federal government are distancing themselves from the realities and needs of a large part of the population and excluding less privileged people from art and culture by weakening the independent cultural scene. The planned measures will structurally reinforce hierarchies and the creation and consumption of art and culture will (once again) become a privilege to which only a few have access. The independent scene is the art space that is closest to the reality of many people's lives. It picks up on political phenomena and reflects on them, creates space for debate and sometimes even triggers social movements.

The population has a right to such an offer, because only a strong independent scene represents the true diversity of our society and a strong democracy.

In order to permanently protect the independent arts, in particular dance as an art form and its performers, from discrimination and to strengthen its existence, the Ethics Commission of the DTD demands an immediate revision and correction of the cutback decisions.

The above statement has been issued by the DTD Ethics Committee on 13 August 2024.