News

Announcing the AGMA Dancers Caucus and Kickoff Meeting

Published March 24, 2021   |  By Musical Artists  |  Post in All Areas

The latest AGMA member caucus to form is dedicated to Dancers.

The AGMA Dancers Caucus will serve as a forum where the Dancer members of AGMA can come together to discuss and share goals and aspirations, and lend support to fellow Dancers and other AGMA members through communicating with each other and AGMA’s elected leadership.

“As Dancers, we are expertly attuned to using our bodies to communicate, but often our voices are not always in step,” read the statement from the group’s founding members. “Our hopes as we launch the AGMA Dancers Caucus are that we can provide an important space for Dancers across AGMA signatories to connect and shape debate to better represent and promote the needs of Dancers within the industry.”

All AGMA Dancers in good standing are encouraged to add their voice to the conversation and attend the official kickoff meeting on Tuesday, April 6, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. ET. The meeting will be held over Zoom. To register, fill out this form. Registrants will receive the Zoom details in the days leading up to the meeting.

The founding group of Dancers has taken the first steps to address the unique needs and concerns of Dancers in both concert and opera dance. The Caucus serves to work toward several ongoing goals, including: 

  • Advocating within AGMA for the interests of Dancers
  • Increasing Dancer participation in the Union
  • Assisting in identifying new companies to organize
  • Increasing awareness within the Union of the needs of Dancers so that Union policy reflects those needs
  • Facilitating communication between Dancers in Dance Companies (Concert Dancers) and Opera Dancers
  • Facilitating communications between AGMA dance shops in order to identify common causes and issues and help establish and raise national standards within the industry, including stronger working conditions and health standards and increased compensation rates
  • Examining the culture of the dance industry, encouraging progressive actions initiated by our employers, and encouraging and promoting social justice, and mental and physical health
  • Providing representation and connection for AGMA Dancers who have temporarily moved out of Union represented Dance work, but who remain committed to the Union
  • Developing an audition notification system that will help inform Dancers of available positions and audition dates at AGMA signatories
  • Advocating for rational audition policies and schedules and work with the appropriate committees of the Board of Governors to develop negotiation priorities to encourage those policies

 Please email dancerscaucus@musicalartists.org with any questions or for more information!