Why Today's Dancers are Struggling

It's true: dance companies these days, and by default, dancers themselves, are struggling. They struggle economically. They struggle to find consistent work.

They also struggle with something deeper.

Recently, Free People released a video campaign for dance clothing, featuring a model who claimed she had studied dance since she was three years old.

It was painfully clear in the video that she had not. She was faking it. Her poor technique, combined with her boasts of years of training and impassioned monologue about the beauty of dance resulted in a vicious uproar against Free People by dancers throughout social media.

Gradually, the company re-launched the campaign in collaboration with a California-based dance photographer, and somewhat redeemed the Free People dance movement line.

What this story tells us isn't that Free People needs to restructure their marketing team (although this wouldn't hurt.) It tells us something important about the way American dance is seen. Why American dance? Because Free People is a very American brand. And the sentiments of the ad, following one's passion and doing what you love to do, is a thoroughly American ideal.

It tells us that dance is seen as a hobby, a lifestyle choice that anyone can take part in.

So a national community of professional dancers, most of whom have been studying dance technique since childhood, live in a society in which their work is seen as little more than a fashionable hobby.

I think that the idea that anyone can learn ballet, that Natalie Portman didn't have a stunt double in Black Swan, that any model with the right look can act as though she is a real dancer, is destructive to dance as an art form. The real dancer's work and the real dancer's commitment to the art form is therefore completely culturally irrelevant.

And here is where it becomes personal. Here is where it becomes destructive to the individual dancer.

The Free People video scandal shows us that the years of training and hard work that it takes to truly succeed in dance are not recognized by those who are not intrinsically involved in the dance community.

Today's dancers and choreographers are faced with a daunting task. We have to get people interested in dance again. We have to teach our communities how to tell the difference between a true dancer and a model who is pretending.