About
This resource has been created as a result of a large research project conducted by researchers at the University of Leeds in 2010-12. The research investigates the working conditions and experiences of dancers in the UK, through a survey of 197 dancers and follow up interviews with 35. The main findings were:
- The vast majority of dancers had made a decision to do dancing/stripping as a flexible, relatively high earning (although unpredictable), cash-in-hand form of work.
- Most women felt safe in their workplace due to security and door personnel, however, there was some reports of rude customers, verbal harassment & unwanted touching . Of 133 dancers who responded 51.8% had received verbal harassment or unwanted touching, 9.7% lots of times, 42% a few times, 27% not very much & 17.2% hardly ever.
- There was no evidence of organised prostitution or trafficking / forced involvement, although some migrant workers were paying out a lot for accommodation and organisation of their work.
- Most dancers were concerned about the high fees, commissions and fines they were paying to the management; especially on occasions when they were taking relatively little money home. 70% of respondents said they had left a shift without earning any money (due to what they had to pay out).
- There was overall concern amongst dancers that their welfare and working conditions were not being taken seriously by the new legislation relating to licensing but rather assumptions were being made about exploitation and the community’s views were favoured against dancers.
For further information about the research project you can see the Initial findings (April 2011) and Visual Summary Findings at: http://www.sociology.leeds.ac.uk/research/projects/regulatory-dance.php