Collaboration - Final Thoughts

Collaboration - Final Thoughts

To round up the collaboration module I thought I would write a post about my final thoughts on collaboration as a field.

It would seem generally that collaboration in dance and the performing arts, (and indeed any collaboration) usually focuses on the 'most important' people that are working on a project. For example, the two dancers that are working together or the dancer working with an artist, choreographer or designer.

When in actual fact many other people are collaborating on that project with them. But due to the hierarchical nature of such projects, the other professionals that are working on the piece may not be credited to the same standard that the 'main collaborators' are.

I've touched upon this in my former blog posts, but this ideal is prevalent in every collaborative field imaginable not just dance or the arts. This is, come to think of it, why credits exist in creative sectors to list the names of the people who contributed to a project. Of course with the 'most important' people at the top.

So to conclude, whilst credit may be given where credit is due, this credit isn't always given equally now I could argue a number of points as to why this is. Maybe the people at the top of the list worked harder, more hours, bring more to the table. Or maybe society has compelled every industry in the world to create a structure that works to identify the most notable person(s) in a team for their own hierarchical and strategical use, further adding to the (often) toxic environment of these industries. I'll let you decide.

So next time you watch a performance, or a film, or go to an event or a restaurant give a second thought to all the people responsible for that experience. There are surely more than you think.