The Eight Letter Word

Once in a lifetime chance to showcase your work on television. Show your choreography to the world. Inspire others with your unique dance style.

This gig does not pay, but is a great opportunity for EXPOSURE.

Since when did “exposure” become a bad word? A word that dancers used to live for, jump at the chance for, is now a red flag that is a euphemism for “no pay.” I’ve only recently noticed this phenomenon, as companies, television stations and other corporate entities are constantly utilizing the word to attract dancers like moths to a lightbulb, without offering any other incentives that people in other industries would demand to see before agreeing to anything - like pay or some type of royalties.

I’m seeing this more and more, and it’s a little annoying. Sure, exposure is still a good thing, and dancers should still look for opportunities to gain the attention of a wider audience. But as our community has gained the attention of mainstream media as popular as MTV, many people are getting taken advantage of by people offering “exposure” in exchange for the ability for those media outlets to basically use those dancers’ work and choreography for free.

This isn’t a message to dancers to tell you that you should never do any work for free, or that you should never work for anyone that is offering “exposure.” It is only a word of caution - exposure could be a great word for someone’s career, or it could just be something to hide the reality of another word . . . “exploitation.” We’re talented, hard-working and hungry, and we shouldn’t have to let others capitalize off of us. Just take a second to think about who is benefitting off of your talent.

This is a message to all of the people looking to turn a profit on a community that we live and breathe, a community that we’ve worked hard for years just to build, a community that is one of the closest and tight-knit that you will find out of any professional or non-professional group. Dancers aren’t stupid. Give us what we deserve and we’ll continue to give you our talent and hard work. You won’t be disappointed.