May I have this dance? Dance participation and attendance in Denmark

ABSTRACT

Although dancing is considered to be an important arts form, and is associated with various positive externalities, our understanding of the profiles of dancers and dance audiences are limited. We address the gap in the literature by exploiting survey data on cultural preferences and habits in Denmark for 2004. Our approach has allowed us to identify the socio-economic background of dancers, as well as their involvement in other cultural activities. Among other factors, we note that dancers are more frequent attendees at dance performances, than non-dancers; that they have typically lower incomes and tend to read more, play more video games and visit art exhibits more often. We are further able to separate the sample of dancers in relation to various types of dance practised, allowing us to provide insights on the differences between them.

KEYWORDS:

• Dance
• cultural preferences
• welfare
• competitiveness

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• Z11
• Z20
• A12
• I31

Notes

1. See Montgomery and Robinson (2003) for an analysis of earnings and work conditions of dancers, where it is shown that the returns to dance are small and that many dancers have a second job to increase their income. The shortage of jobs and low incomes of dancers and the lack of funding available to dance companies, as well as their dependence on the state of the economy have been also discussed by Janaki (2012), Hagoort (2003) and Tobias (2004).

2. According to the World Happiness Report (2013), Denmark is ranked first in terms of overall well-being. The Legatum Prosperity Index ranked Denmark second in 2013 in prosperity and this is for the fourth consecutive year (Forbes, 2013).

3. There exist an interdisciplinary range of studies focusing on the presentation of descriptive studies dedicated to a specific type of dance or a specific topic related to dance. Villella (1994) describes the evolution of classical and folk dance. The modernity of choreographies in East Asia is described by Colome (2005), Swartz (2007) looks at championships in highland dance and Pilcher (2012) describes the issues related to erotic dance.

4. See Bochenek (2013) for a broader analysis of folk dancers, involving 259 individuals in 12 countries across the world.