Y.E.S. spells....yes?
During the methodology aspect of my research for my inquiry, I came across an idea within the article ‘Survey Research’ by Jon A. Krosnick that caught my attention, that of acquiescence. Within the article, Krosnick discusses how respondents answer surveys and interview questions within a variety of different scenarios and structures, and he touched upon the importance of acquiescence amongst respondents, gauging that people responding to surveys and interview questions feel an innate need to agree with the supposed stance of the interviewer/survey creator. This need is supposedly exacerbated when the interviewer/survey creator is perceived to be of higher social status, as illustrated below,
“When researchers and interviewers are perceived as being of higher social status, respondents may defer to them out of courtesy and respect, yielding a tendency to endorse assertions apparently made by the researchers and/or interviewers (Carr 1971, Lenski and & Legget 1960)” (J. Krosnick, pg 553)
I not only found this concept fascinating in the realm of qualitative research, but also as its own phenomenon within professional dance practice. Throughout my training, one of the key indicators of a ‘successful dancer’ was the habit of agreeing to teachers’ and choreographers’ demands, and following their instructions without question. I wholeheartedly agree that as a dancer you must be respectful to other people, especially those that are investing their time and energy into helping you develop as an artist, but at what point does this expectation of constant acquiescence become dangerous? Unhealthy power dynamics have unfortunately always existed in a world with multiple hopefuls and few viable job opportunities, and this expectation only serves to heighten this issue. I also feel this idea feeds the narrative that dancers that disagree with a director or choreographer and express their opinion are ‘difficult’ and ‘unprofessional’, a damning label in an insular industry where employment is scarce.
The concept of power imbalance within the arts exists on multiple different levels. The first and most obvious is the teacher/student relationship. Then in the professional world the dancer/choreographer or dancer/director relationship. Finally, the general unbalanced power dynamic between the arts and the government/sponsors. The arts cannot function without investment, whether that be from the government or from individuals. Another article I read also expressed this reality, whilst describing how the concept of ‘Sponsor A Dancer’ within the context of the Royal New Zealand Ballet can reinforce this dangerous dynamic.
“However, what ‘partner’ or ‘sponsor a dancer’ (another opportunity to financially support the dancers) suggests is that the dancers….are commodities to be bought and sold as a means of generating income for the RNZB” (A. Nairn, M. Guinibert, pg 4)
These unhealthy power dynamics all tie into my inquiry topic surrounding the attitude towards personal finance within the contemporary dance world. Now I wish to keep exploring these ideas further, particularly in terms of the view of the arts in society in general, and how artists have had to fight (especially over the last year), to prove their worth and thus right to be paid and supported adequately.
Krosnick Jon A., Survey Research, Psychology Annual Review 1999 50:537-67
Carr LG. 1971. The srole items and acquiescence. Am. Sociol. Rev. 36:287–93
Lenski GE, Leggett JC. 1960. Caste, class, and deference in the research interview. Am. J. Sociol. 65:463–67
Nairn A, Guinibert M. A dance of excellence, accessibility, money and national identity: A discourse analysis of the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s website. Int J Nonprofit Volunt Sect Mark, 2020;25:e1671
Hi Alys,
ReplyDeleteReally interesting blog, I love how you took the acquiescence dynamic in interviews and related this to multiple areas of the industry.
In terms of the interviews I think this is interesting as we spend a lot of time thinking about our own reflexivity and making non-leading, unbiased, open-ended questions so that we don't influence the participant or lead them to agree (not that we've done this yet!) but I wonder if the social dynamic between interviewer and interviewee positions the latter and determines their approach and mindset, potentially subconsciously. For example, if I was to interview an experienced and well-established teacher/choreographer, there's a good chance they won't be concerned about catering to my opinion because they've got years on me and opinions they're happy to share and/or defend from experience, but were I to interview a younger dancer or even a peer, they would perhaps be more concerned about collaborative opinion and giving the 'right' answer, which presumably would be that of the interviewer.
Power imbalances are arguably dangerously rife in the industry and I think the idea of dancers being 'disposable' because of dancer to job ratio devalues them and leads to some of the financial problems you're looking into. In some ways this is like economic inflation - if there are hundreds of dancers then the individual dancer (the currency) becomes less valuable than if there were only a handful of dancers per position (gross product).
Looking forward to your next blog!
Roanne x
Hi Roanne,
DeleteThank you so much for your comment. Yes I feel that the power imbalances within the industry also may influence how we ourselves might interview certain people. You made the point of how a more 'established' interviewee perhaps wouldn't display the same level of acquiescence as a dancer of a similar or lower status, but perhaps we as interviewers might become less assertive in our approach whilst interviewing someone of higher status? I also love how you equated the surplus of dancers to economic inflation, it's a depressingly accurate comparison hahaha.
Alys
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Hi Alys, such an interesting blog! I love how you have related this article about research into your professional practice. I have been looking into the teacher/student relationship in dance for my inquiry and the theme of 'power' and 'authoritarianism' have popped up many times throughout my research so far. I find it crazy that in this day and age many superiors still adopt this way of leadership. I even read a couple of scholars have challenged this in dance education, however many students struggled to adapt to this. Also, I have read about the dancer being an 'instrument' rather than an artist. This suggests so much about how dancers perceive themselves in the industry, but I wonder why? Thank you for sharing, I will have a look at these articles x
ReplyDeleteHi Alice,
DeleteThanks for your comment. Yes I feel unhealthy power dynamics are rife within the dance world, as you will have found in your research. I think there needs to be a huge cultural shift in order to make a change, since many famous choreographers and teachers were trained this way and hence see no need to change their approach, despite the fact that all they are really doing in my opinion is projecting their trauma onto future generations. Best of luck with your research, I look forward to reading your blogs about it!
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