I recently stepped outside my world of dance and into the theatre of politics as part of a Rayne Foundation fellowship. These fellowships were set up to support and encourage choreographers to connect more with society and engage with people they wouldn't normally deal with. I'm a political choreographer. My show Asylum was created from research with asylum seekers and refugees, and The Wild Party is a comment on our binge-drinking, celebrity-obsessed culture as we sit on the edge of environmental meltdown. I thought I'd see how a week in Westminster, observing the inner workings of parliament, would affect my opinions.
One of my secondments led me to prime minister's question time, which was theatre in its purest, most brutal form - a show of masks in a battle of survival, a transfixing mixture of horror and excitement. Another placement was with shadow culture minister Ed Vaizey, who I followed as he visited arts organisations. Ed had recently written a Guardian article questioning the assumption that all art is leftwing, arguing that artists such as Damian Hirst are entrepreneurs and the epitome of rightwing, capitalistic thinking.
Politics affects the lives of all artists, as we struggle to survive independently or though subsidy which is prone to change as governments shift priorities. Should we be striving to make political work, or should we be in fear of politics coming between us and the purity of our work? You only have to look at how the Soviets and the Nazis used art in political messages to see that art lost out! When artists had to use a symbolic language in postwar Poland, what resulted was an explosion of new form and diverse creativity, as they were unable to speak freely against a totalitarian regime. Maybe we have too much freedom today to bother saying anything useful about society. Artists would rather use themselves as material and try and make money.
Picasso said that it is the role of the artist to constantly see into the future, to subvert all taboos, morals and religions in every possible way. Otherwise society wins. By turning us all into entrepreneurs, touting our work to survive, have we been castrated by the capitalistic system? By joining the economy, have artists abandoned the role of visionary?
All forms of government want to harness the energy of the arts and create a national PR for the state. Now companies are investing in the arts to say, "Look at us - we are forward thinking businesses that value more that just money." But what is the result? That the arts have become the ultimate luxury goods - to be worn in the foyers of huge corporate offices? Have artists become little more than celebrity branded high heels?
Perhaps dance is positioned uniquely in this argument - we do not create something that can be hung on a wall. Maybe dance artists are truly the last hippies? I feel proud to belong to a group of people who value hard work, honesty and dignity above fame and money. Dance truly is an art form that can transcend the everyday, while being rooted in a technique and daily grind that humbles every person working in it. Our economy has changed from manufacturing-based to service-based and is now becoming an ideas-based industry. The artist will soon be vital to forward-thinking economies. To be political today is to watch the climate of the future, protect our right to create, live outside of purely financial ambitions and be aware that we can change people's beliefs from the inside out.
Maybe the arts should not try to be too political, but strive to be true to the artist and the times they are living in. Arts should have a goal of excellence, true innovation and clarity of thought. They should also seek to point out to others what perhaps cannot be seen in the melee of daily life. After my week in Westminster, I postponed dreams of joining politics, and was very happy to get back to my studio. This is one artist who might want to stay in her ivory tower after all...
