DanceUK, the UK dance advocacy group, is relaunching its Dance Vote website or re-tasking it, whichever you prefer. It first appeared pre-election to get prospective candidates to voice their support for dance.
On this occasion the aim is to get elected muppets MPs to, once again, voice their support for dance which faces possible cuts following a central government spending review.
The website essentially enables the user to send a direct email to their local MP which, believe us when we tell you, is not as simple as it sounds if you just tried to do it through normal channels.
So far, so harmless.
On the websites front page however, under the banner “Amazing Dance Facts” (really? Ed!), Dance UK have this little nugget of information;
“The 2010 British film, ‘Streetdance 3D’ the movie, topped the UK box office when it opened, beating Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe and Disney’s summer blockbuster, Prince of Persia. Streetdance 3D took £11 million in its first 5 weeks becoming the most successful lottery funded film ever.”
Let’s cut straight to the chase here shall we. ‘Streetdance 3D’ is a bad movie. It’s a badly acted, badly written, badly made piece of crap. It’s the dance equivalent of ‘Battlefield Earth’. Only that movie wasn’t in 3D so ‘Streetdance’ is just adding insult to injury. It’s a bad film made by bad people.
Sure, taste is a subjective thing but we can all get together on a few things. The Ebola Virus is deadly, George bush is an idiot, guns are dangerous, ‘Streedance 3D’ is sh*t!
Of all the things DanceUK could highlight in the dance world for outstanding levels of choreographic craft, dancers, performances or artistic merit DanceUK chooses a film that makes ‘Flashdance’ look like ‘Rain Man’.
All the work they could have chosen and they chose that. With friends like these who the hell needs Jeremy Hunt?
Now, Lottery funding is not government funding (it is not sourced from taxes). Lottery funding under the coalition government is actually going to go up for the arts. Ostensibly to mitigate losses from direct tax payer funding. So nice own goal there DanceUK.
Also, making an argument that something is worthwhile because it made some money only serves to highlight the fact that ACE funded dance companies don’t make money. Never mind their not supposed to because that’s not why they get funded but what the hell, just add fuel to the bonfire for arts funding haters.
Even the most cursory glance around the opinion pieces and rantings of the right wing hooligans against arts funding will give you an insight into their common mantra. “If it’s meant to survive on its own, then it will!” This film and its manufacturers made money so they can stay, everything else can go.
We know what your thinking though! This risible film was provided with more than £1Million from the Film Council. So subsidy works, right? Sure, but they made a profit so they can pay the money back.
Perhaps that’s DanceUK’s big idea. ACE no longer needs to provide subsidy, they can provide loans, maybe charge interest and send in the heavies if the companies default. Of course, that would be a really stupid idea, much like mentioning this digital effluent when trying to gather support for the dance profession.
Advocating for dance? DanceUK might as well gather the entire profession in a pit and throw rocks at them all.
Stop it, would you please!