THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL POLICY ON THE GOALS AND PROGRAMS OF THE DUTCH NATIONAL BALLET, INTRODANS AND SCAPINO BALLET ROTTERDAM

“The everyday task now is to set priorities” (Burggrave, 2014). This citation is the key word when you talk about dance companies and their productions. In the past ten years major cutbacks on the performing arts sector were announced, due to the worldwide economic crisis. What exactly was the content of these announcements, what has actually be implemented in the performing arts sector and most important: in which way have these announcements influenced the dance sector of The Netherlands? The goal of this research is to search for an answer to these questions. The Dutch national subsidized dance companies will therefore be researched. Business employees of the back office already say they suffer from the cutback on subsidy by having to do the same amount of work in less working hours. It is possible that the same goes for the people on the artistic side of the dance companies. Is the result that there is a change in style of dance, are there more revivals to shorten rehearsal periods or are the production periods of performing on stage shortened? These are some of the characteristics that will be searched for in the programming of the dance companies of about the past six years and the years up to 2015. The regulations of the government will be taken into account to see if the dance companies execute what they are asked for, although this might differ from their original mission/vision. It will become clear whether the dance companies still work for their original artistic goal or that they may have changed to a more market oriented goal. The research is about the influence of changed cultural policy, as a result of the economic crisis, on the programmatic choices of the dance companies. Have the goals of the different dance companies of The Netherlands been changed?