Bridge Live Arts invites Emily Hansel to lead a Community Study Hall regarding equitable dancer pay in the Bay Area. Participants in this public dialogue will be guided through prompts that encourage them to share past experiences, question norms, dream toward fair compensation models, and consider feasible steps toward implementation. Attendees are invited to witness or converse as desired. The event is free and dinner will be provided! Please RSVP so we can estimate the number of attendees, though, of course, you are also welcome to drop in!

ABOUT Community Study Halls

Community Study Halls are public conversations for dance workers to gather and connect about shared values specific to cultivating healthy, equitable, and ethical workplaces in the professional dance field. CSHs are designed to be places where dancers and people who hire dancers can speak frankly about the equitable hiring practices, working conditions they desire, and how to make them a reality. The conversations are facilitated to balance the serious issues and emotions that arise with humor, levity, and community building. Previous discussion topics include career sustainability, the emotional labor of grant writing, ownership and credit in collaborative processes, budgets that prioritize dancer pay, accountability practices, and resource sharing. Originally launched by Emily Hansel in 2023, the CSH series is about to embark on its next, new, improved iteration in 2025.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Emily Hansel is a San Francisco-based dancer, choreographer, dance teacher, arts administrator, and artist advocate. Originally from Rochester, Minnesota, Emily received their BFA in Dance from the University of South Florida. Emily has danced with SFDanceworks, Post:ballet, Christy Funsch, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, Robert Moses’ KIN, Garrett-Moulton Productions, Rebecca Fitton Projects, David Herrera Performance Company, Jennifer Perfilio, FACT/SF, and ZiRu Dance, among others. Emily has also performed in Alexandra Pirici’s Re-collection at SFMOMA and in Cunningham repertory in Signals from the West. For their choreographic work, which is centered around dismantling systems of oppression in the concert dance field, Emily has received an San Francisco Artist award from the San Francisco Arts Commission, was selected to participate in MANCC’s Forward Dialogues program, received an ODC Theater RDI Award, and was named an Individual Artist Fellow by the California Arts Council. Through their choreography, writing, speaking engagements, teaching, and other creative work, Emily advocates for healthy and equitable working conditions for dancers.

Photo Credits: Emily Hansel

Image Description: A group sits around a square white table talking. The table is scattered with paper, computers, and pens.