Hollywood Progressive

Progressive Activism in Entertainment, Sports, Celebrity Lives

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Authors
  • Contact Us
  • Film
  • Stage
  • Music
  • Television
  • Celebrities

Dancers’ Alliance Launches Massive Campaign to Unionize Tours

By Jackie Tortora

What’s choreographer Marty Kudelka’s favorite part of being on tour? He doesn’t have to make his bed every morning.

Kudelka, who has worked with Mariah Carey and Justin Timberlake, is part of a group of performers, including singers, dancers and choreographers, who regularly tour with big name acts as part of their jobs. While many performers have a voice on the job when they work in music videos or on TV and film, they do not have the union contract for their tour work. This affects everything, from access to health insurance to retirement benefits and safety on the job.

dancer tweetThis is why the Dancers’ Alliance and SAG-AFTRA, which won a groundbreaking union contract for music video dancers last year, is launching a campaign to make sure tour performers also have a union contract when they step on the tour bus.

In a kickoff event last night, more than 500 dancers, singers and choreographers came together to spread awareness about the campaign and began tweeting to Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry to support their fight for a voice on tours. The event also featured a performance by Dorian Holley and the tour dancers for Justin Bieber.

jackie tortora“I think a contract for future performers would mean protection, would mean security, it would mean stability,” said Stevvi Alexander, a singer who has worked with Britney Spears, Sheryl Crow and the Roots. “It would mean that you can give yourself completely to your career and not worry that you’re going to be flailing in the wind as you get older.”

Jackie Tortora
AFL-CIO, Labor’s Edge

Thursday, 15 August

Posted on August 16, 2013

About Jackie Tortora

Jackie Tortora the blog editor and social media manager at the AFL-CIO. Interviewing union musicians was her introduction to the labor movement.



Most Recent Articles

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Queer Eye for the Cinefile: How Enlightened Was the Enlightenment?

Ed Rampell: popcorn munchers at the local multiplex used to superheroes, explosions and car chases would likely find this 2-hour foreign film subtitled in English to be excruciatingly slow – only “redeemed” by its hot lesbian sex scenes.

Crime and Punishment and Art Therapy

Ed Rampell: Miroshnichenko’s camera coldly but compassionately reveals the bleak realities of daily life for the inmates, who often wear drab brown skirts, black tights, prison boots and blue winter jackets to protect them from the cold.

Subscribe to HollyPro

* indicates required

Recent Posts

  • Queer Eye for the Cinefile: How Enlightened Was the Enlightenment?
  • Crime and Punishment and Art Therapy
  • Why the Hat Got Shot
  • August Wilson’s ‘Jitney’ Set in Pittsburgh’s ‘Urban Removal’ Era
  • The Tumultuous Life of Fyodor Dostoevsky




Categories

Copyright © 2019 · Dick Price and Sharon Kyle · Log in