ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights some of the salient issues concerning the independent dance sector and the dancers who work within it. It deals with a review of the working context of independent dancers and discusses how independent dance practices challenge concepts of dancers as neutral messengers of the choreographic intent. The chapter explains how many dancers develop personal practices that create consistency within this unstable working environment and how these practices can enrich their contributions to the creative process. It draws on interviews with two independent dancers, Rahel Vonmoos and Henry Montes. As creative roles in dance making have evolved to become increasingly collaborative between choreographers and dancers, within the relational process, dancers are called upon to adopt various creative strategies to contribute to the work. Processes of making in dance generally unfold through non-linear and often non-linguistic modes of communication; therefore, this aspect of dancing knowledge seldom enters the academic arena of choreographic practice.
