It is undeniable that the Super Bowl It is probably the sporting event par excellence, because it encompasses from the inherent aspect of competition for the NFL title, the paraphernalia, the great window for advertisers to launch their most pompous commercials of the year and, of course, the always mentioned and expected halftime show.
And it is on this aspect that we will try to shed a little light, noting that through recent complaints they note that the highly visible and highly anticipated halftime show has huge areas of opportunity, considering that the good will and the economic contribution could help settle the differences.
While millions of people will watch the Super Bowl LVI halftime show on television with a lineup of fancy rappers, like Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Dr. Dre y Kendrick Lamar, what you won’t be able to see will be what happens behind the scenes in the nine days before (and 72 total hours during those days) that the teams go to the locker room after the first two quarters of action and make room for the start on stage for the big show.
Dance artist and activist Taja Riley revealed in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that the cast on the field for the show, composed of aspiring dancers, actors, singers, and musicians who are recruited from local drill teams surely they could be grateful to participate in this perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but without any economic compensation.
Riley isn’t the only person who has spoken out about it.. The dancers Alyson Stoner y Heather Morris, who have participated in the musical series Glee, They have also used their social networks to make this situation visible.
However, when Riley tried to talk to Fatima Robinson, the head choreographer for the next Super Bowl halftime show, said this blocked her on Instagram by seeking to delve into the matter, especially asking for a better treatment of the talent involved with the show. This caused her disappointment, since she declared herself an admirer of his work.
“I think on a show that’s going to predominantly showcase characters, artists and symbols of African-American culture, I think this is the opportunity to really step up and do something about it,” Riley said in a video on her Instagram account. Instagram, adding the value of doing it in the middle of Black History Month.
Riley has worked as a paid dancer at halftime shows for two previous Super Bowls. and although he did not participate in this year’s auditions, feels that it is his obligation to express himself about the company Bloc LA, a famous agency that represents dancers in Los Angeles, approached them asking if they wanted to ‘volunteer’.
“This is so much bigger than the Super Bowl,” Riley told the LA Times, who is the daughter of record producer Teddy Riley and has danced alongside artists such as Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. “This is another example of the systemic problem in the dance industry where we feel like we’re being bullied into doing it for free or facing being newslettered if we speak up.”
Jana Fleishman, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Communications at Roc Nation, which is responsible for the Super Bowl halftime show, He denied, in statements to the Times, that they had asked an agency to find dancers to volunteer.
“We know firsthand the level of passion, talent, creativity, and long days of preparation that it takes to pull off a performance of this caliber, so it’s important that we address the current narrative,” Fleishman wrote.
“We completely agree that all dancers should be compensated for their craft and that is why we are employing 115 professional dancers who perform alongside the headliners. The professional dancers are completely separate from the volunteer-based, unchoreographed field cast. As in previous years, it is entirely up to the volunteer candidates to participate. Volunteers are not required to learn choreography,” adds Fleishman.
According to Robinson, the field cast has the mission of representing the people who go to a concert “to fill the space and bring energy to the artists performing on the stage we designed.” The only requirement to be hired as a volunteer is to be able to “walk and chew gum at the same time”.
Robinson stated that the call for paid dancers was made through most of the major dance agencies in Los Angeles; the 400 field cast volunteers, he said, are being recruited elsewhere.
“When a dancer comes to Los Angeles, they want every opportunity to be a part of something in Hollywood. How can they learn and experience something? Robinson said. “In the same way that people volunteer for Coachella and the Olympics: to have the experience, to be in the venue, to be at the event. The Super Bowl has been doing it every year; This year has been no different.”
The reason the 72-hour total trial is needed for volunteers, say the organizers, is due to “security issues”, that is to say that they know where the camera wires are going to be, the pyrotechnic effects in the field and so they can enter and leave on the field of play in an orderly and safe manner.
“If a dancer is sitting around waiting for a job to be done, but you can be on the field for the Super Bowl, why wouldn’t you want to do this?” Robinson said. “The last thing I want to do is take advantage of hard-working dancers.”
At a time when the fight for civil and human rights is more alive than ever, it is worth reflecting on the need to remunerate the participants in the show, no matter how small their participation is, since it is an event that in the city in which it occurs can generate an economic spill close to 600 million dollars, not counting royalties from broadcasting rights and other income around the Super Bowl.
