Super Bowl Halftime Show organisers are asking professional dancers to 'volunteer' for free

The Super Bowl Halftime Show is one of the most watched and coveted performances of the year. But a recent Instagram post by Taja Riley, a veteran professional dancer and industry activist, has shed light on the show's unfair practice of hiring backup dancers as 'volunteers'

In the post, Riley succintly expressed that multiple dancers have been asked to perform for 'exposure'

As per the post and Riley's subsequent interview with Page Six, the co-ordinators of the performance have asked the dancers to sign a questionable NDA as well.

Riley has shared screenshots of the DMs received from multiple recruiters and LA’s Bloc Talent Agency, with instructions to attend mandatory rehearsals for up to nine hours a day, with no transportation provided.

They said:

“It’s not uncommon that the Super Bowl brings forth field local volunteers to be concertgoers for the Super Bowl experience just to deepen the production quality and value and the attention... but what is not common is a coordinator or production or producer reaching out to professional talent to hire them as volunteers and working them for the amount of time that they are requesting.”

The Super Bowl: Earns billions, pays peanuts

The Super Bowl is a behemoth sporting event. It is only second to the UEFA Champions League in worldwide sporting event viewership. It is the most profitable sporting event of any given year.

The Super Bowl ads are a cultural phenomenon in themselves. They occupy perhaps the most expensive ad slots in television history, and the winning corporations make their adverts a high-production affair.

The Super Bowl halftime performances themselves are a mammoth affair. They have arena-filling props and choreography arrangements. Last year, The Weeknd's performance included a recreation of the Las Vegas strip and a psychedelic Hall Of Mirrors, along with a field full of dancers, many of whom were volunteers as well.

This year alone, 115 paid dancers are touted to back the main performers, according to head choreographer Fatima Robinson - whose career history includes performances alongside Michael Jackson, Aaliyah and the Backstreet Boys.

But 400 unpaid volunteers (predominantly African-American movers among them) will also be asked to participate and rehearse, according to Riley.

Riley and fellow dancer Melany Centeno, who has danced professionally for over a decade, and who also received the messages, alleged that Robinson has a history of bringing on dancers for free. Melany even claims that she experienced it firsthand during Kanye West’s Sunday Service for Coachella in 2019.

The news is especially saddening, as the current Halftime show is set to happen during Black History Month, and has been hyped to showcase African-American culture and art through some of the biggest names in music.

Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, and Kendrick Lamar are set to headline the event this year.

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Roc Nation, the executive producers of the Super Bowl Halftime Show, made a statement:

“As Executive Producers of the Halftime Show, we know firsthand the level of passion, talent, creativity, and long days of preparation it takes to pull off a performance of this caliber and so it’s important that we address the current narrative. We completely agree that all dancers should be compensated for their craft and that is why we are employing the 115 professional dancers performing alongside the headliners.

The professional dancers are completely separate from the volunteer-based, non-choreographed field cast. As in years past, it is completely up to the volunteer candidates to participate. No one working with this show contacted an agency to request professional dancers to volunteer. Lastly, we strictly follow and adhere to all SAG-AFTRA guidelines.”

The statement contradicts the testimonies from multiple dancers, who have insisted that rehearsal spaces among professional and volunteering dancers were shared, and that the hours were similarly gruelling.

Neither the NFL nor Fatima Robinson (who has been tagged in multiple posts about the issue) have issued a comment.

That the biggest American sporting event would not pay professional dancers is a travesty indeed, and a reflection of the exploitative nature of capitalism when art is involved.