Dancers need places to live offstage

Compared with income levels of other artists, dancers’ salaries rank near the bottom, according to reports published by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The median income for full-time dancers between 2005-2009 (the most recent data available) was $27,392, but less than one-third of all dancers and choreographers fall into that category, the NEA reports.

On such income, it’s hard for dancers to find decent housing in a city like Los Angeles. Not surprisingly, Ashley Hoffman, Chisa Yamaguchi and Michael Butler all have roommates.

Lula Washington Dance Theatre is trying to tackle the problem head on. The Los Angeles dance company owns a vacant lot on South Leimert Boulevard, near the troupe’s studios. Its executive director, Erwin Washington (Lula’s husband), is trying to raise $1.5 million to erect a building with 10 one-bedroom apartments for dancers.

In the meantime, he and Lula sometimes invite guest artists to stay with them for short periods. And after his mother passed away a year ago, Washington rented her house, his childhood home in South-Central, to three company dancers.

“We pay utilities, and we furnished the house. The [dancers’] rent gets deducted from shows that we do,” he said, adding that if the company is on temporary layoff and the dancers have not been paid for a while, he will put off collecting rent.

“We’ve lost a lot of dancers because they couldn’t afford to live [in Los Angeles].”

— Laura Bleiberg