12/10/2020
Fatima has worked for years to get to where she is as a performer. Fatima has had countless lessons, injuries, bloodied feet from her pointe shoes and many days of exhaustion to get to where she is. Fatima has entertained hundreds, probably even thousands of people with her talent and art. Fatima feels her soul on fire every time she dances. Fatima cannot put into words the joy that dancing brings to her life. Fatima has provided inspiration to a number of young boys and girls. Fatima brings light, happiness and expression to the world through her dancing. Fatima has done more than enough training. Fatima does not need to retrain. For Fatima there is no 'next job'. Dancing is her whole life. Fatima and others like her are necessary and should be appreciated.
To all of our fellows artists, performers and musicians we salute you and we stand with you. Don't let the bastards get you down. We do not need to retrain. What we need is for the government to recognise the massive contribution that the performing arts has made to everything from the economy to mental health and helping people survive lockdown and covid to rehabilitating prisoners and helping children from deprived areas.
The arts are not a luxury, they are a necessity.
Oh and next time you tell a whole group of people to retrain probably best not to use two people from that group (dancer and photographer) to get your idiotic message across, you complete and utter t**t biscuits 🙃
