Choreographers create original, artistic work using their own and other dancers' bodies, and should be recognised as artists when it comes to paying tax, argues Yvonne O'Reilly

Heard the one about the smiling politician and the sad choreographer?

"Why so happy?" asks the dance artist.

"Tax-free earnings on my memoirs. The Minister thinks my book, My Turn at the Parish Pump, has such great artistic merit, he has told the Collector General to lay off."

"Sounds great, what do I have to do?"

"Not much - run home and get your body of work and bring it in to the Minister."

"You're looking at it - see, it's me. I always carry my body of work with me. I can't leave home without it."

"Get real! The minister won't fall for that one. Your body has no artistic merit whatsoever."

Is the possibility of such an exchange consigned to the days of Halls Pictorial Weekly or could it happen in the modern artistically-confident Ireland?

The Ministers for Arts and Finance are to be congratulated for maintaining the Artists' Tax Exemption Scheme. This ensures continuance of a mechanism proven to enhance artistic output at home and enhance Irish profile and earnings abroad.

Two ministers and two worlds in perfect harmony, then? Not so fast, however, as one sector that has done so much to evangelise for Irish art and cultural enterprise throughout the world has been scorned in this latest review of the exemption scheme.

The lords and the ladies of the dance, alas, are still the little people when it comes to being recognised as producing work of "creative merit".

It is time to ask why? Just as rock bands are recognised as doing two separate tasks (composition and performance), so should choreographers. Naturally, the demand is that tax-free earnings would apply only to the former.

Choreographers create an original and artistic work using their own body or the bodies of dancers working with them. Obviously it is not possible to submit their creative work to the Revenue Commissioners in the form currently demanded like a book or painting. Still, proof in the form of a production contract and a video of the work is possible.

Established in 1989, the Association of Professional Dancers in Ireland (APDI) promotes, encourages and celebrates dance as a

vibrant art form. We support and resource the professional education, practice and career development of choreographers and dancers. We liaise with and lobby Government, local authorities and the Arts Council on dance and choreography issues.

APDI estimates that there are 45 professional choreographers working and living on a part- or full-time basis in Ireland. Their annual income from choreography is between €1,000 and €25,000. Half of them earn less than €10,000.

Dance and choreography have contributed to the Irish tourism, music and cultural industries in enormous, if unmeasured, ways over the past decade. It is no exaggeration to say that they have been the channel through which new people on five continents have been introduced to Ireland. Through this creative medium, new markets have been opened up to cultural and tourism entrepreneurs.

With the opening of the new national dance centre, DanceHouse, and its four floors of studios in Dublin this year, Ireland is poised for a new era of dance creation. Audiences at home and abroad will cherish the resultant works for what they are - creative Irish art.

Since last year, Aosdána has deemed choreographers eligible for election to that body. There is therefore an ironic anomaly that choreographers will be eligible for the "cnuas" that is tax free under the exemption, but they are not considered as artists under the guidelines for the same exemption. Some choreography obviously needed in government thinking! It's time to define dance composition and choreography as creative activities and recognise them as such in the tax code. Let's line up the Departments of Finance and Arts, Sport & Tourism, the Revenue Commissioners, the Arts Council, Culture Ireland, Aosdána and the APDI behind a single policy position.

This will eliminate confusion and unleash new works of merit that audiences will savour long after they've marvelled at the tax-defying creativity on offer in My Turn at the Parish Pump.

Yvonne O'Reilly is managing director of the APDI