LOS ANGELES — Four hundred volunteers working for up to 72 hours as "field cast participants" during this weekend's Super Bowl LVI halftime show will be paid $15 per hour, according to a deal memorandum obtained Sunday by the Los Angeles Times. Treatment of these volunteers — who include aspiring dancers, actors, singers and musicians recruited from local drill teams as well as theatrical, community and athletic groups — emerged as a flashpoint in the dance community last month after dance artist and activist Taja Riley posted about the dancers' lack of payment on her Instagram page.
Riley noted that a call had gone out through prominent dance agency Bloc LA, seeking volunteers to participate as part of the field cast, which generally appears— moving and grooving — in front of the stage while the musical talent performs alongside a cast of paid dancers. Halftime choreographer Fatima Robinson told the L.A. Times that the call went out as such because she is a Bloc client; the agency wanted to find out if other clients knew people who would be interested in volunteering.
"We're not asking dancers to work as dancers for free," Robinson told the L.A. Times. "What was asked is, 'Would anyone like to volunteer for the field cast?'"
