The Dance Working Group

The Dance Working Group is a coalition of national dance service organizations created in 2003 after identifying the need on the part of dance service providers to exchange information and experiences and to achieve greater clarity, coordination and communication among organizations with national initiatives in dance creation and presenting.

2008 Dance Working Group - Open Forum
51st Annual Arts Presenters Conference
Friday, January 11, 2008
9:00am – 12:00pm
Hilton Hotel

Curating Dance: Ideas and Innovations
The Dance Working Group (DWG) will host an Open Forum on the somewhat perplexing subject of CURATING DANCE. Artists, companies, peer mentor networks and presenters all engage in a challenging process when curating a dance season that can strongly impact audiences and communities.

Some of the topics to be discussed include:
• Overviews of diverse curatorial criteria and practices
• Risk, in terms of content, and how it shapes programming
• Responding to world situations through dance curatorship
• Curatorial influence on how dance is contextual in community
• Strengthening the artist/presenter relationship
• Factoring practical considerations into the curation process

Program
• Introductions, Announcements
• Panel Discussion - Moderated by Kim Konikow - artservices & company, Consulting for the Arts, UT
panelists include:
- Kenneth J. Foster - Executive Director, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco CA
- Ellis Finger - Director of the Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, Easton, PA
- Renee Williams - Director of Dance Presentations, Music Center, Los Angeles CA
- John Jasperse - Artistic Director, John Jasperse Company, New York NY
- Kathy Casey ­ Artistic Director, Montréal Danse, Montreal QC Canada
- Ronald K. Brown ­ Artistic Director, Evidence, Brooklyn NY
- Zoe Scofield ­ Independent Choreographer, Seattle WA
- Sixto Wagan - Co-Executive Director/Performing Arts Curator, DiverseWorks, Houston TX
• Participant Questions, Responses
• Wrap-up

Over the past few years, the Forum has highlighted challenges to presenting dance, trends in the field, individual donor-building, and attitudes about American dance from an international perspective. This January’s Forum will be no less provocative and certainly inspiring. Everyone is welcome.

The DWG participants include:
Association of Performing Arts Presenters
Dance/USA
Dance Theater Workshop
Creative Capital
International Association of Blacks in Dance
National Performance Network
The Field
New York Foundation for the Arts
National Dance Project/New England Foundation for the Arts
Leveraging Investments in Creativity
International Tap Association
The Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC)

International Views about American Dance
Notes from the 2007 Open Forum

Intro from Andrea Snyder

For the last three years, the Dance Working Group (DWG) has hosted an Open Dance Forum just prior to the start of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Annual Booking Conference. The first year’s theme was focused on artist/presenter relationships. The second year incorporated one panel looking at trends in dance and a second panel offering models for fundraising. This year, the DWG determined that international cultural exchange was a “hot” topic, and in particular, perspectives about American dance from international colleagues. Given Dance/USA’s role as an umbrella for American artists, presenters and managers at the International Tanzmesse in Germany and an advocate for the dance field, I was happy to organize and facilitate this three hour conversation. Carolelinda Dickey, performing arts strategist and liaison to the Tanzmesse, graciously accepted my request to help design the content and moderate the discussion. She communicated with each of the speakers in advance and prepared them with a set of questions to consider for their remarks.

The invited international guests included:

• Cees de Bever, director for performing arts, Consulate General of The Netherlands;
• Mayumi Nagatoshi, president, An Creative Inc., Tokyo, Japan;
• Jennifer Barry, director and producer, Keep Breathing Pty, Ltd., North Melbourne, Australia;
• Michael Staub, program officer, Dance Section, Canada Council for the Arts

Below are three varied reports for your benefit and appreciation of the dialogue; each will download as a pdf:
• Cees de Bever agreed to share his prepared remarks and those of Simon Dove, artistic director of the international, contemporary dance festival, Springdance;
• Bob Yesselman, former director of Dance/NYC, shared his perspective with his constituents;
• Felicitas Willems, international tour coordinator and booking manager from Rena Shagan Associates, captured the highlights of the conversation and offered her views.

The Forum discussion was rich, provocative, respectful and honest. Folks who attended took away a lot of information; the dialogue resonated deeply and continued to reverberate through the halls of the conference for days after. No doubt, there is plenty of food for thought, and hopefully for future action.