What does sustainability look like in the making and presenting of professional concert dance? We turned to Dance Exchange for some sustainable practices to consider.

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The Child's Bill of Rights in Dance requests equal access and opportunity for all persons in the United States regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status, interest or ability. Dr. Radi Shafie recently posted a petition on the White House website seeking 100,000 signatures to support the bill of rights. Read on to learn more.

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Twenty Dance/USA members receive nearly $1 million to support innovative audience engagement activities that will serve as best-practices models for the field. Read on for details of the grant recipients.

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As a teenager I was reluctant to openly study hip-hop dance although I loved the music, like much of my generation, because I had a vague fear I might be “stealing” it. It took a lot of pain and discomfort from many areas of my dance training to realize that no matter what my focus was going to be, racism was an element of so many stories in American dance history that it could not be avoided – and that ignoring it would not make it go away. It might make it worse.

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Does concert dance happen in a concert hall? Master Juba or William Henry Lane performed in theaters and halls across the United States in the mid-19th century. Does “concert dance” imply some level of professional commitment or success? Lane, a black percussive dancer, toured internationally, receiving top billing over his all-white minstrel troupe. Does “concert dance” suggest some level of peer review or development of craft? Percussive dancer Emily Oleson ponders these issues and others. Read on.

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Join Dance/USA and From the Green Room in an online discussion on the state of the field. Here is where the discussion to implement change and share new ideas, models, methods or practices that can help us acclimate to this shift in the field. What do we want: stability, job opportunities, long-term contracts, insurance? We look forward to your fruitful and productive contributions to this conversation.

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An artist-centered sharing of culture and creativity is a practice embraced by many choreographers; serving an essential purpose in fortifying artistic inspiration and creative explorations, stimulating the artistic journey from the studio to the stage.

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Increasingly, community outreach is just the tip of the iceberg for some dance companies, and artists and social justice organizations are finding mutual benefits to deeper and more prolonged partnerships. That deliberate choice of engagement, as opposed to outreach, seeks to erase some of the traditional hierarchies between dancers and community members.

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Why is it that, often, when I read choreographers’ biographies in performance program notes, I can’t find any information about their artistic evolution: who they studied or danced with, who was their mentor, or who inspired them to become a dance maker? I miss learning about dance artists’ choreographic development.

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Someone should choreograph a dance about the sweeping importance of social media and the ups and downs of trying to manage a social media presence. No sooner does an arts organization begin to use “the next best thing” when something new, shinier, and sexier takes its place.     

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