The word “design” implies both planning and execution.

Many people think lighting design is created in the technical rehearsal. This is not so. Others see the myriad pieces of arcane drawings and paperwork that surround the professional designer and think that they constitute the design. Again, not so.

The lighting design is created in the designer’s head over the course of several weeks before the production loads into the theater. Read on for a perspective on working with lighting designers.

[Read more →]

Selecting new choreographers for a program or a season seems a straightforward enough process at first glance. Read on to find out how artistic directors seek out new works for their companies sifting the choreographic gold from the dross. 

[Read more →]

With Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest, today there are so so many social networking options, why add one more to your over-flowing to-do list? Renowned dance photographer Christopher Duggan explains why Instagram can be a fun marketing tool and offers up some tips, too.

[Read more →]

The artist residency is a venue that offers artists creative, generative time away from their normal place of work; a space in which the creation can follow inspiration, rather than an imposed schedule. The opportunity to change one’s environment, have dedicated creative time, and invest in process is, in my view, becoming increasingly critical in our field of multitasking artist/administrators.

[Read more →]

Music licensing can feel like scary stuff. If you’re anything like me, an artist by nature and nurture who has honed arts-business skills through my own entrepreneurial efforts, then you probably get that panicked, semi-nauseated feeling at the mere mention of “legal responsibility.” However, I’ve learned is that licensing music for dance isn’t actually complicated at all.

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

It’s been said that the university ranks as one of the chief supporters of the arts in the United States. With the migration of more and more working choreographers into university environments, it’s clear that artists are able to continue to create both inside and outside of these institutions. While the halls of academia offer some distinct advantages, most particularly to oft-itinerant and nearly always-struggling dance artists, other challenges and demands can sap their time and energy in their new environment.

[Read more →]

It has often been remarked that “Europe breeds artistry,” and that, to a certain extent, European dancers have an edge compared to their American counterparts. In defense of the American dancers, it is noted that they possess grit, tenacity, and a hunger that exceeds that of some of their European equivalents, yet the elusive artistic core lags or appears untapped in our culture. Certainly the environment of Europe provides a cultural banquet to nourish artistic growth, but does the European approach to training dancers incorporate more diversity, which in turn can contribute to greater creative growth? If so, can American dance schools fashion strategies based on this assumption?

[Read more →]

Dancing is an art that takes a lifetime to perfect – and just a moment to lose. In fact, more than 80 percent of dancers experience injury during their careers, with some grave enough to end an individual’s role as a dancer forever.
It is these numbers that make those behind the stage question what steps need to be taken to improve the dance floor – the integral component of a dance environment – to protect the welfare of performers and ensure they have long, healthy careers ahead.

[Read more →]