Upping the Ante on Writing About Dance
Good dance writing informs potential audiences
about interesting dance in their midst, helps acquaint presenters and
funders with artists’ output to frame artists’ work within a wider
cultural, artistic and socio-political context. With shrinking space for dance coverage at traditional media outlets, new forms are taking hold. Learn how a collaborative community-based effort to publish high-quality dance writing is taking hold in one city. Lisa Kraus, founder of thINKing Dance, reports.
Ten Steps To Enhancing Dance Writing in Your Community
Want to jump-start dance writing opportunities in your city or region? Check out these 10 tips from founder of thINKing Dance in Philadelphia.
Dance and Computer Gaming
Dancer, choreographer, and assistant professor of computer game design at George Mason University Boris Willis explores the relationship between game design and modern dance choreography. Learn about how the principles that make good choreography are the same as those that make good video games. A game of PacMan will never be the same.
Building Diversity in Ballet: Black Swans Are Still Too Rare
In America, with the exception of a few male dancers, our ballet companies remain unrelievedly white.
Search Engines:
Hiring a new artistic director can be a daunting task especially if your
organization has had little or no experience in doing so. Where to
begin? Who to involve in the hiring process? What steps to take? These
were some of the questions facing Pennsylvania Ballet, BalletMet
Columbus, and Ballet San Jose recently when they went through the lengthy
process of examining and defining company goals in order to lay the
groundwork for an artistic director’s search. Read on to learn more.
Simple Gifts: The Spirit of Sharing
Thanksgiving is almost upon us, and you know what that means. It means that we are in the
homestretch of the Dance/USA Institute for Leadership Training (DILT)
mentorship program. In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share with
you the gifts for which I am most thankful.
World Ballet Day and Sustainable Audiences:
October 1, 2014, was a big day for the dance field. Around the world,
five of the world’s best ballet companies joined together for a full day
of behind-the-scenes live streaming on YouTube featuring rehearsals,
interviews and company class. On the same day, the Wallace Foundation
announced a six-year, $40 million initiative to support building
audiences for sustainability. While I wondered if the planners of the
two events were each aware of the other, I also found myself staring at
the negative space between the two and wondering if anyone else noticed
the solution to be found within. Combine these two events with
Dance/USA’s recently announced “Call for Questions” for next year’s
conference and I figured it would be as good a time as any to posit a
few questions that I know are seldom asked (or answered properly) across
the arts community.
2014 Legislative Forecast
For the first time in a few years, this fall update is not as dire as it has been. Funding proposals for the National Endowment for the Arts are relatively stable and there is no looming fiscal cliff. However, that doesn’t mean that we should take a break on our advocacy. This is a key time to educate our lawmakers about the issues that impact dance and the performing arts as an integral part of moving the needle on policy and legislation. Read on for more on how to do this.
Everybody Knows This Is Now Here:
The Mountain Empire Performance Collective explores ways
of making work beyond geographic limitations. Utilizing both
traditional and contemporary methods of communication, including video chats, telephone calls, letter writing, emails, and
traditional methods of working together face to face, they make works that test the limits of communication and technology. Read Eliza Larson and Rachel Rugh in a collaborative piece that replicates in written form how they choreographically merge ideas and movements across the country. Technology, initially a
means to an end, has become an integral part of the choreography, both in
process and in performance. Read how they do it here.
Generosity in the Land of Ballet
Stephen Manes spent a year at Pacific Northwest Ballet researching his 2011 book, Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet. He recently summarized one aspect of his findings in this holiday post, which we return to in this season of giving.