We have habituated our gaze toward a narrow set of proportions based on the kind of dance we watch and the expectations we bring to our viewing. Our eyes have grown lazy. We simply don’t see enough professional dance with a variety of bodies on stage. And I have interviewed numerous artistic directors in the ballet and contemporary genres over the years who claim they love all kinds of bodies.
In ballet circles, a tantalizing question has generated much excitement and speculation: Is Black Swan the new Turning Point, the 1977 film that helped to popularize ballet and ushered in the high summer of “the dance boom” when Americans seemed to fall in love with dance? Could Black Swan ignite a second great love affair between Americans and classical ballet in the 21st century?
Most organizations currently support a traditional model for upward movement, from entry-level, to mid-level, to management, to executive. But are these structures best for the field as we consider this fundamental shift in leadership?
While most students may not understand particulars of the language of dance technique, they are innately familiar with the language of technology, as it revolves around their lives far more frequently than dance.
How can dance, then, appeal to a generation accustomed to receiving astonishing images and experiences from other mediums with the click of a button or tap of a keystroke?
What does it mean to preserve an art form? It does not mean passing down the same memorized movement from one generation to the next. A traditional classical art form, which arises from a particular cultural context, in our increasingly global society must adapt and move forward, and these forms, historically, have always evolved. Just as ballet developed from the French and Italian courts, where an emphasis on subtle and refined manners gave way to more dazzling and virtuosic displays in the proscenium context, classical Indian dance, too, has evolved.
What happens when an admittedly bad dancer takes classes at the celebrated dance school?
Dance/USA, as an active member of the Performing Arts Visa Working Group, has been advocating for an improved and more reliable visa processing system. Noticeable progress has been made in processing times and visa petition adjudication, but the challenges to petitioners still abound.
At the end of every year, people everywhere are compelled by nostalgia and self-importance to register and announce their top however-many items of interest or note in whatever genre or form one could imagine their best-of lists. Few people, however, even those who write for well-moneyed, high-culture publications, ever seem to take Santa’s care with checking their lists twice. Others, indubitably, project their preferences for a certain naughtiness over anything one might consider nice, or good.
It’s 2011 and APAP – the Association for Arts Presenters booking conference – is here, which means we get to enjoy 2011 for a few days before we spend a week talking about 2012 and 2013 and, in keeping with the theme of the conference, 2021. So let’s look back, look forward and seize the decade.
