October 31, 2006

Breaking Down Resistance to the Internet Economy

DK in his new blog, "DK Is Lighting Dance," follows-up my post about being perplexed with a story about the level of resistance some of his production seminar students have to the idea of posting dance videos on the Internet.

Doug Fox in his blog Great Dance Weblog has often offered the suggestion that choreographers video tape portions of their rehearsal and post a bit of tape on the Internet via blog and ask for feedback - click on the title of this blog to read it. I posed this exact question to my Production Seminar class which has ten MFA choreographers.

They didn't like the idea at all! I know this is a new idea, so opinions will likely shift as they consider it over time. One student is very worried someone will steal her work and her ideas. Another wonders why you wouldn't just ask another choreographer in the studio next door. The conversation got quite heated (actually we all love when this happens) with me suggesting scenarios where you might need a more sophisticated point of view, a wider band of feed back and simple self-promotion.

I've come across this type of resistance before. While I understand it, I believe it is unwarranted and distracts from the bigger picture. Yes, it is always possible that artistic work will be "stolen" as distribution options proliferate. But that's a very negative way to evaluate the situation. If video of rehearsals and performances is distributed online, then many more people will watch these dance videos than ever before. Which means that dance companies and dancers will get larger audiences, get more bookings and increase the chances of making worthwhile connections with other artists that they would never even have known about.

I think it's worthwhile to look at how music is distributed online. There are thousands of outlets for music to be uploaded, shared and sold. Bands have made it big on the Internet as a result of the fact that their music is widely available and often free. Bands and musicians get more exposure and increase the chances they will reach a larger audience and find new ways to generate revenue.

In the dance world there simply is no Internet economy. This doesn't really make sense in an environment where dance companies are always struggling for financial survival and stability.

Then DK explores what he thinks is the ideal fusion between the Internet and dance. His premise is that we ought to focus on the local level and not so much nationally or internationally:

Following the newer model of Regional Theater and following the Regional Ballets like the ones in Memphis and Tulsa is a much more likely scenario. We may still have our Super Stars but we need to think about becoming Local Heroes. Memphis Ballet is creating New Work based on the locale and generating audiences who have knowledge of the local history or have civic pride.

The Internet tools used then could be an interactive website offering a chance to give reviews (I think this was Doug's idea in a past blog) which gives people the feeling of ownership and connection with a company. I also really like the idea of "profiling" on MySpace even though it's flawed, the idea is right -- of finding people of like interests and bringing them together. Using a blog to "preview" an upcoming performance is a much more appealing idea than generating feedback on a piece of choreography.

I think all of these areas are worthwhile for exploration. I especially like the focus on dance within a local community. I think one of the reasons that dance companies don't think about using the Internet to connect directly with their audiences is because they put to much emphasis on the importance of dance writers and newspaper coverage at the expense of devoting time and energy to building online relationships with their local, loyal fans. Obviously, I'm not discounting publicity. I'm just saying that it is one of multiple ways to connect with dance fans and build larger audiences.

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Video Sites Pay Videographers

Video sharing sites, despite the fact that they usually don't make money, are beginning to pay videographers based upon the number of times their videos are viewed. In the case of video sites that sell ads, this revenue-split is being implemented in order to attract the top videos.

Cnet has a good overview of this trend in "Google Shares Wealth with Videographers."

These new financial opportunities for amateur and professional videographers leads me back to a question I've been wondering about for quite awhile: How can choreographers, dancers and dance companies generate revenue via online distribution of video?

What type of programming will the general public actually buy? Can you sell the Nutcracker? Can you sell dance class instruction videos? Can you sell mini-documentaries? Do new categories of dance videos need to be created in order to grow an online market?

For example, what types of pre-performance and post-performance videos might be of interest to dance audiences?

How should dance instruction videos be modified for sale over the Internet?

Are there ways to package dance videos in a subscription model so that buyers receive a video once a week or so?

I haven't seen much experimentation when it comes to offering dance videos online. Hopefully as web sharing sites begin to pay creators of video content, there will be more entrepreneurial efforts in this sphere to see what will work.

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October 30, 2006

"Still Crossing" Rehearsals

I mentioned last week that I'm participating in the community dance portion of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's "Still Crossing."

We had rehearsals Saturday and Sunday at the Takoma Park, Maryland studios of Dance Exchange. Then tonight and Wednesday we will be rehearsing at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center where the performance will take place this coming Thursday and Friday.

"Still Crossing" is primarily performed by company dancers. Then, the last six minutes of this work are performed by community participants in conjunction with the dance company members. During the weekend's rehearsals, we learned the movement phrase that we will be performing.

It was a lot of fun learning the movements and meeting the over 50 or so participants in this program. I feel pretty comfortable with the movement phrase although I don't have it completely synchronized with the music. But the company members will be performing on stage as well so it really won't be difficult to get the timing down.

Martha Wittman and Elizabeth Johnson of Dance Exchange conducted the rehearsals over the weekend. They both bring a tremendous amount of commitment and enthusiasm to teaching non-dancers how to do the movements.

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October 27, 2006

I'm Perplexed

I've been curious about something for awhile:

Some dancers and choreographers work with digital and interactive technologies from the standpoint of creating performances that integrate these tools into their dance pieces. For example, a dancer might explore how a series of movements can activate desired sequence of sounds or video images in real-time. And there are many other possibilities that have been explored in the realm of dance and technology.

But what perplexes me is that dancers and others involved in the dance and technology field (including academic and research institutions) seem to have little interest in exploring how the distributed and universal nature of the Internet can be leveraged to transform the process of creating performances and collaborating with global audiences. To me this area of investigation is very intriguing given the economic challenges faced by many dance companies and the need to find new ways for audiences (and future audiences) to engage with dance in new ways.

I've written about these topics before: How can the Internet be used to give audiences on-going access to works-in-progress? How can new platforms be created so that audiences can share their thoughts and feedback with choreographers and dancers? And, how can distributed audiences be given an opportunity to contribute their own dance moves and stories via uploaded video? And, overall, in what new ways can the Internet be put to work so that dance becomes a more vital part of our culture?

I'm going to post a message to the Dance-Tech list to see what members have to say about this topic.

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A Scientific Approach to Reducing Pointe Shoe Noise

I like this post from Gwyneth at The Winger:

This hallway Gretchen is standing against was located just behind the stage of the Harris Theater, and it quickly became the designated place for all of us to “bang” our pointe shoes. Sound weird? Let me explain…

After our first stage rehearsal on Tuesday, we discovered that the acoustics in the Harris Theater were really quite spectacular. This was great news for the orchestra, but it actually became a bit of a challenge for the dancers. Our pointe shoes made so much noise that when we ran across the stage in “Serenade”, we sounded more like a herd of elephants than a group of ballerinas.

In order to remedy this, we quickly took to banging our pointe shoes before every performance. By hitting the tips of our shoes against a hard surface, our shoes softened up a bit and made much less noise when we wore them on the stage. I think it must have been a funny sight to come backstage during intermission and see a bunch of ballerinas forcibly hitting their shoes against a cement wall. Oh well, it did the trick!

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October 26, 2006

...And More Participatory Contests

MySpace is hosting the Stand Up or Sit Down Comedy Challenge. The top comics have already been selected and you can watch videos of the top 15 and vote for your favorites.

The winners, according to post on Mashable, MySpace’s “Stand Up or Sit Down Comedy Challenge,” will receive $50,000 and a development deal.

A couple of interesting things about this Comedy Challenge. First, it's part of a trend of an increasing number of such participatory competitions in the entertainment world. I wrote about HBO's "The Wire" contest two weeks ago that encourages viewers of this cable TV series to submit video stories about their educational experiences as kids.

Second, this latest competition from MySpace shows how social/participatory media is being leveraged not just for web distribution but also on TV and for live events. The winning comics will also be invited to perform their routines in Las Vegas.

How should the dance world take advantage of these trends? What types of participatory programs and contests should be created? And how can the dance community create synergies amongst different distribution platforms? I've shared my thoughts on some of these topics before and will continue to write about these issues.

I was especially thinking of these questions in the context of modern dance. Modern dance will never have an audience the size of an HBO series or a standup comedy contest, but their are still avenues along the lines of the above examples that can be pursued to bring dance to a much larger audience. I think it's helpful to think about these online options in particular when you consider some of the perceptions and fears many people have about modern dance - take a look at recent posts on Apollinaire Scherr's new dance blog, "Foot In Mouth" to see what I mean.

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October 24, 2006

Digitizing Dance Community from the Bottom Up

Tony Schultz, a physicist studying applications in human movement analysis and a contributor to The Winger blog, has a post from last month, "The Winger is a Dance Technology," in which he writes about the impact of the online world on dance:

The democratization of space for showing and talking about dance, through the internet, is transforming the way it is seen and practiced. Communication technologies such as blogs and message boards facilitate relationships between artists and opens discussion with viewers. Free video over IP services provided by sites such as blip.tv or YouTube provide an open trading ground for anyone to share dance media with the world.

He then recounts a personal story of how he used the Internet to connect with breakdancers in Paris before traveling to France:

This experience fundamentally transformed the way I think about culture making and dancing. Finding real people dancing, not on stage but in the world, made me shift my perspective on where art comes from, where it belongs and what function it serves. Those who are compelled to create and advance these forms are often not professional dancers. They train hard and sacrifice simply because they know this work is important.

Tony's post led me to think about who will lead the charge (or who is leading the charge) in terms of motivating the dance community at-large to experiment with Internet applications and related technologies in order to enhance communications and collaborations among dancers and the public. Tony pretty much answered the question. It often will be done in an informal manner by individuals who may or may not be professional dancers. And, from my experience, those who experiment with the latest Internet developments - the early adapters - will usually not be the established dance companies, presenters and other institutions and organizations connected to the dance world.

Here's one example of a dancer who puts a number of online tools to work to share her passion for Middle Eastern dancing:

ShanMonster created a blog, Because Nudity is Only Skin-Deep, on LiveJournal. She writes in her profile:

I teach Middle Eastern and tribal fusion dance, am a tribal fusion, North American cabaret, and experimental dancer, and I also sell my self-published dance costuming books. To top it all off, I maintain canadaraqs and am a co-moderator at bellydancing.

In a post "My Drill Routine," she gives a breakdown of her exercise regimen with a link to the music she listens to on Pandora.

And, in her "Warning: Contains Dance" post, ShanMonster links to a Google video of her performing a belly dance.

There are thousands upon thousands of Internet-addicted dancers like ShanMonster who are using the Internet every day to make new connections, share their passion for dance and give the public a multimedia glimpse into their daily lives. I just think it takes time for these everyday occurrences to bubble-up to the institutional level.

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October 23, 2006

Back to Dance Classes

After taking a long time off from dancing because of an injury in February, I'm taking dance classes again. I've been taking an Intro. to modern with Helen Hayes at Joy of Motion here in the DC area. As everybody says who takes Helen's classes, she is great teacher.

Joy of Motion has been celebrating their 30th year anniversary with classes, showcases and performances over the past couple of weeks. Last night I saw some excellent performances by resident dance companies at the The Jack Guidone Theater - located at Joy of Motion's Friendship Heights studios. Among the dancers were Helen Hayes, who performed twice - once in an improvisational piece and also in a duet with Doug Yeuell, whom I've taken jazz classes with.

Watching the performances has motivited to try to take at least 2 classes a week - in addition to modern, I'll probably go back and take jazz classes as well.

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October 22, 2006

My First Participation in Community Dance Performance

I'm looking forward to participating in a Liz Lerman Dance Exchange community performance of "Still Crossing" at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (at University of Maryland) on November 2nd and 3rd (Thursday and Friday).

"Still Crossing" will be performed as part of the Dance Exchange's 30th Anniversary Retrospective, which will also include two works by company dancers: "Small Dances About Big Ideas," which honors the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials, and "Man/Chair Dances," based on John Adams’ The Chairman Dances from Nixon in China, which puts dancers in the midst of the UM Symphony Orchestra.

As you can tell from this description of the upcoming "Still Crossing" community performance, no dancing experience is needed to participate:

The guest artist section (that's you!) lasts about 6 minutes, most of which is stately walking/entering. There is about a minute and a half of upper body and hand gestural work and, for those so inclined, a section of ground rolling. You will always be accompanied by Dance Exchange company members doing the same movements; older participants will have a buddy. You DO NOT need dance skills or a flexible body to participate. Participants will wear their own blue clothes.

This is my first dance performance!!

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October 20, 2006

How to Embrace Web 2.0

In a story on Article19 "Dance 2.0," Michelle Lefevre reviews a handful of the most popular Internet multimedia and collaborative applications.

My first reaction after reading this collection of reviews is why is Lefevre so dismissive of the growth and popularity of Web 2.0 applications, especially as they relate to dance?

Such [Web 2.0] sites differ from the boring old ways of Web 1.0...because they are user driven, interactive and, in a lot of cases, utterly pointless and offer things only those with a degree in Geek could possibly want.

Here we offer some analysis of four of the most popular of these sites [YouTube, Digg, Flickr and MySpace] to try and determine how many of them, if any, could possibly be of any use to dance in its eternal search for relevance in the modern world.

I think that there is absolutely no question that many Web 2.0 applications can serve both the creative and marketing objectives of dancers and dance companies.

My starting point is: 1) what does Web 2.0 mean and 2) how should dancers think about Web 2.0 in terms of how they present their dance works online and communicate with large, distributed audiences.

To me, Web 2.0 stands for a highly collaborative and participatory Internet that is marked by a non-hierarchical mind-set and complete transparency. It's hard to know what specifically motivated Google to purchase YouTube for 1.6 billion dollars, but what is certain is that YouTube is one of the most popular websites and its success is based upon millions of users uploading and sharing their own videos.

The growth in consumer generated media (CGM) - millions of people uploading their own videos, pictures, audio programs and the growth of mashups that are based upon the mixing of media files - marks an important shift away from the mass-marketing mentality of the 20th Century. Companies are no longer starting with the premise that "We know what you want and we'll deliver it how we wish." (Read my October 11th post, "Will Participatory Marketing Transform the Arts?") But, instead, companies are turning to YouTube users, for example, for user-generated commercials. I offer example of Pringles snacks in my post.

This trend is also picking-up steam in the arts and entertainment world. Last week I wrote about HBO's use of CGM for a promotion for the new season of "The Wire."

And when I write about transparency, I mean that companies, nonprofits, arts organizations and others have to be careful about making outlandish claims because it's easy to find blog entries and message board posts that point out that such claims are bunk. And, in a broader sense, I mean that those things that have traditionally been hidden, should, in many instances, be exposed for public consumption.

Based upon this above explanation of Web 2.0, the next question is how should dancers take advantage of this collaborative, non-hierarchical emerging world?

For starters, business as usual is not the answer. It's not that helpful to consider the pros and cons of Web 2.0 applications in the abstract. The starting point ought to be based upon the emerging ethos of the participatory Internet and a consideration of how dance can evolve and change to accommodate this new environment.

So I start with the recommendation that dancers should consider approaching the web with the intention of seeking meaningful feedback, collaboration and contributions of the online public. In addition, dancers will benefit by opening-up the creative process to the public so that online audiences can watch how ideas are transformed into dances (this is what I mean by being more transparent in the case of dance.)

Watching dance videos online can occasionally be enjoyable. But the truth is that posting promotional or full-length dance videos to the web isn't really that important by itself.

What will make a difference is when dancers begin to post videos and other content (pictures, audio, for example) with the express purpose of gathering specific feedback about works in progress. Or by posting videos online and seeking Internet users to contribute their own dance videos that address similar themes or types of movement. The implementation of these types of collaborative projects is what is going to enable dancers to embrace the Web 2.0.

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:36 AM - Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

October 19, 2006

Olaudah Equiano on the Place of Dance

In "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or, Gustavus Vassa, the African," the first of the classic slave narratives, Equiano writes:

We are almost a nation of dancers, musicians, and poets. Thus every great event, such as a triumphant return from battle, or other cause of public rejoicing, is celebrated in public dances, which are accompanied with songs and music suited to the occasion. The assembly is separated into four divisions, which dance either apart or in succession, and each with a character peculiar to itself. The first division contains the married men, who, in their dances frequently exhibit feats of arms, and the representation of a battle. To these succeed the married women, who dance in the second division. The young men occupy the third; and the maidens the fourth. Each represents some interesting scene of real life, such as a great achievement, domestic employment, a pathetic story, or some rural sport; and, as the subject is generally founded on some recent event, it is therefore ever new. This gives our dances a spirit and variety which I have scarcely seen elsewhere.

While this passage is very conservative in some ways (separation of sexes, separation by marital status), it captures a time when movement was the essence of communications; a daily 3D, breathing and dancing newspaper through which the community shared the important events of the day and reflected upon consequential happenings and daily routines.

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Re-Connecting Bodies to Performances

I'm very perplexed about how dance writers and critics describe dance - especially dance performances.

How many times have you read a dance review where the author talked about how a performance inspired him or her to experiment with new types of movement? How many times have you read an article about a performance where the writer wondered what type of movement he or she would create if starting with the same question as the choreographer and dancers? I don't come across these types of articles. Reviews are never tied in such a direct way to the physical body.

Dancers, of course, get their inspiration from many sources - including performances - but the way that dance is explained and critiqued for public consumption is in a very removed, disembodied manner - ironic given that we're talking about dance. It's always about the meaning, aesthetics, forms, technique and other elements that are not directly tied to the writers own body or thoughts about moving their own body.

Nothing's obviously wrong with discussing these and other elements of a performance, but I think something has been lost over the past couple hundred years with the rise and excessive focus on professional-level performances, the rise of our mass-market consumer society and, over the past hundred years or so, on the power of mechanized and digital reproduction tools to recreate high levels of flawlessness.

The performing-arts going audiences have been taught to savor the role of passive spectators separated from performers by a raised stage. Dance critics have contributed to the separation and this passivity by writing about performances as isolated, discreet events that are not connected to the ideas, intentions, practice, experimentation and rehearsals of choreographers and dancers.

I've read a number of articles by dance critics who have said that they are 1) audience representatives and 2) are not interested in the intentions of the choreographer - in other words, they review a performance solely as they see it on stage - disconnected from the creative process. And they also interject themselves, in their own minds - between dancers and readers, which contributes even more to making dance a more intellectualized, unreachable art form that is not tied to the body.

Hopefully, the above makes some sense. What I'm getting at is that I'm not interested in art as a passive endeavor. I see no reason not to be connected to or be part of performances in some manner. I see no reason for a dance performance to be a discreet, free-standing event that is disconnected from the process that created the work, and ignores the ideas, experimentations and inspirations of those that created it.

Performing arts is sort of where magic shows were before Penn and Teller: The secrets behind the tricks were kept hidden. So audiences could only be awed by the sleights of hand without knowing how these feats were devised. Far from a perfect analogy. But if you compare the performing arts with the rise of the participatory Internet, this comparison might make more sense.

The Internet, especially what we now think of as web 2.0, is about authentic sharing and collaboration - at least in theory. One of the characteristics that often goes by the wayside is the concept of perfection, which becomes less of an ideal when the focus is on speed and real-time communications. With performing arts, there is, I think, an overwhelming motivation for artists to only show their works in a perfected state and to eradicate lingering blemishes. This focus on perfection dissuades many artists from providing audiences with access to the creative process. There are many examples that would disprove my point, but, as a general rule, I don't think most performing artists want their works to be seen in the in-progress state. A couple months ago, in Chicago, there was a huge battle because a theater critic wrote a negative review of shows that were in the development stage. One person connected to this showcase of new works complained that the playwrights needed space to develop and showcase their developing works free from the criticisms of newspaper critics. (I have to find this story.)

My premise is that our culture values the perfected art work at the expense of candid and productive conversation about works in progress. If performing artists - and other artists, for that matter, embraced more of a web 2.0 mindset and were open to receiving feedback throughout the entire creative process, I think there would be some great on-going dialogue that would contribute to how works evolved before actual performances.

I think where I'm going is to that the Internet creates the opportunity for re-connections to be made. That critics and writers can share their insights and reactions without coming between performers and audiences. That raised stages don't need to impose a physical and psychological barrier between performers and audiences. That an excessive focus on perfection does not have to prohibit collaborative conversations and feedback between artists and audiences throughout the creative process. That performances, especially dance, don't have to be enjoyed only on an intellectual and emotional basis disconnected from our bodies and the physicality of movement.

And this post is an excellent case in point of the blogging mindset. It is in desperate need of some time-consuming editing. But maybe something would be lost if I tried to be more coherent as I have my second cup of coffee on a Thursday morning??

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October 18, 2006

More on Dance and Politics

Kate, a contributor to The Winger blog, started interesting discussion about dance and politics after she saw a performance of William Forsythe's "Three Atmospheric Studies." I wrote post about same topic earlier this week, Does Art and Politics Mix?

I'm going to write soon about Kate's post and the comments she received.

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How do you enjoy dance?

Some questions:

1) Would you prefer to see a dance performance at a large performing arts venue or in a small intimate setting?

2) Would you prefer to see a dance performance or watch an advanced dance class?

3) Would you rather take a dance class or watch a performance?

4) Would you rather watch a performance or watch rehearsals for an upcoming performance?

5) Would you rather be at rehearsals or performing on stage?

My answers - not definitive because I often like both choices, but my general inclinations:

1) I like small, informal settings.

2) I like watching dance classes.

3) I'd take a dance class.

4) Watch rehearsals. I'm very intrigued by the creative process. And, for me, rehearsals help me understand how movement is created.

5) I can't answer this question because I'm a beginning dancer. But, maybe after another five years or so. You never know.

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October 17, 2006

Merce Cunningham Puts Music Selection in Audience Hands

Merce Cunningham Dance Company performed eyeSpace last week at The Joyce Theater.

Randomness in music selection was taken to new heights by the master of randomness. Audience members were encouraged to bring their own iPods loaded with Mikel Rouse’s eyeSpace score (freely available via the Merce Cunningham website for ticket buyers) or those without iPods were provided with one when arriving at The Joyce theater.

Apollinaire Scherr wrote in Newsday before opening of eyeSpace:

Up until "eyeSpace," audience members at least were listening to the same music, whatever they each made of it. Now, they may be watching the same dance, "but they're having a private experience with the sound," Rouse explains. "What happens when you ask people to have both a shared and a private experience at the same time? I don't think that's exactly happened before. The question is, what is a theatrical experience?"

I just did Google news search to see what the reviewers had to say about eyeSpace and its iPod innovation:

Tobi Tobias for Bloomber writes in "Merce Cunningham's IPod Tricks Fall Flat":

Now, with ``eyeSpace,'' Cunningham is inviting his audience to be interactive, a tactic that presumably engages the art-resistant. This from an artist who stuck to his esoteric aesthetic for decades, often with glorious results.

The choreography for ``eyeSpace'' is even more discouraging than the sound gimmickry.

Deborah Jowitt in The Village Voice opens her review:

Merce Cunningham and John Cage were using chance procedures to shuffle music and dance sequences before Steve Jobs was born. With Cunningham's new eyeSpace, the audience gets to play. We hear half of Mikel Rouse's score, variously shuffled, on iPods. Text sung and spoken by the dancers (sample: "I almost lost my foot, but I didn't lose my foot") emerges from a murmur of instruments and other sounds. Rouse and Stephan Moore also generate noise on the theater's speakers—mostly street and subway clamor. Sitting there in our headphones we might be on the subway, except that no musical favorites cocoon us from commotion.

This aural experience is somewhat like life; the visual one isn't.

John Rockwell for the New York Times writes in "You'll Take the Dance You're Given, but You Can Call the Tune":

...“eyeSpace,” accompanied by a Mikel Rouse score set to shuffle mode on individual iPods, was [a] novelty, and an appealing one.

Mr. Cunningham, now 87, has long been fascinated with technological innovations, and there can be a whiff of gimmickry in his use of them. The new “eyeSpace” worked well, with one reservation. Mr. Rouse’s score blends rock and folk-rockish vocals with electronic instrumentals and an urban soundscape. The handsome blue costumes and backdrop — blue against an intensely saturated red — are by Henry Samelson. The 12 dancers twisted and gyrated, mostly in subgroups of diminishing size, though one’s attention was sometimes distracted by the novelty of Mr. Rouse’s presentation of his music and by the audience fumbling with the iPods, most of which were on loan from the lobby.

Click here for more reviews on Google.

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October 16, 2006

Does Art and Politics Mix?

I have trouble comprehending the occasional war of words over whether art - dance, in this case - should or should not be harnessed for making political statements.

A recent article from Guardian Unlimited, which highlights "Three Atmospheric Studies," an upcoming work by choreographer William Forsythe that explores the Iraq war, revives this debate over art and politics.

As John O'Mahony writes:

For dance purists, brought up on the abstract traditions of Balanchine and Merce Cunningham, the answer is simple: dance should remain unpolluted by politics. Perhaps the most infamous of all such critics is former New Yorker dance writer Arlene Croce, who was responsible for igniting one of the most vicious and long-running episodes in the US culture wars of the late 1980s and 1990s when she branded Jones's Still/Here as "victim art" in 1994 and refused to review it.

Then, O'Mahony quotes from a fax he received from Croce for his article. (Evil Imp, the blog from Article19, takes some pleasure in Croce's use of a fax machine: "Ms Croce suitably demonstrates her lack of connection with the modern world by sending her comments via fax! (ask your grandparents what that is!)":

Choreographers mix dance with politics because it is the only way to get attention. And get grants too, probably. The importance of a work is equated with the nobility of the sentiment it expresses. I've stopped attending dance attractions because the last thing I want to see is dancers wasting their time on some high-minded godawful piece of choreography. I don't want to be told about Iraq or Bush or Katrina by someone younger and dumber than I am.

Bill T. Jones has a simple, effective answer: "I can't believe she would say such a stupid thing..." Jones provides a more in-depth response in his latest blog post, "Political Work?"

From my perspective, this debate is not very meaningful. If an artist whishes to choreograph and perform works that address social and political topics, that's fine. If an artist wishes to keep dance "unpolluted by politics," that's also fine. Maybe my response is too simplistic, but for the life of me, I can't see what's wrong with either approach.

I just do not understand Croce. I understand her in terms of the types of dance that she would like to watch and review, but I don't understand how she makes the leap to dictating what types of works choreographers should make and what types of dances audiences should watch.

Why does she make such categorical statements about what is and what is not acceptable? If art is about freedom of expression and a desire to pursue one's own creative path, why impose restrictions? If artists wish to create works that encourage audiences to think about and discuss the important social, political and economic issues of our day, how can this diminish the value and importance of art?

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October 13, 2006

Marriott's "More Room to Move" Dance Promotion

On Adrants, I came across a post about an online promotion for Marriott Spring Hills Suites with the dance-inspired name "More Room to Move." Adrants characterizes the quality of the dancing as Seinfeldian in tribute to Elaine's awkward dance moves. But while corny, Marriott's dance game is entertaining - at least for a minute or two - and captures the notion of more spacious suites.

To play the game, you choose a dancer, and then click a button to activate each dance move as the proceeding dance move is about to end.

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October 12, 2006

HBO's "The Wire" Embraces Consumer Generated Media

To promote the fourth season of HBO's "The Wire," a consumer generated media (CGM) competition was created to encourage viewers to submit their own video stories about their early education experiences. You can visit the "Spoken Word Battle" site to watch the uploaded videos.

Here's a good overview of this participatory promotional project from ClickZ:

The campaign, created by Deep Focus, captures a gritty, honest and real mode of expression that's in line with the show's setting in inner city Baltimore. "The biggest thing for us in developing this campaign was trying to be true to the spirit of the show," Sabrina Caluori, account director at Deep Focus, told ClickZ News. "We were trying to come up with a way to approach it that was new and interesting."

The result is "The Wire Spoken Word Battle," a competition for slam poets and hip-hop and freestyle artists hosted on Blastro.com. Users were asked to submit their experiences and views about how they were educated in a three-minute video. The theme of education is consistent with the emphasis of the current season.

I'm very intrigued by this project that develops an innovative way to get viewers and potential viewers of this HBO series to get involved directly with the themes of the show in an emotionally compelling way. It would be great to see a similar type of CGM program created for dance performances or TV shows.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:07 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

October 11, 2006

Will Participatory Marketing Transform the Arts?

In "Letting Consumers Control Marketing: Priceless" in the October 9th New York Times, Stuart Elliott describes how large corporate brands are moving from a top-down marketing approach to one in which consumers have a much stronger voice.

The old days of slogans such as "Let Hertz put you in the driver’s seat” are being replaced by non-professional Pringles snack commercials created by teenagers and posted on YouTube.

Elliott quotes Procter & Gamble's CEO A. G. Lafley:

“Consumers are beginning in a very real sense to own our brands and participate in their creation,” he said. “We need to learn to begin to let go” and embrace trends like commercials created by consumers and online communities built around favorite products.

As corporations move away from hierarchical marketing - what I'd call we-know-what's-best-for-you marketing - to a more inclusive, bottom-up approach that sacrifices control for empowerment, what are the ramifications for the performing arts?

I think that the biggest impact will be for those performing artists who embrace this more open approach to creativity.

To apply this collaborative online web model - often referred to as Web 2.0 - to the performing arts, what we're really talking about is bringing audiences into the creative process at the inception of an idea not the opening of the curtain.

If audience members come to a performance with no or little background about a performance, then we're really talking about the Hertz car rental model: "Let Hertz put you in the driver’s seat” - literally and figuratively.

If we want to engage audience members early in the creative process and give them a voice, we have to move to the Pringles chip model. We need to create an platform that shares, via the Internet, the entire process of creating a performance from initial concept through rehearsals all the way through to opening night. And simultaneously, there have to be non-stop opportunities throughout this development process for people who are interested to share their ideas and feedback as well as contribute their own content.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:09 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)