November 30, 2006

Natalia of Bellydance: Experiences on the "Decline of Dance"

In my Tuesday post, "Explaining the Decline of Dance in America," I wrote about Terry Teachout's weekend column in the Wall Street Journal, "Ballet? Never Heard of It: The decline and near-disappearance of dance in America."

Natalia of the Bellydance: Experiences blog wrote a comment in response to my post and also wrote a follow-up blog post.

Natalia takes issue with Terry Teachout's premise that all dance is in decline just because ballet audiences are dwindling:

"Seriously, people are not uninterested in dance. People are tuning in by the millions to see people dance. They're just not tuning in by the millions to watch ballet. I mean, do you suppose French-style chefs are sitting around turning up their noses because most people want to eat Italian, Thai, Mexican, African and every other kind of food? Well, ok, they probably are. But could you imagine them claiming that because Mexican food is becoming the most popular in the US, people have lost their interest in food? Would you take them seriously? There are thousands of fine dining restaurants making money hand over fist, but now they cover the whole spectrum of styles and ethnicities of food.

"People love dance and creative movement, but there is a finite amount of interest out there, and ballet isn't the only game in town anymore. All this complaining isn't about people losing interest, it's about ballet losing market share. Maybe we can put dance critics, General Motors, and Tab soda in a corner together to commiserate."

Natalia makes a good point: The sub-title of Teachout's article is "The decline and near-disappearance of dance in America." If ballet and modern were the only types of dance in the US, then the sub-title would make sense. But clearly millions of Americans enjoy participating (as audience members, TV viewers and dancers) in many types of dance. At the same time, Teachout does refer to dance as one of the "lively arts" and he is focused on the decline of concert dance (ballet and modern primarily) in America, although, I believe, he could have made this distinction much more clearly.

In addition, by viewing the TV-ratings success of "Dancing With the Stars" in such bleak terms, Teachout misses an opportunity to consider why 32 million people watched this reality dance program in the first place. Concert dance needs to explore new ways to reach and educate larger audiences, which is one of Teachout's major points in his article.

So my starting question would be, how would one go about creating, say, a modern dance reality program for TV (probably a cable channel such as Bravo) Would you create teams of choreographers and dancers who were given a new challenge every week? At the end of each program, one of the dance teams, like all other reality shows, might be eliminated from the contest. Most of this TV show might be devoted to how a piece of choreography comes to life and viewers could watch how a choreographer and dancers work together to turn an idea into a finished dance.

There are many possibilities to explore along these lines. But, one thing is for sure, "Dancing With the Stars" is not the enemy. As Natalia writes, "People love dance and creative movement..." So, from the perspective of the ballet and modern dance community, the question is how do you tap into this creative energy and the love of movement in order to enlarge the audience for concert dance?

Posted by Doug Fox at 1:06 PM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

November 29, 2006

Random Dance Links

Lots of Links:

- "Resurgence of Chicago ballet has loyal fans dancing in the streets" in Chicago Tribune. [Via and redirected from ArtsJournal - should avoid having to register. Direct article link.]

- "Losing the lion's share" in Los Angeles Times. "Local dance companies suffer when Broadway shows and other commercial acts come to town holding huge auditions and waving bigger paychecks."

- "Pianist keeps dancers on their toes - Keys to the ballet: Ramona Pansegrau takes her seat as music director of the Kansas City Ballet." by Paul Horsley, The Kansas City Star. Why live music matters for ballet dancers while training in the studio. [Via Jonathan's Boring But Useful Site]

- "Ole!" in SalomeJustitia. Expression is the key to dance.

- Dance videos on Article19. Watch Wired Aerial Theatre and Collision 'Lyrics.'

- African Dance on Film on Root. Watch African Dance: Sand, Drum, and Shostakovich.

- "Cracked but Not Broken: Toni Valle on her new work at DiverseWorks" on Dancehunter. Interview with Toni Valle.

- Luke Jennings blogs about dance on Guardian Unlimited. [Via Dancerdance]

- "Ads 2.0: Beyond the repurposed TV spot" on News.com. Introduction to video ads.

- "Are we ready for more?" in Mao. An cartoon depiction of a flight attendant dance. [Via Boing Boing]

- "Commercial Break" in Wired. "In a risky experiment, Chevrolet asked Web users to make their own video spots for the Tahoe. A case study in customer generated advertising."

- OSUdance's new blog (Ohio State University).

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:01 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 28, 2006

Explaining the Decline of Dance in America

Update: Wall Street Journal now has free link to Terry Teachout's full article, which I quote below. Thanks once again to Apollinaire Scherr.

Terry Teachout, drama critic for The Wall Street Journal, wrote a column this past weekend, "Ballet? Never Heard of It: The decline and near-disappearance of dance in America." (This column is in the November 25-26, 2006 weekend edition on page P16. You can read this column online, but you have to be a paid subscriber to The Wall Street Journal to access it.)

Against the backdrop of the recent crowning of Emmitt Smith as this season's winner of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" as thirty-two million Americans looked on, Teachout highlights a number of trends and developments that have contributed to dwindling audiences for concert dance performances.

"Things were different in the '60s and '70s, when Edward Villella would fly through the air on "The Ed Sullivan Show" one week and swap one-liners with Tony Randall on "The Odd Couple" the next. Those were the days of the "dance boom," the heady interlude when America was dance-crazy. Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolf Nureyev appeared on the cover of Time magazine. Jerome Robbins, Broadway's hottest musical-comedy director, made popular ballets like "Dances at a Gathering" on the side. Even George Balanchine was a celebrity, thanks in part to "Dance in America," the PBS series that introduced a generation of TV viewers to ballet and modern dance."

Teachout highlights data from the "2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts," which is published every decade by the National Endowment for the Arts, to show how interest in dance has diminished:

"...the percentage of Americans between the ages of 18 and 35 who attended one or more ballet performances a year fell from 5.0% in 1992 to 3.1% in 2002."

(PDF version of the full 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts and the PDF version of the summary.)

I looked through the "2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts," and I did not find a side-by-side breakdown by age for attendance for both 1992 and 2002. Also, age groups are broken down as follows: "18-24," "25-34" and upwards. So I'm not sure where Teachout found the data for decreasing ballet attendance for 18-35 year-olds I quoted above.

Also, by quoting just the numbers for ballet, he makes the decline in dance audiences look worse than it actually is. This survey also includes data for other types of dances.

In a table titled, "U.S. Adults Participating in the Arts at Least Once in the Past 12 Months," 4.7% of survey respondents said that in 1992 they attended a ballet performance. This percent declined to 3.9% in 2002. The number of adults attending a ballet performance was 8.7 million in 1992 and 8.0 million in 2002. (Something appears not right about these numbers because a decline to 3.9% would result in about 7.2 million adults attending ballet and not 8.0 million as the table indicates. So I have to go back to the report and see where these numbers come from.)

While still showing a decline, the numbers for "Other dance" (dance other than ballet, including modern, folk and tap) are higher. 7.1 % of survey respondents said that in 1992 they attended an "Other dance" performance. This percent declines to 6.3 in 2002. The number of adults attending an "Other dance" performance was 13.2 million in 1992 and 12.1 million in 2002.

To digress, I was looking at one of the tables in this survey report titled "U.S Adults Performing or Creating Art at Least Once in Past 12 Months." Essentially, to what extent survey respondents are actively involved in the creation of art. In 1992, 8.1% of respondents said they were actively engaged with "Other dance" in a creative manner. This number then dropped to just 4.2% in 2002. The actual numbers are 15 million people in 1992 and 8.6 million in 2002. That's a stunning drop that does not seem possible.

Teachout then offers three generally-held theories for why dance is declining in popularity:

"- Not only has dance vanished from American TV, but newspapers and magazines have cut back on dance-related news stories and reviews.

- The quality of new choreography has fallen off significantly.

-"Swan Lake"-style classical ballet with it tutus and Tchaikovsky, is "irrelevant" to today's young people."

These theories, to a greater or lesser extent should all be taken seriously, Teachout says. But a more fundamental reason for the decline in dance's popularity may have deeper causes:

"Of the 120 American dance companies that received grants from the NEA in 1986, 50% are no longer in existence, among them such noted ensembles as Alwin Nikolais Dance Company, Chicago City Ballet, the Cleveland Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Feld Ballet, the Oakland Ballet Company and Twyla Tharp Dance. Most of America's major museums and symphony orchestras, by contrast, have been in business for roughly a century--but only three American ballet companies, American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, were founded prior to 1950."

In addition, another "problem is that classical dance is a comparatively young art form that lacks a universally recognized canon of crowd-pleasing classics....outside of "Swan Lake," "The Nutcracker," "Sleeping Beauty," "Giselle" and "Romeo and Juliet," there are no "classic" dances... Most of the greatest ballets and modern dances were made in the second half of the 20th century, and none is known by name to more than a comparatively small number of committed dance buffs."

Teachout concludes:

"That's why the dance boom went bust. No classics, no stars, only a handful of long-lived institutions...so why take a chance on dance? And there in lies the challenge of reviving dance in America: Anyone who seeks to launch a new company, or revitalize an old one, must start by figuring out how to make large numbers of Americans want to see something about which they no longer know anything--save Emmitt Smith does it."

Good food for thought. Terry Teachout also has a blog About Last Night on ArtsJournal.

Thanks to Apollinaire Scherr for making her blog readers aware of Terry Teachout's article.

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:10 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

November 26, 2006

Pilobolus Embraces Social Media Sites

In a Thanksgiving post on the Bank of America Celebrity Series Blog, I came across some video clips and pictures of dance company Pilobolus on popular social media sites.

It's nice to see that Pilobolus is using MySpace and YouTube to provide fans with additional information about themselves, but, in the case of the video clips, I think it would be helpful if they would provide some more context and background about who the dancers are and what Pilobolus is all about.

For example, Pilobolus has posted three video podcasts on YouTube - they're all informal and light-hearted, which is enjoyable, but it would also be nice to hear the dancers talk about dancing and show some movement as well - but maybe they are prohibited from videotaping each other dancing?? For viewers who don't know anything about Pilobolus, these videos really won't serve much of a purpose. (video one, video two, video three).

In their MySpace blog, they just posted some fun pictures from their Thanksgiving celebration in Belo Horizonte, Brazil where they are performing tomorrow:

Finally, you can watch a TV commercial that Pilobolus did for Hyundai Santa Fe. Whether it's in a commercial or on stage, it's always fun to watch them dance:

Posted by Doug Fox at 4:00 PM - Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

November 22, 2006

Joyce Theater Promotional Video on TurnHere

I came across this promotion video for The Joyce Theater on travel and destination video site TurnHere. The Joyce, located in Manhattan, is a major presenter of dance performances.

Visit TurnHere to watch this video:

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:31 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 21, 2006

AudienceBuzz - Social Networking Site for Performing Arts

Maryann Devine, in her smArts & Culture blog, writes post about launch of new social networking site for the performing arts.

On AudienceBuzz.com, you can write reviews about theater, dance and other performances that you've recently seen.

Maryann says that at this point there is not a lot of activity. I've only explored AudienceBuzz for a few seconds. I'm going to go back to this site and spend some time exploring this new offering.

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:16 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 20, 2006

Selling Dance Video Content Online

Benoit Beauchamp writes in "Online Revenue for Dance or Theatre Companies?" that he believes that online dance video is best used for promotional purposes and building buzz but is not likely to generate extra revenue for dancers. His post in his Recycled Space blog is in response to my Friday post, "Exploring Internet Revenue Opportunities for Dance."

Benoit writes:

I feel like online video content is for promoting the company itself but as far as I know, it won’t add another revenue model that generates enough funds to have a person doing this full time. The time needed to create those videos is just not possible for a company member to do it part time.

Yes, shooting and editing video is time-consuming. And without exploring new models for generating revenue from online video sales, there are not sufficient funds to pay for this video production work. But, I believe that there are new revenue models to pursue. For example:

- I'd pay extra if a dance teacher put video online of each dance routine taught in class so that I could more easily practice it in between classes. If an entire dance studio with many classes throughout the week did this, the additional revenue from online routines would add up. I'm not talking about time-consuming video shooting and editing. Maybe three different views of instructor demonstrating routine: 1) front-view, 2) back view or through mirror so it's easier to follow along, and 3) a slow version with the count.

- I'd pay for video of staged versions of dance performances if the price were right. I'd pay somewhere between $2-$5 dollars. Given the size of the global audience for dance, just $2 per video could add up to a significant revenue stream.

- I'd also pay for educational video. Once again, the price has to be right - very low. Maybe moves, routines, floor exercises and other dance guidance are sold individually for $2 or $3, or a package is sold of say 10 clips at a discounted rate.

- Finally, I'd pay for dance films that seemed interesting. There is just about no online distribution of dance-on-camera works, which strikes me as odd given the number of festivals held every year. There is a market for selling these dance films on a pay-per-view basis.

But in the end, until there is more experimentation with the above and other possibilities, nobody is really going to know what will and will not work. That's why in my "Exploring the Future of Dance" post from last week, I recommended an online or offline gathering of a diverse group of people from within and without the dance community to explore new online revenue models for dance.

At this point, I'm leaning toward creating a separate blog and inviting a diverse group of people (see listing in my post from last week) to have an on-going discussion focused on this and related topics. It would be great to have Benoit and other dance bloggers participate in this conversation.

Posted by Doug Fox at 5:53 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 17, 2006

Exploring Internet Revenue Opportunities for Dance

How can dancers and dance companies generate revenue from the Internet now and over the coming years? In this post I pose questions about a number of possibilities:

- What is the best approach to increasing the sale of tickets online for upcoming dance performances? Should they be sold through dance company websites, presenter/performing art center websites or 3rd-party ticketing services or all of the above? What is best approach for each option?

- How do you sell banner ads and other forms of sponsorship for your website, email campaigns and blogs? Should dance companies use ad networks such as Google AdSense? Is it worth selling banner ads and other forms of sponsorship online? Or should dance companies focus their energies on enhancing online promotional opportunities for existing and new sponsors and funders?

- Does it make sense to sell video ads and sponsorship? Video ads and promotional segments could be free-standing, or could run before or at the end of dance videos (pre- and post-roll).

- Will dance be able to embrace the latest developments in product placement tools and technologies to generate revenue? In other words, can you buy the shirt off a dancer's back in a video? ClickZ has article, "Technology Enables Product Placement in CGM," that discusses "plinking" or product linking that enables video watchers to click on embedded links within videos to learn about and buy products.

- Is there a market for a fusion of "Retail Dancne" and Internet merchandizing? Last year I wrote about a "Retail Dance" program that consisted of multiple dance companies performing in different retail stores in San Francisco over a few day period. This always struck me as a good idea - especially if it was combined with an online component to extend the impact of this type of promotional campaign.

- What is the feasibility of creating a web-based online TV network devoted exclusively to dance? What revenue model would support such a TV outlet? Take a look at LX TV - Life/Style Television for a possible model. (Via Random Culture)

As I was finishing-up this post, I came across an intriguing website "Dance Channel TV," that is a type of online dance video channel that also distributes its video through Brightcove (see next item right below).

- How would dancers and dance companies go about creating a distributed model for dance videos? Visit Brightcove for an example of a company that provides the infrastructure for enabling organizations to distribute and monetize video. (Via Mashable)

- What approaches to online fundraising will bear the most fruit for dance companies, studios and others involved in dance? Read "First-of-its-kind" for a range of possible strategies. (via NetSquared)

- Can dance videos be successfully sold online - performance, education and dance-on-camera? Will a pay-per-view model work? Or, alternatively will a subscription model work? What are the best e-commerce applications for selling dance videos online?

- What opportunities are there for selling/distributing dance videos to handheld devices? Will this just work for promotional purposes or is there also revenue to be made in terms of sponsorship and/or video sales?

- Overall, what types of dance videos will generate the most revenue - performances, instructional, dance-on-camera, documentaries or other formats?

Posted by Doug Fox at 5:25 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 16, 2006

Exploring the Future of Dance

I think the dance community would derive many benefits by hosting a live or on-line gathering to address how to embrace the Internet for marketing, education, creative, community building, audience development, revenue generation and related purposes.

As of today, there has not been any systematic exploration of how key trends and developments that are taking place in the online world can be harnessed by all participants in the dance world.

Such a gathering would represent a wide-cross section of the dance community:

- Dancers, choreographers and dance companies
- Educators and teachers
- Dance photographers and videographers
- Dance on camera directors/creators
- Dance writers and critics
- Dance presenters
- Musicians
- Dance service organizations
- Set designers
- Costume designers
- Public relations companies
- Marketing/audience development experts
- Grantmakers and funding organizations
- Technology and Internet consultants
- Dance bloggers
- Those who have created online participatory art programs

Only by bringing such a diverse group of people together is it possible to explore how important developments such as the increasing participatory nature of the Internet can be embraced in productive and profitable ways by the dance community at-large.

Here are some possible topics that this group could address:

1) How can the Internet be used to attract larger audiences for dance performances?

2) How can dancers and dance companies generate revenue from online sources?

3) How can you launch successful online fundraising campaigns?

4) What new approaches can be taken for public relations campaigns to get more exposure for upcoming performances?

5) What is the future of dance writing and criticism? Will a new type of dance journalism emerge as a result of wide-spread use of online video?

6) How can audiences be educated about dance in new ways by using the latest video, picture and audio-editing tools?

7) How do you develop hybrid performances that integrate live performances and the online world?

8) What new types of participatory community programs can be created by harnessing the Internet?

9) What new sponsorship and product-placement models can be created as a result of new tools and technologies?

10) What can the dance community learn by the successful digital music revolution that has taken place over the past few years? Why is dance video not created, distributed and sold like music is?

11) In what new ways can dance audiences be involved with the creation of dance as a result of video sharing and mashup tools?

12) There are always stories about the economic hardships faced by dance companies. Can the Internet transform the economics of dance companies in a positive and profitable manner?

13) If we evaluated and tested the top 20 or so popular online multimedia and collaborative applications, what recommendations would we have for how these tools could be used by the dance community?

14) How should dancers use MySpace, YouTube and other Web 2.0 applications?

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:08 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 14, 2006

Savion Glover Off To Penguin School

For the animated film, "Happy Feet," opening in theaters this Friday, tap dancer Savion Glover attended penguin school.

Glover, as reported in LA Times, was working on mastering the constraints of penguin locomotion so that he could perform the tap dance moves of Mumble, the penguin with no vocal range but great dance moves. The problem for Mumble is that among the Emperor penguins of the Antarctic, if you can't sing you'll have no social standing in the community.

Then, once he had the Penguin motions down, Glover's tap dance routine was captured via motion capture, "...a recording process that required him to tap dance on a small stage under 60 lights in a black bodysuit that had 40 reflective sensors near his joints. As Glover performed, the light from his reflectors was recorded by an array of 60 cameras and turned into data." The next part of process consisted of converting these captured motions in to the animated moves of Mumble. (On the LA Times article, you can watch a video clip of this motion capture process. Or, if you can't access this article, you can see same clip on Yahoo.)

More links:

- "Happy Feet" profile on Internet Movie Database.

- Article in USA Today, "Penguins on tap could ice the mice."

- MySpace Page - they even have news ticker and countdown clock that you can add to your blog/website.

I started writing this post because of Savion Glover and tap dancing. But it's also interesting to see how this movie is being promoted online. A lot of food for thought for dancers and dance companies - I'll write more about this topic.

Posted by Doug Fox at 6:10 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

November 10, 2006

Educating Dance Audiences with Video Annotation

With the proliferation of web-based video tagging and annotation applications, there's no reason not to use these software programs to educate audiences about dance, which can play a role in helping to grow larger audiences.

What I'm recommending is that dance writers and critics consider taking a fundamentally different approach to producing content about dance - one that will be more accessible and interesting to more people - both current and new fans of dance.

When it comes to the Internet, it does not really make sense to focus on words alone when video can often be a more powerful tool. By using the latest video editing tools, dance writers and others can provide compelling video examples of dance so that readers/viewers can clearly visualize specific elements of movement.

For example, if a video is online of a dance, why should a writer just describe movement when they can link to the movement itself? An expanded role for a dance writer/critic can be to educate readers/viewers about the meaning and context of the movement. (I don't really mean just movement - by directing readers to video clips, a dance critic can educate readers about all aspects of dance and help readers understand how to appreciate dance so that when they go to a performance they will have a much richer understanding of what they are seeing.)

Dance writers and critics don't usually see themselves in such an educational role, but I think this approach works very well online and, eventually, I think there is money to be made. For example, if a dance company is willing to put portions or all of a dance video online, then dance critics can annotate this video using the video tools that I include below. I would definitely pay a few dollars if I could see an annotated video about how to understand and appreciate a dance - either before or after I was about to see the dance.

Plus, it would be nice to see some decent dance videos online. On most of video sites below, I did a search for "dance" and the videos are for the most part terrible, silly and pointless.

Here are video applications/websites that have possible uses for educating audiences about dance:

- Google Video does not technically have a video tagging capability, but you can create a link to any point in a video uploaded to Google. (See my July 21, 2006 post.) The ability to jump to a specific section means that it's possible to write a description about a short section of video and then link to that section so readers can see specifically what you're talking about. So in a blog, for instance, there could be an article about a dance video consisting of ten paragraphs or so. Each paragraph describes a different section of the video and each paragraph includes a link to the specific section of the video.

- Mojiti is a video application that lets you add scrollable text banners with links to the bottom of videos from popular video hosting sites. So on Mojiti you can watch the excessively popular "Evolution of Dance" video with text captions at the bottom of the screen. You'll notice on the right-hand of this video page that there are multiple sets of "spot tickers" to select from. - in other words, one video can have different sets of captions created by different users. So this is essentially how a dance video can be annotated to provide viewers with background and insight about a dance. And you could even have two or more reviewers creating their own "spot tickers." [via Mashable].

- Veotag allows you to create a clickable table of contents and text comments for each video. As you watch a video, the table of contents scrolls up on the right-hand side of the video and you can click any section to jump to that part of the video. I actually found a video of a dance class being taught remotely that has been "Veotagged." But almost no use is made of the bottom right text box where comments can be added. As this dance video shows, you can break-up a video into sections and then add commentary to each section.

- I've been trying to figure out the feature-rich interface for ClickTV, which appears to offer a lot of options. But, realistically, if I'm having trouble with the consumer interface, there may be usability problems here. I'm writing about this service because it's worth considering some of its functionality. For each video, a transcript and user text comments with links can be added. Any number of users can create their on highlight reels, which means that you could select one user's selected video sections and just watch these highlights. So if a video were annotated using ClickTV, you could walk a viewer through just the sections of a larger video clip you want them to view along with comments about each section.

- Motionbox has a nice visual filmstrip tool at the bottom of each video that lets you block a section of video and generate a link for it. So just like with Google Video that I describe above, you could write about a dance video and at each point in your article, you could include a link to the relevant section of the video. (I had trouble using Motionbox with Internet Explorer. But it worked fine with Firefox.)

- Grouper allows viewers of video to leave both text and video comments. This applications probably has limited applicability for the purposes of this post. But it would be possible to leave a series of video comments that viewers could watch after seeing a dance video. But the video comments would not be linked to specific sections of the video. My guess, however, is that it won't be long before video comments can be left and linked to tagged sections within a video.

What I didn't discuss in this post is how video editing applications (both online and desktop) can be used to add new audio tracks to an existing video. This way, for example, you could add running commentary in the same way you can listen to directors and actors on a second audio track on DVDs. This is what I did with Peter DiMuro with some of the rehearsal videos from Funny Uncles. I'll write more about this topic in future post.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:31 AM - Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

November 9, 2006

How Should Art Work Its Magic?

Apollinaire Scherr responds with some more thoughtful answers to my questions in her Foot in Mouth blog.

In response to my first question:

1) What do you think of the idea of an "active audience," and how do you think it relates to dance performances? Do you think the dance world would benefit by embracing the emergence of a participatory culture?

Apollinaire responds:

Doug, the way you ask the question answers it. In your view, it's not possible to be both actively involved and sitting in one's seat. Receptivity, by your lights, is akin to passivity.

When you read a book, do you feel like a paper towel sopping up Kool-Aid?

I hope not. A person can both absorb something and be actively engaged. In fact, I doubt you could take something in if you weren't engaged.

Art--any kind, as long as it's good--offers an especially charged form of engagement. The artist has created a singular experience for you--to pull you out of yourself so that when you return there will be more to you. If you "participate" as you mean it-- shaping the very thing you might have simply experienced--you shift the balance between you and it. Less of it, more of you.

The good intentions behind advocating this kind of participation--to save us from feeling isolated--misunderstands loneliness, conflating it with solitude. Loneliness isn't about being alone, it's about never being able to escape yourself. Art is one of loneliness' best cures. An active cure. But you need to allow the art to set its own course for it to work its magic.

My follow-up:

When I used the word "active" I was not discounting the type of active engagement people experience when they watch a dance performance or read a book. I was using "active" in a different sense - one of being directly connected to or engaged with a work in some type of contributory or physical sense.

For example, when I performed in a community dance program last week, I enjoyed waiting in the wings and watching the dance company members perform on stage - the community members entered the stage to perform the last third of this piece, "Still Crossing," with company members. What I especially liked was to see how the dancers integrated bits and pieces of the movements that we were taught for our portion of the dance. I guess the question is if I were now in the audience watching the entire "Still Crossing" what would the experience be like for me and how would it possibly be different from somebody else who was not involved in the community portion of this dance?

So one example of what I mean by "active" is to be able to make a physical connection between what one sees on stage and what one has experienced with one's own body.

There are many other possible examples that can often be facilitated by the Internet such as making performances and rehearsals available online and offering Internet users the opportunity to offer feedback and criticisms as well as, possibly, contributing their own dance movements in video form. And there are many approaches to offline participatory engagement as well that have been explored over the years.

You write that following my approach one may shape "the very thing you might have simply experienced--you shift the balance between you and it. Less of it, more of you." And follow with "Art is one of loneliness' best cures. An active cure. But you need to allow the art to set its own course for it to work its magic."

Why is it necessary or preferable to pre-set the balance between "you and it"? And why is the best art by definition one that "sets its own course"? Isn't this really up to the artist and how he or she wishes to create art and engage audiences?

Posted by Doug Fox at 2:07 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 8, 2006

Introducing "Funny Uncles" Dance Blog

I'm delighted to announce the launch of the Funny Uncles blog. "Funny Uncles" is an upcoming performance of Takoma Park, Maryland-based Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.

What's great about collaborating with Dance Exchange on this project is that their approach to dance is and has always been very participatory and community oriented. (You can read my account of participating last week in their "Still Crossing" performance at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland.)

Liz Lerman is the company's founding artistic director and for thirty years Dance Exchange has been creating multi-generational programs that integrate movement, music, imagery and the spoken word. You can visit the "Who We Are" page on Dance Exchange to learn more.

I've been working with Producing Artistic Director Peter DiMuro to develop a participatory blog that provides audiences new ways to engage with this upcoming work. Peter is the artistic director for Funny Uncles and if you visit this blog you can listen to a number of audio podcasts to learn about the origins of this piece. I'd recommend that you start with this audio program. I also found it especially interesting to hear how Peter described the Dance Exchange approach to generating a movement vocabulary for each work. (You can also register for free access to the Dance Exchange Toolbox, which covers this creative process in-depth.)

Soon dancers who will be performing in Funny Uncles will also be posting to this blog. For a list of dancers, you can visit the Bios page. (This is not a complete list. I still have to add a few more names and their bios.)

There are a number of ways that we will be using this new blog and a number of ideas we plan to explore. Here's an overview:

- First, we want to provide transparent access to how Peter DiMuro and the participating dancers work together to create the choreography for the vignettes that will comprise Funny Uncles -- in other words, we want to provide access to the process of creation. If you visit the post, "Rehearsal Video 'Trio Duet Overlay' with Artistic Director's Commentary," you can see an example of the Dance Exchange approach to choreography. In the first video, you can watch the "generative" phase of movement creation with music. And in the next video, you can watch the same movement but instead of music you can now listen to Peter's audio commentary.

- Next, we want to provide future audiences with on-going opportunities to share their thoughts and feedback about this work-in-progress. As with any blog, you can post your comments at the end of each post. Plus, if you have your own blog you can use the trackback feature to notify us of posts you've written about Funny Uncles. In upcoming posts, we'll share specific questions about the types of feedback we'd appreciate receiving from blog visitors. In the end, our goal is to explore new ways that audiences can have a real say in the evolution of a dance piece.

- One of the things I'll be writing more about in Great Dance and on Funny Uncles is the software and technology we'll be using to develop the Funny Uncles blog and to produce on-going content. That way if you want to explore similar projects for your dance company, you'll have an idea about some of the tools we've used.

- As we look down the road a bit, one of the great opportunities of blogs, video-sharing sites and the emerging participatory culture of the Internet, is that everybody can be actively involved in creating and contributing content. So we will soon be uploading video interviews and stories that relate to the themes of Funny Uncles, which revolve around being an outsider and non-traditional families. We'll then be opening a video library to which you can contribute. Your video contributions could be in the form of movement, spoken word programs or a combination of the two - we'll be providing a lot more information about this topic. Also, we'll be adding a mashup component so that you can create your own video mixes of, say, video clips of the Funny Uncles' dancers with user-generated content submitted by the public.

- Finally, we want to explore the potential synergies between a more collaborative Internet (often referred to as Web 2.0) and live performances. For example, how do you go about creating a hybrid dance performance that integrates company dancers on stage with video submitted (or mashups) in an online library?

We look forward to your thoughts about this project and we encourage you to share your comments.

Posted by Doug Fox at 12:40 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 7, 2006

Watch "Dancing in the Sun"

I found this excellent QuickTime dance video on DVblog:

"Dancing in the Sun" by Gareth Jordan (2006, 16.7MB, 1:09 min).

For a direct link to video, click here. Or click on following screen shot:

You can visit page on DVblog for this video, but when I tried it, I received message that server is down for maintenance. But I could still access above video. Please let me know if you encounter problems.

Posted by Doug Fox at 5:20 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 6, 2006

Will The Culture of the Internet Transform Dance?

In a November 5th post, "How Not to Write About Dance, So It Will Matter," dance writer Apollinaire Scherr addresses a question in her new "Foot In Mouth" blog that I posed to her.

My question revolved around the issue of how dance audiences might relate differently to a performance if they had on-going access to the creative process from the first rehearsals onwards. In other words, if audiences can see a work evolve via video, blogs and websites, how might the audience experience be enhanced when watching the live performance? If audiences can have on-going conversations, via the Internet, with choreographers and dancers before the curtain goes up, what changes?

Apollinaire took the way I wrote my initial question to mean that I was starting with the premise "that people need to be instructed in how to read movement." This is not what I meant to imply. Although by providing audiences with an extended window into the process of creation, they are likely to develop new insights about movement and other elements of a dance piece that they might not otherwise have had.

I was talking to a dancer last week who was part of an improvisational piece that I recently saw. She was explaining to me the general structures in which the improvisation evolved. I would have enjoyed going to a website prior to this performance and hearing her discuss this framework. Maybe in two to three years I'll feel differently once I see many more dance performances. I'm not sure. But I appreciate all of the insight and background I can get; it makes the experience of seeing a performance more enjoyable and meaningful for me. And I especially enjoy hearing from the choreographers and performers themselves.

In terms of my original question, what I'm getting at is the emergence of what Andrew Taylor, director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business, refers to in his Artful Manager blog as the "active audience." (Read his October 30th post, "The Rise of the Active Audience," and his post today, "Encouraging the Active Audience.")

In these posts, he discusses an alumni conference that took place last week at his university that explored the changing nature of the audience experience and the desire for greater participation and interaction.

Author and speaker Alan Brown was one of the keynote speakers at this event. In an April 17, 2006 post, "Embracing the Inventive Spirit of the Internet," I wrote about Brown's 2004 research paper, "The Values Study, Rediscovering the Meaning and Value of Arts Participation." In this report, Brown creates five modes of arts participation ranging from very active to very passive. If you look at the charts I included in my April post, you'll see that "Attending Live Dance Performances" is plotted in the outer spheres of the circle and thus are highly passive affairs.

The main question I had in my post about Brown's paper was how can the dance community sustain such a sharp disconnect between the inventive and participatory nature of the Internet and the observational nature and passivity required of most dance performances? My answer is that some dancers and dance companies will greatly benefit by exploring new ways to enable their audiences to be more active participants in the process of creation in order to address this growing divide.

So getting back to Apollinaire Scherr's response to my question, I'd like to know her thoughts about the following:

1) What do you think of the idea of an "active audience" and how do you think it relates to dance performances? Do you think that the dance world would benefit by embracing the emergence of a participatory culture?

2) What is the optimal way that choreographers and dancers can use blogs and related tools to communicate with their audiences?

3) In terms of your own personal enjoyment of dance, can you envision any scenario where the pleasure and insight you derive from a dance performance could be enhanced as a result of online content and interactive opportunities that take place prior to the performance?

4) Following-up on your thoughts about how dance reviews should be written, what are your thoughts about how you would incorporate pictures, videos and audio interviews into your reviews? Since there are no space limits on the Internet, do you see a new type of dance criticism emerging that is more multimedia in nature? If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, what's video worth when it comes to dance?

5) As more media outlets turn to user-generated content (stories submitted by readers), what impact will this have on how the performing arts are covered by the media? For example, Wired reported on Friday that USA Today and 90 other US newspapers published by Gannett will turn to "crowdsourcing" as part of its news gathering process.

Apollinaire, thanks for your post and I look forward to your thoughts on the above.

Posted by Doug Fox at 3:30 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A Chorus Line Promoted Through Word of Mouth Reviews

In the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) blog, I came across a post about theater ticket vendor Broadway.com's new theater review program called "Word of Mouth (WOM)."

What's particularly interesting about the new WOM program is that video reviews are conducted by a diverse range of theatergoers, non-professional critics, who will be sharing their thoughts and reactions throughout the 2006-2007 Broadway season.

Here are two screen shots from the video review of "A Chorus Line" conducted by a student, a "domestic goddess" and a mortician:

In its FAQ, Broadway.com says it's replacing its professional reviews with its new WOM program. They explain:

For years we have watched as professional theater critics (ours included!) slam shows that audiences love and swoon over pieces that bore audiences to tears. We think that by showing real people's opinions, we're providing the most useful information possible to help you decide how to spend your hard-earned money when choosing a show.

And another advantage of non-professional theater reviews is that you get some juicy nuggets of insight about the "critics" for each show. Scott, our "Afterlife Care Facilitator," says that if he were stranded on a desert island, he would want the following three things:

I'm pretty low maintenance but a 72" plasma TV, a hammock and a hardy supply of diet cola chilled to 37 degrees Fahrenheit would help ease the pain.

In the FAQ, it also says that reviewers "share their honest reactions with our cameras so that we can create a video feature for you about each new show." But after watching a good chunk of the Chorus Line review, it seems more like an upbeat conversation among friends than anything resembling a theater review - but that's probably what they wanted to create.

Posted by Doug Fox at 5:50 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 5, 2006

Participating in Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Community Performance

I spent the last week rehearsing and performing in Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's community performance portion of "Still Crossing" at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland.

"Still Crossing," choreographed by Liz Lerman and the company, was one of three works that were performed as part of The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's 30th Anniversary Introspective. The other works were "Man/ Chair Dances" and "Small Dances About Big Ideas." (In the reviews I link to below, you can learn more about these pieces.)

"Still Crossing - Company and Community Members
Photo Credit: By Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post

(I'm not in above picture :( -- The shot is of stage right to center. I was on stage left.)

It was a lot of fun to be part of this dance performance and meet the about 50 community participants. The Dance Exchange company members who worked with the community dancers, Martha Wittman, Elizabeth Johnson and Peter DiMuro, brought a tremendous amount of enthusiasm, commitment and patience to teaching us the dance phrase and staging our entrances and movements.

Sarah Kaufman writes in "Liz Lerman, Still Keeping The Audience On Its Toes" in Washington Post:

Many of the revolutionary ideas that Lerman embraced back in the 1970s don't seem so far out now. But she has long been considered a pioneer -- for creating works in which the dancers speak as well as move, for casting elderly dancers alongside those in their 20s and for making art from everyday, ordinary movements and gestures. Her notions about what dance is and who gets to do it have become ever broader as she has welcomed nondancers into her works, something she did in "Still Crossing," which closed Thursday's program.

Jean Battey Lewis concludes in her review in "Lerman steps forth with ideas" in The Washington Times:

The evening concluded with "Still Crossing," commissioned for the celebration of the centennial of the Statue of Liberty. It brought together onstage Dance Exchange members and about 50 people from the Washington area, who looked almost as disparate as Dance Exchange itself. It was a fitting finale to a grand evening.

LEARNING THE DANCE PHRASE

The community portion of "Still Crossing" comprises the last few minutes of this dance piece. The first two thirds or so are danced by company members. Then the community dancers enter the stage from each of the wings in staggered fashion and perform a three minute dance phrase in conjunction with company members. A community dancer is essentially a volunteer who wants to participate. No dance background is required to participate.

We started learning this dance movement a week ago on Saturday and Sunday at Dance Exchage's studios. Then, our rehearsals moved to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center last Monday and Wednesday. And then we performed Thursday and Friday night.

When I started to learn the phrase, it felt a little overwhelming, but by Monday I pretty much had the movements down and it ended-up being easier than I thought. In Thursday night's performance I think I was out of synch a couple of times and in Friday's performance I felt that I did a better job - that was good since I was further downstage during the second performance.

I really enjoyed watching the company members perform and rehearse the first sections of "Still Crossing" from the wings. It's fascinating to see how the choreography unfolds and how the dancers include bits and pieces of the movement phrase we were taught. Company dancers included Robbie Cook, Thomas Dwyer, Elizabeth Johnson, Cassie Meador, Peg Schaefer, Shula Strassfeld, Vincent Thomas and Martha Wittman.

Looking back at the past week, I can't believe that I was hesitant about participating in this community dance program. It was a great experience and I'm definitely looking forward to participating in the next one.

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:29 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

November 3, 2006

"How Do You Enjoy Dance" Continued

In October 18th post, "How do you enjoy dance?" I asked and answered questions about the types of performances I like to see and whether I prefer taking classes or being an audience member.

In a post yesterday, on Bellydance: Experiences blog, Natalia offers her answers to these questions.

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:51 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

November 2, 2006

The Prototype Dance

I just came across this prototyping project on Boing Boing that fascinates me.

Here's a video of a rapid prototyping initiative that takes free-form gestures made in space and converts these movements into physical objects. This project uses motion-capture technology and rapid prototyping tools to convert dance-like motions into real furniture.

What happens with how we conceive of dance and motion when movement can be imagined in such concrete form?

Two people leave a theater. One says, "I didn't understand the last dance." The other responds, "Oh, they were just making an office chair I pre-ordered yesterday from the dance company's website."

Posted by Doug Fox at 2:56 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Dance Blogs I'm Reading

I've added many new dance blogs to my blogroll in left column.

Here are some recent posts that I've enjoyed:

- "Brazilian Motion: Mauricio Campos on Capoeira" by Nancy Wozny in Dancehunter.

- “This is not your civilized self” by Gray Miller Fame or Famine.

- "A choreographer responds: No, writers aren't the enemy" from Apollinaire Scherr's Foot In Mouth.

- "Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors" by David Hallberg in The Winger.

- "Slow Dancer: Moving In The Material World" by Robyn Campbell in Terminal City Dance Research.

- "Dancing in Mali to the Djembe" in Root.

- "NextFest 2006" (Dancing with Robots) in Raphael Pungin's Blog.

- "Le Sacre du Printemps" by Jo-Anne Green in Networked_Performance.

- "Cubano's" in Miguelito's Photo Diary.

- "Tuesday's Vals Class" by TangoSpeak in Learning The Argentine Tango.

- "Week Six - Jorge Dispari and Samantha Dispari" in La Planchadora.

- "Home Run" Brendan McCarthy in Dancerdance.

- "The Book is Finished and on the Shelves!" by Rob Kunkle in Goodlux Photography.

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:05 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

November 1, 2006

Toward an Online Dance Economy

Yesterday I wrote in post that there is no online dance economy comparable to the music world. There are many ways that music fans can learn about, share and enjoy music and it's hard to imagine that online music consumption patterns don't have a direct bearing on what music is purchased and what bands/concerts are attended.

Since there is no online dance economy - that is there is no meaningful way for dance enthusiasts to consume dance online - the Internet is essentially a highly underutilized tools for building audiences for upcoming performances, for selling DVDs and related offerings, and launching larger-scale fundraising efforts.

I was thinking more about this when reading a post yesterday on Read/Write Web "Last.fm Launches New Features - Including Flash Player, Events and Free MP3s." One of the new features of the revamped Last.fm, a popular music recommendation engine, is an event recommendation system that generates a list of local concerts and performances based upon the musical interests of each Last.fm user. This events engine is a good example of the possible synergy between the online and "real" world.

I think a good starting point for the dance community would be to address this topic of building and sustaining an online dance economy at upcoming arts and dance conferences. The initial question for such a discussion would be what exactly does it mean to distribute dance content online? What types of dance programs would be offered and how would revenue be generated?

There are a lot of potential roadblocks including intellectual property issues, existing contracts that delineate what can and cannot be videotaped and reproduced, and a general reluctance to explore new online avenues for dance.

From my standpoint, not convening such an event is a huge missed opportunity. As I've written many, many times and is widely known, dance companies and dancers do not make enough money. The Internet is starring us in the face and the dance community as a whole is not taking proactive steps to explore what ought to be a vibrant and profitable online marketplace for dance.

Posted by Doug Fox at 6:54 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)