Dancing into the Future: January 2007 Archives

On January 19th, the Dance Working Group presented a 3-hour session, "International Perspectives on American Dance." During the first part of the session international presenters (non-US presenters) shared their perspectives about dance in the US. Then, during the second part of the program, there was a lively, facilitated discussion about how US-based dance companies can respond to the challenges of touring abroad.

Immediately below, I quote from Bob Yesselman's excellent write-up about this educational session, which highlights some of the limitations of US dance as perceived by international presenters. Bob Yesselman is the director of Dance/NYC and he gave me permission to reprint his notes from this session in their entirety, which you'll find at the end of this post. Then in the following section, I offer my suggestions on how US-based dance companies in conjunction with international presenters can use the Internet to increase exposure and touring opportunities abroad.

Session Recap

Bob Yesselman concludes his write-up of this program with the following passage:

I came away from the session with what seemed to be two major themes. First, the lack of production values in current American work coming, I think, from two sources - our chronic lack of money (if we can get a work to a stage in street clothes we consider ourselves lucky) and, as the Australian speaker mentioned, our focus on the body alone in space and our concern with the "essence" of dance. Let me be clear, I attach no value judgments to either of these viewpoints - that's what makes soccer matches. Secondly, that American work is perceived as old-fashioned and still beholden to our great pioneers and masters. Again, it seems to me, money is partly the culprit. We have so little export of current American dance nowadays that this perception is, in part, understandable. I also found it interesting to note that two of the speakers and many members of the audience also mentioned that they had all come to the U.S. (NYC in particular) for study and training. It was quite a morning.

Using the Internet to Increase International Bookings and Touring Opportunities for US Dance Companies

If the production and aesthetic limitations, as expressed by international presenters, of US dance companies holds true across the board, then there's not much that the Internet can do to help American dance companies get more bookings abroad. But as the panelists pointed out, they were generalizing -- so there are almost definitely many US dance companies that are not touring not due to difference in artistic approach but because of limited marketing budgets and poor communication channels.

Two questions shared by audience members struck me during this session - sorry I can't attribute them: 1) how do dance companies in the US find the right contacts abroad for exploring opportunities to perform in different countries, and 2) how are matches made between presenters and dance companies that are "aesthetically compatible."

Of course a conference like APAP with 1,000+ dance showcases and lots of face-to-face networking is a great forum for exploring booking opportunities abroad. But on a daily basis, as managers and agents seek new performance opportunities for their dance companies and clients, the number of available and inexpensive networking and marketing opportunities dwindle.

So here's my specific answer on how to use the Internet to solve these challenges:

First, professional-focused social networking sites offer a great way for US dance companies and international presenters to communicate, network and do business.

There's lots of talk about MySpace, a social networking site that many dance companies use. But MySpace is essentially a public forum. That's not what we need in this case. A better site is one such as LinkedIn - a social networking site for forming and managing professional relationships with "trusted contacts" and the contacts of your trusted contacts.

(I'm discussing LinkedIn in theoretical terms. I have not used this service yet, but I keep meaning to create a profile to expand my own marketing and networking opportunities).

In other words, you only communicate with those within the international dance world with whom you wish to do business. And over time, you expand your trusted network one by one so that you can increase networking and business opportunities in a focused and meaningful way.

This type of online marketing and community-building among trusted friends is very easy to initiate. It would only take a handful of dance companies and presenters to get started - actually, it would really just take two people. Then the initial participants could invite others they trusted to join their network of contacts.

Basic accounts are free and there are different levels of professional accounts that range from $60 per year all the way to $2,000 per year. I'm guessing that for what I'm proposing in this post, only a free account or a "Personal Plus" account at $60 per year would be needed, but I'm not sure and I'll have to find out more. Here's LinkedIn pricing information.

To get back to the two questions I mentioned above that resonated with me during the dance forum:

1) As this low-cost, international network of dance companies and presenters expands, it will become easier and easier to ask your trusted contacts who you should reach out to in order to pursue a specific business opportunity in a different country.

2) As this professional network expands, it will also be easier to find "aesthetically compatible" matches between dance companies and presenters. A new LinkedIn service called LinkedIn Answers makes this process even easier because you can post a question to all of your trusted contacts about any subject you wish - including finding the right match between presenters and dance companies.

But the process of bringing together presenters and dance companies online will be somewhat limited unless dance companies significantly expand and enhance the booking sections of their own websites. As things stand now, most dance company websites provide very little helpful information for presenters. On most "Booking Information" web pages, there is almost never a comprehensive overview of what performances and related offerings a dance company can actually provide. Plus, you'll very rarely find video excerpts from performances. So a presenter may be encouraged to learn more about a specific dance company via LinkedIn, but they will soon have to turn to offline channels due to a lack of helpful Web-based content. Nothing wrong about going offline, but it wastes lots of time and energy and usually requires that a dance company send DVDs to a different country before discussions can resume.

So for dance companies and presenters to truly take advantage of online networking and marketing opportunities, both a professional social networking site would need to be embraced and the quality and scope of dance company websites would have to be improved.

FULL WRITE-UP OF SESSION

Here are Bob Yesselman's notes from "International Perspectives on American Dance."

On Friday, January 19th, just prior to the official opening of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference (APAP), I attended a session presented by the Dance Working Group, a consortium of dance organizations, among them Dance/USA, that each year present a forum for ideas looking at big picture issues in dance.

Each year, the Dance Working Group chooses a topic both relevant to what's going on now in dance, and provocative in the ideas put forth. This year was no exception. The topic was How American Dance is Viewed by the Rest of the World and provocative was an understatement. The session was moderated by Carolelinda Dickey, principal consultant of Performing Arts Strategies, working in international exchange (a former member of the NYC dance community and former presenter) and facilitated by Andrea Snyder, Executive Director of Dance/USA.

The four speakers were:

- Cees de Bever: Director of Performing Arts, Consulate General of the Netherlands

- Jennifer Barry: Director of Dance Down Under (Australia) and a producer of dance

- Mark Staub: Director of Dance for the Canada Council

- Mayumi Nagatosi: Director of AN Creative (Japan) and a producer of dance

I must stress that each speaker spoke about perceptions abroad and each was quick to acknowledge they were speaking in generalities. I will try very hard not to editorialize. Here's what they had to say:

Cees de Bever (Netherlands)

* Production values of American dance are very low which places our work at a competitive disadvantage in the market place. Cees was very quick to point out that he was very aware of the financial conditions under which we operate in the U.S.
* American dancers are not as well-trained or strong as they once were.
* While many countries financially support native companies to tour abroad; there was very little reciprocity for American companies.
* Since so few American companies are touring abroad, there is very little knowledge of the vast diversity of American dance.
* We are not helped by the current political image of America abroad.

Cees had some recommendations:
* Take a hard look at which American companies are really suitable for export.
* Study international exchange programs closely and adapt to American reality.
* Find the money to bring international presenters to the U.S. to build relationships just as many countries bring American presenters to see their work.

Jennifer Barry (Australia)

* There seems to be a huge focus on the body in American work and promotional materials (she mentioned having received hundreds of postcards from American companies prior to APAP and that every single one was a body image) as opposed to dance in Australia which is much more concerned with concept.
* American dance does not display a cohesive integration of design, lighting and music (production values again).
* Australians tend to resist American-style hype and "showbiz."
* There is much less reverence for the American "masters" - they are perceived as old-fashioned.
* There is a sense that American dance is overly concerned with "pretty" work as opposed to the character-drive, narrative work now popular abroad.
* Australia's subsidy system allows artists the freedom to make less commercially-driven work.
* There is the sense that American dance lacks humor and is very "earnest" with a preoccupation with, in her words, "the pure essence of dance."

Mark Staub (Canada)

* Many in Canada associate American dance as being of a very specific time (the 60's and 70's) and place (NYC).
* Dancers in Canada know the "masters," and many of them have studied with them, but have very little knowledge of what else is happening in American dance.

Mayumi Nagatosi (Japan)

* There is a sense in Japan that American dance's time is over and that in the last 15 years European dance has become more important.
* The current generation of Japanese choreographers have been influenced by European artists, not American.
* American dance is perceived, in her words, as "old-fashioned" and "boring."

I came away from the session with what seemed to be two major themes. First, the lack of production values in current American work coming, I think, from two sources - our chronic lack of money (if we can get a work to a stage in street clothes we consider ourselves lucky) and, as the Australian speaker mentioned, our focus on the body alone in space and our concern with the "essence" of dance. Let me be clear, I attach no value judgments to either of these viewpoints - that's what makes soccer matches. Secondly, that American work is perceived as old-fashioned and still beholding to our great pioneers and masters. Again, it seems to me, money is partly the culprit. We have so little export of current American dance nowadays that this perception is, in part, understandable. I also found it interesting to note that two of the speakers and many members of the audience also mentioned that they had all come to the U.S. (NYC in particular) for study and training.
It was quite a morning.

Bob Yesselman
Director
Dance/NYC

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Stories and Links for 1/29/2007

- Swan Lake Samba Girl on the challenges of finding the perfect dance shoes.

- Wheelchair Dancer on the art of contact improvisation in a chair.

- Ballet Austin's blog documents construction of Butler Dance Education Center.

- Arts Marketing blog on how to improve the success of your email campaigns.

- Listen to audio interview with Trisha Brown about her latest work, "I love my robots," recorded on January 19th in New York City. Podcast on the Cal Performances site - part of University of California, Berkeley where she performed this work last Friday. (Trisha Brown website. Review of "I love my robots" in New York Times by Jennifer Dunning).

- "Behind the Curtain at the LA Opera" is a nicely done series of podcasts from the LA Opera. Found the story on Pdcasting News with misleading title, "LA Opera Expands Reach 400% With Podcasts." It's hard to imagine that podcasts wouldn't reach many more people than attend opera performances.

- In "Enough," first published in Dance Now, dance writer Tobi Tobias offers advice on how to avoid seeing the great dancers perform after they've passed their prime. I found parts of this article distasteful. She writes, "If the artist who probably should retire won't, the viewer must decide when enough is enough and retire the artist."

- Judith Mackrell in "Up close and personal" addresses the challenging topic of whether dance critics should remain detached observers. She writes: "We play a double game as critics. We do our best to erase personal loyalties from our writing, yet we are hired for our personal opinions and our personal knowledge. We aspire to being objective, yet it's our involvement with the art form and the practitioners that makes us do the job." [Via ballet.co]

- Memphis Ballet receives grant to study challenges facing regional US ballet companies in midsize cities. I'm curious to know if they'll explore how the Internet can be used to enhance marketing, fundraising and revenue-generation efforts. [Via ArtsJournal]

- Fun dance video to watch: "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim with Christopher Walken. Is that all Christopher Walken? Background on Wikipedia.

- "Making Video Dance," by Katrina McPherson (2006) now has a DVD companion. I'd like to take a look at this book.
.
- Search for dance videos across multiple video sharing sites with Vdoogle.

- vSocial is yet another video service that lets users identify sections of a video, tag them and generate direct links. As I've written before, these applications offer great opportunities for dance writers and educators. [Via Mashable]

- Kevin Nalty in his "Will Video for Food" blog points out that if Jud Laipply of "Evolution of Dance" fame - watch video - launched his video after YouTube started paying content owners, Laipply would now be a millionaire. Maybe modern dancers can follow in his footsteps?

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January 28, 2007

Required Reading on Neill Archer Roan's Blog

Neill Archer Roan wrote a moving, important post on his blog that I encourage everybody in the arts to read:

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Not Bill.

I'll write a bit more about Neill's post in the next day or so. But for now, I just wanted to add a link to his story.

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January 26, 2007

The Limits of Video for Learning Dance Routines

There's one type of dance video that I'm glad I don't have access to - video of the choreography that's taught at the end of dance classes.

I'm always impressed by how dancers in the jazz and modern classes I take can watch the teacher demonstrate a series of dance moves and then perform the new choreography right on the spot.

When I started taking Beginner 1 and 2 drop-in classes at Joy of Motion the choreography completely overwhelmed me to the point where I couldn't even figure out what direction to move in and I forgot the difference between my left and right side - essentially that meant I ran into people.

Now I'm beginning to get the hang of seeing the choreography demonstrated and then performing it. I'm not saying I'm close to getting the technique down. I just mean that either my mind or body or both capture the overall structure and form of the choreography - so I generally know the moves and direction of the piece. I'm actually pretty amazed that I've picked-up this skill because it seemed impossible to do just a few months ago.

In yesterday's jazz class with Maurice Johnson, he taught a new piece of choreography. My technique has a long way to go and I can't yet focus on the music, but I know the routine well enough that I can practice it over the next week in preparation for next Thursday's class.

And while I'm thinking through the choreography from Maurice's class, I'm delighted that I don't have video to watch of his routine. The video would help me improve my technique and I could quickly learn how the moves were synchronized with the music, but it would be counter-productive in terms of mastering the most important skill for new dancers, which seems to me to be to develop muscle and brain memory for capturing and recreating dance movements.

Part of the process of working on a routine in between classes is being able to figure out how to fill-in the missing parts - even if I'm just thinking through the piece in my mind. While I know the routine pretty well from last night's class, there are still sections that I have to figure out. And I'd rather figure out these gaps on my own than have a video clip to turn to.

The possible downsize to my video-free approach to learning choreography - the standard approach to learning choreography - is that my technique will not improve that quickly. But I don't really look at it that way. Within a few more months my ability to capture and perform routines will be much better and I'll be able to start focusing on technique even during the first day that the new choreography is taught.

By the way, once I write about four more posts about last week's APAP conference, I'll get back to the remaining sections of my draft for my upcoming e-book on dance and video.

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January 25, 2007

Transforming Webpages into Choreographed Movement

In a June 6, 2007 post, "A Dance Vocabulary for Performance Art," I wrote about multimedia and performance artist Ursula Endlicher and her "Website Impersonations" gallery installation.

In a comment to this post last week, Ursula provided an update about her latest project called "html_butoh."

html_butoh analyzes the tags within a webpage and converts this html code into a choreographed dance work. Here's how this project works:

If you go to the "View" pull-down menu at the top your web browser and select "Page Source" (Foxfire) or "Source" (Internet Explorer), you'll see the code for the web page you are currently viewing. Click on the image I've included right below and you'll see the html code for Ursula's home page. You'll notice that this page includes purple tags such as <html>, <head>, <body>, <script> and <table>.

Click for Larger Image

What html_butoh does is scan the HTML code of a webpage (like the one above) and finds the most popular tags. When the program finds a specific tag such as <body>, it then accesses the html-movement library to find the dance video clip that corresponds to this tag. Once you reach the library, click on the "body" tag and you'll see that there are three different short videos that represent this tag. Each video is an abstract representation through movement of how a dancer expresses a tag.

Now all the pieces are put together. If you visit the movement library page again, you can click on html_butoh to launch this application. html_butoh analyzes the home page for each of the most popular 500 websites. It transforms the tags it encounters into corresponding dance movements. So each of the screen shots below represents a visual movement interpretation for a single webpage. In the first and third screen shots, you'll see that there is a lot of repetition. That's because the same tag was encountered multiple times within a single page.

Click for Larger Images

If you like this project, you can even submit your own movement videos to the library and your videos will appear when visual views of webpages are generated. Here are the instructions on how to produce video clips.

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Virtual Dance Studio

Canada's National Arts Center produces the ArtsAlive.ca performing arts-focused educational website. On this site you'll find a Virtual Dance Studio that lets users choreographer a series of dance moves for either ballet or modern.

Click for Larger Image

As you'll see as you experiment with this Flash-based application, you can drag beginning, middle and ending animated moves to a timeline at the bottom of the screen, and add a music track as well. Then you can play your choreographic creation. This application was built with DanceForms software from Credo Interactive. (To see other examples of DanceForms animations, visit the Credo Interactive gallery.)

I thought it was fun to experiment with the Virtual Dance Studio. But it does have its limits. You can't save your creations for future use or to share with friends, and I wish the individual animations were larger.

What I would like to see is a version of Virtual Dance Studio that was specifically for beginning ballet students. Movements for arms and legs could be broken down in separate animations, and basic sequences and excises that are usually done in introductory classes could be created.

But I could probably find this guidance in a good ballet DVD - if you have recommendations, please let me know.

[Via Critical Dance and Talent Speaks]

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January 24, 2007

APAP: Technology Session and Educational Recommendations

During the APAP Conference, I attended a Burning Issues Forum titled:

"Creating Culture: How 21st Century Online Networks, Tools and Technologies Propel Innovation in the Studio, Sustain Performing Arts Venues and Build New Audiences."

This is a topic dear to my heart. I didn't catch the entire program. But I did see presentations by:

- Lane Czaplinski, artistic director of On the Boards, a Seattle, Washington-based performing arts venue, who discussed how he has been using his website, blog and audience reviews to create new approaches to building and engaging audiences, and

- Sean Elwood, director of grantmaking and services for the Creative Capital Foundation, which provides funding for individual artists, talked about his not-for-profit organization's approach to supporting artists that borrows financial models from the world of venture capital, develops long-term relationships with their grantees, and has turned to the Internet as an important marketing and communications tool.

Other speakers that I didn't see included:

- Bill Reichblum, president, KadmusArts

- Ben Roe, director of music, National Public Radio

- Tamara Turner, senior music editor/reviewer, CD Baby

THOUGHTS ABOUT FUTURE TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION AT APAP

After attending this session and related educational programs that addressed technology at APAP, what strikes me is that attendees for the most part do not have a practical framework for thinking about online collaboration and marketing tools, and using these software applications to build and engage larger audiences.

For example, many attendees have never created a blog, uploaded a video to YouTube or designed a MySpace page.

So my recommendation is that for next year's APAP technology track there is one session that is dedicated to live demonstrations of the most popular online software programs and related technologies that are relevant to presenters, performers and other conference delegates.

So one possible scenario is that software and technology in each of the following categories is demonstrated:

- Website and content management applications
- Blogs and syndication
- Social networking
- Media sharing sites (video, pictures, audio)
- Mobile devices with focus on marketing and video distribution
- Event calendar applications with social networking component, and
- Important categories of software and technology that emerge in 2007

By starting with this type of introductory session that gives attendees a clear visual understanding of what these applications and technologies are all about, follow-up sessions that are devoted to Internet strategies, case studies and related panel discussions will make a lot more sense, be more practical and encourage more interaction.

An alternative approach - one that would take a good amount of work - would be to create a series of screen capture videos that delegates could watch before the conference. For instance, we could create a short Flash video that showed how you go about uploading, describing and tagging a video on YouTube. Simply by watching this series of how-to videos, delegates would come to the conference with a solid framework for learning about and discussing different Internet strategies.

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January 23, 2007

Dance School Recommendation in London

A friend of mine lives near Sadler's Wells in London. She's looking for a top-notch dance studio in the area for taking dance classes.

Please email me if you have recommendations for her.

Much Thanks!

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Amateur Art Making and Its Impact on Professional Presenters

During the APAP conference, I attended an educational session, "Professional Presenters and the Amateur Arts." Andrew Taylor, director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration, and a group of his students shared research about how presenters should respond to the growth of participatory and amateur art-making. And they also explored whether this explosion in non-professional art-making represents a competitive threat or possible partnership opportunity for presenters.

To digress a bit, it was great to meet Andrew Taylor in person after reading and enjoying his Artful Manager blog for quite awhile.

On the Bolz Center for Arts Administration website, you can read more about this research project that was the basis for this session. I also believe that the full presentation will soon be posted to this site. What would also be very helpful is if the student researchers could recap the session and integrate some of the ideas discussed during this program.

I thought the four students - Leigh Henderson, Joanne Jacobson, Jara Kern and Maggie Marquardt - did an excellent job of uncovering real-world examples of the many diverse ways that amateurs are creating art and, in a number of cases, collaborating with professional artists.

Here are some of the types of amateur art-making the students highlighted:

Knitting circles, community ensembles, web-based songwriter networks, weekend warrior musicians, webloggers, photographers, ethnic dance and handicraft groups, filmmakers, podcasters, poetry slammers, hip-hop and scratch artists, and others.

The question of how presenters (theaters, performing arts venues, festival organizers) should respond to the growth in amateur art-making is a critical issue that is worthwhile to address so that presenters can better determine how they can continue to play an important role within the arts and cultural life of their communities.

The current mindset of many presenters is still one that primarily envisions passive audiences coming to a venue to sit quietly while watching a performance. This perspective simply can't survive in a world where audiences expect to be engaged and involved, and want to experience the arts in a more concrete and participatory manner. At the same time, there definitely are presenters who are embracing this move towards participatory art making and some shared their experiences during this session.

Some thoughts and ideas I jotted down that were shared during this session:

- How do presenters go about inviting amateur artists to perform at their venues/festivals when they are primarily in the business of hosting professional artists? Will audiences be confused? Do you offer different ticket pricing for professional groups and amateur groups?

- What are the best ways for presenters to support amateur art-making in their communities? Low cost/free rehearsal space? Marketing support? Fundraising assistance? But then how do presenters cover their costs?

- How many presenters today are working with amateur groups or mixed professional/amateur groups?

- If, as I said above, audiences want more participatory experiences, what types of performances should presenters be booking? Should there be more interactive opportunities for audiences before, during or after the program? Should these interactive opportunities be brought online? (I'll explore this topic of online community when I write about other educational sessions I attended.)

- What types of threats - if any - does amateur art-making really pose to presenters? Will smaller audiences go to "traditional" performances because more and more people are spending time making art with their friends and artist collaborators? Or, is the spread in participatory art-making really a trend that can be wholeheartedly embraced by presenters so that everybody benefits?

Actually, during the sessions some of these questions were explored and specific examples were offered, and I'm hoping the students will recap some of the recommended ideas.

One area where I'd like to see more research in is how the use by amateur artists of Web 2.0 tools (social media and networking sites - often with a strong focus on multimedia content) is having or will have an impact on presenters. For instance, millions of musicians, videographers, photographers - both amateur and professional - are using YouTube, Flickr, MySpace and many other applications to communicate directly with their audiences. Is it possible that some presenters will somehow get cut-out of the picture and will not play their traditional role of bringing together artists and audiences? And if there is a possibility that presenters will be marginalized, what steps should they take now so that this does not happen?

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January 22, 2007

Dance Blogger Gathering in NYC

Update: Posts about NYC blogger gathering from Tony and Tonya.

In addition to attending the APAP conference while in New York, I also got together with four other dance bloggers last night at a restaurant across the street from Lincoln Center.

It was great to finally meet fellow bloggers face-to-face after communicating online for awhile.

Since we arranged everything at the last moment, there are other bloggers who couldn’t join us - and I'm sure others we didn't contact. But we’ll have another gathering in near future – more about that below.

Here’s a picture from last night:

Left to right: Tonya, me, SalomeJustitia, Tony and Kristin

We’re thinking of having the next get-together in the East Village. So if you’re a dance blogger, planning to blog about dance or just want to join us, drop me an email and I’ll add you to a distribution list.

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Back from APAP Conference

I just got back to DC from the APAP conference in NYC.

I had a wonderful time. The conversations, educational programs and dance performances were all great. I met many dancers, presenters and others at this event and had some thought-provoking conversations about how the dance world is embracing - and grapling with - the Internet and digital technologies.

I'd like to thank the the Association of Performing Arts Presenters for providing me with press access to the conference so that I could cover this event on Great Dance.

My initial idea was to cover parts of this conference - especially the educational sessions - in real-time. But that didn't work out in the end. So I'll be writing about many different aspects of this event over the coming week. Plus, I'll be posting some video interviews that I did.

I especially enjoyed meeting a number of people at the conference with whom I've been communicating with online and never had an opportunity to meet face-to-face.

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January 18, 2007

In NYC to Cover APAP

I just drove up to New York to attend and cover the 50th Annual Member Conference of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. I'll be at this event starting tomorrow morning.

I'm looking forward to this conference, meeting a lot of people and seeing a lot of dance.

Thanks to everybody who shared their recommendations about what I should see and cover during APAP - it is really overwhelming how many showcases there are in just a few days - it's impossible to see a fraction of what you'd like to.

I have a camcorder, audio recorder and camera so I have a lot of flexibility in terms of how I cover this event. I don't know if the Hilton has WiFi or not in it's meeting rooms. If there is WiFi, I might do some live blogging from some of sessions - I'll see.

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January 17, 2007

Multimedia Guide to Merce Cunningham

Here's a multimedia guide to the work of Merce Cunningham with video, audio and picture links. I'd also like to add resources for his use of Life Forms software and computer animation - if you know of links, please let me know.

INTRODUCTION

- Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) website. Visit MCDC site to watch introductory video or click image:

- Merce in Miami is a city-wide tribute to Merce Cunningham's more than 50 years as a dance maker. From February 23 - March 3, 2007.

- Bio on Wikipedia.

- Bio on American Masters on PBS.

ONLINE VIDEO GUIDE

"Encounter:Merce"

In 2005 Stanford University hosted "Encounter:Merce," a campus-wide interdisciplinary program that examined the life and work of Merce Cunningham.

- Article in Spark with video clip introduction to this program.

- Article: "Dancing with Data Adds to Show: Class crunches numbers to analyze whether Merce Cunningham’s choreography should be viewed as ‘biomechanical rebellion’" about Anatomy of Movement class at Stanford.

- Click this link to watch video that shows how Merce Cunningham dancer Jonah Bokaer used a motion capture system as part of this class or click on picture:

- "Merce Cunningham in conversation with John Rockwell," part of Stanford Presidential Lectures in the Humanities and Arts. Introduction to his career as well as annotated links to video clips for following works: "Variations V," "Walkaround Time," "Westbeth" and "Changing Steps."

YouTube Videos

Some overlap with videos above, but you can just click on videos below to start watching.

Merce Cunningham Digest

Merce Cunningham - Septet

Merce Cunningham - Changing Steps

Cage Cunningham ballet

Merce Cunningham Beachbirds for Camera part 1

Merce Cunningham - Biped

Hyper Alarm Dance Produced by video artist Michael Cole

Google Video

- Interview with Merce Cunningham on 1995 Charlie Rose show. (Go to 42 minutes and 7 seconds mark for this interview).

More Video

- "Indeterminacy" (1965)

ONLINE AUDIO GUIDE

- "Merce Cunningham: Dance at the Edge" on NPR. Aired on December 29, 2006.

- "A Life of Dance" 1999 interview on PBS NewsHour.

- John Tusa interview with Merce Cunningham on BBC Radio.

- "Space, Time and Dance" (1952) and "Further Thoughts" (1967).

ONLINE PICTURE GUIDE

- Merce Cunningham Dance Company's photos on Flickr:

- Picture search on Google.

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January 16, 2007

Facilitating the Booking of Dance Companies with Online Video

Since I'll be attending the Association of Performing Arts Presenters' 50th Annual Members Conference later this week, I thought I'd focus in this post on how the Internet can be used to enhance the booking process.

The APAP event is a face-to-face marketplace where a large number of presenters (performing arts venues, theater and festival organizers) and performing arts groups (dancers, theater companies and musicians) meet to network, perform and book groups for upcoming performances.

My primary question is how can the Internet be used by both presenters and performance groups to facilitate and improve the booking process? In addition, I'd like to explore whether the Internet can be a substitute for presenter conferences that take place around the country.

My Answers

- As things stand today, most dance companies do a poor job of using their websites to help presenters learn about their companies, performances and programs. Dance companies would greatly help their efforts to get more bookings if they added a "Booking" section to their website that provided clear and comprehensive background about their offerings to presenters. This section of a dance company's website should definitely include good quality video clips so that presenters can quickly see examples of your performances and related work.

- Organizers of presenter conferences/events - both those serving regional and national constituencies - should consider upgrading their online pre-event scheduling and screening tools to help presenters hone in on those acts that are likely to be the best fit for what they are looking for. For example, if presenters could search for specific types of performance groups prior to an event and watch video clips of these selected groups, they could make better use of the limited time that they spend at an event.

- The Internet will emerge as an important medium for bringing presenters and dance companies together once a much larger number of performance groups post multimedia content (primarily video) that shows examples of their offerings. In addition, new search engine strategies will need to be implemented so that presenters can search for performance groups across multiple websites and video sharing sites.

- In order to book groups that are likely to attract the largest audiences, presenters will embrace event-focused social networking sites where likely audience members share their preferences for various performance groups. In other words, presenters will begin to work more closely with actual ticket buyers to help decide which groups to book.

- As mobile Internet devices continue to proliferate and video quality for small screens makes dramatic improvements, presenters will have real-time access to a parallel virtual resource as they meet with dance companies and watch live showcases. To give a personal example, when I'm engaged in a conversation about a movie or book, I'm often using Google on my Internet-enabled cell phone to look up director names and authors. Essentially like millions of other people, I'm having a real-time conversation and simultaneously access a parallel virtual resource to access specific types of information. So the same scenario will soon apply at presenter events. Presenters will be watching a live showcase of a dance company while using their mobile devices to access online videos and other content about this same dance company. This type of multitasking may drive some people crazy, but it is definitely where we are heading.

Can the Internet Substitute for Presenter Conferences

And to answer my second question about whether the Internet will be a substitute for presenter conferences: my answer is no and yes. In one sense, there is no substitute for face-to-face encounters. Presenters are booking acts to perform live on stage. So the best way to evaluate a group is to see them perform live. A video is nice, but a dance company could do ten takes before getting a performance right. So presenters want to see the real thing with their own eyes.

At the same time, the importance of the Internet - especially the availability of performance video clips - cannot be overlooked. Presenters can:

- Find and evaluate specific types of dance companies more quickly than ever before

- Identify the interests of audiences through social networking sites (essentially this is a low cost approach to conducting both qualitative and quantitative research that one day may prove to be quite accurate)

- Conduct extensive pre-conference research to evaluate possible groups before attending a presenter conference, and

- Have access to a real-time, parallel virtual resource of high-quality videos via a new generation of mobile devices.

There are also two additional factors that will make the Internet an invaluable tool for dance companies seeking more bookings (which means all dance companies):

- Traditional presenters are not the only organizations that book dancers. With the growth of product placements - partly due to our TiVo-obsessed culture where more and more people ignore commercials - dance may become an ideal way to promote a broad range of consumer products. And,

- It is likely that new forms of revenue-generating distribution options will emerge for dance performances, dance-focused TV shows and dance instruction as broadband, IPTV, file sharing and mobile video continues to expand the market for high-quality video.

Upcoming Post: Background, Resources and Examples

The above is a summary of research I've been conducting about how the Internet may transform how presenters evaluate and book performance groups.

In an upcoming post (probably once I get back from APAP), I'll provide background about how I reached my conclusions, related websites and applications that are worth exploring, and specific examples of existing online resources that bring presenters and performance groups together.

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:08 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

January 15, 2007

Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

Today is a national holiday in the US honoring the life and work of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (Wikipedia, CNN, The King Center).

Watch video of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech from YouTube:

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January 11, 2007

Choreographic Collaboration Using Digital Video

Has the way that choreographers and dancers share and analyze dances and moves been transformed by digital video?

Here are detailed versions of this question:

- When a choreographer and dancers are rehearsing, what percentage of the time do they shoot video to share and analyze the dance among themselves? How is this video shared? Do they watch it together or does somebody edit the video and then share it online?

- To follow-up on the above question: Does the use of digital video for analyzing dance-works-in-progress change the nature of how dances are created? Is something lost or is something gained?

- How frequently do choreographers and dancers share dance videos of finished works or works-in-progress with their colleagues in the same city or around the globe? Are dancers now working more closely with or seek advice from other dancers (dancers they are not currently working with or dancers they have never worked with) because it is easy to shoot, edit and share video?

- How have rehearsals changed when dancers have to travel long distances to practice together in the same studio? For instance, is it possible for there to be fewer rehearsals because video can be shared with dancers as a work is developed? Or is there really no substitute for working together in the same studio?

- To what extent is video used with iPods and other portable video players? Are choreographers and dancers using these mobile devices to quickly recall and review earlier rehearsals?

- Are dancers posting videos of rehearsals and finished works to video sharing sites and dance-specific forums for the specific purpose of getting on-going feedback from the public?

- What is the likelihood that collaborative video editing applications will be used by dancers separated by distance to work together on dance choreography? Take a look at video editing software SyncvUE that can be used in conjunction with Skype.

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Ballet Videos - From the Dressing Room to the Studio, Backstage and on Stage

I came across this "Ballerinas warming up" YouTube video this morning while reading a post from Sophie on The Winger. The description on YouTube reads: "In the dressing room before a performance of the Nutcracker."

Which led me to this very popular music video featuring Polina Semionova:

And to this Grand Pas de Deux from the Nutcracker rehearsed in a dance studio:

And, finally, to this documentary about the ABT's Don Quixote with video of the Grand Pas de Deux with Paloma Herrera and Angel Corella:

Inspiring videos to watch after taking my ballet class last night.

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January 10, 2007

Upcoming Coverage of Performing Arts Presenters Conference in Great Dance

I'll be covering the upcoming 50th Annual Member Conference of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters for Great Dance.

50th Annual Member Conference - Association of Performing Arts Presenters

I'm very excited about attending this event which brings together 4,200 participants including 633 presenting organizations (covering music, dance and theater). The conference takes place from January 19-23rd in New York City. The headquarters hotel is the Hilton New York and Towers in Midtown Manhattan and showcases take place throughout the city.

This is the first national conference I'll be covering since starting Great Dance in September 2005. So it will be great to see lots of showcases, attend educational sessions and meet many people in the dance world.

I haven't figured out how I'm going to cover this conference and how I'll spend my time - there are 1,000 showcases - a lot to see. If you've been to this conference before and have recommendations on what and how I should cover it, please email me your thoughts - I'd much appreciate it. I'll be bringing my camcorder and camera so I have a lot of flexibility when it comes to doing interviews but I have to find out what their policy is regarding shooting video and taking pictures of different parts of the program.

Also, if you're performing, please let me know and I'll try to make it.

I was just looking through the list of plenary sessions and workshops and these are among the educational programs I'm thinking of attending:

- "International Perspectives on American Dance"

- Plenary session with futurist Andrew Zolli

- Super Sessions: Rebecca Ryan's "Building Participation – Engaging the Next Generation," and Douglas Rushkoff's "Get Back in the Box: Innovation from Inside Out"

- Burning Issues Forums: "Creating Culture: How 21st Century Online Networks, Tools and Technologies Propel Innovation in the Studio, Sustain Performing Arts Venues, and Build New Audiences" and "Re-shaping Partnerships--Choreographers and Curators"

- Workshop: Kenneth Foster's "Stepping Up - Rethinking Performing Arts Presenting for the 21st Century"

- Networking Coffee Tables: "Dance Literacy" and "Online Licensing and Distribution"

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Sanex Choreographs European TV Ad Campaign

To promote its skincare products in Europe, Sanex worked with Cuban dancer and choreographer Alex Verona to create a captivating TV ad campaign that features 100 nude dancers that "visually portray the natural processes of healthy, active skin."

On Sanex's "Living Skin" site, you can watch the first of the pan-European TV ads, see behind-the-scenes video footage of the making of the ads and view a photo gallery.

Here are screen shots from the TV ad:

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Video Sharing Sites Contribute to Spread of Dance Crazes

In today's Baltimoresun.com, you can read an article by Abigail Tucker about how popular video sharing sites are transforming how new dance moves and fads spread from one city to the next.

In "SquarePants, cool dance," Tucker starts by focusing on the SpongeBob dance, which started in Baltimore and then quickly caught on in clubs throughout the country. (You can go to YouTube and search for "SpongeBob dance" to find videos).

I'm quoted in this article about how I see video sharing sites and video-enabled cell phones contributing to the rapid dissemination of new dances.

I'm going to do more research about this topic. I think it's interesting to think about how widely-available and inexpensive video technologies will impact how popular dance styles and crazes proliferate. Will the impact be felt just at clubs or will performing arts dances also be influenced by the large-scale embrace of digital video?

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Audio Scholar Program at Kennedy Center

I wish I hadn't missed the "American Ballet Theatre: Open Rehearsal" yesterday afternoon at the Kennedy Center. This educational offering is part of the Kennedy Center's Audio Scholar program.

Here's the description:

Join ballet scholars for a behind-the-scenes view of American Ballet Theatre company members as they prepare onstage for a performance. Through this unique program, patrons can receive informational commentary about the choreography, dancers and history of the ballet as the companies rehearse on stage, broadcast through wireless headsets.

I think this is a great concept. Audiences get a chance to watch a rehearsal while receiving real-time insights about the dancers and production. Plus, it's completely unobtrusive to the dancers since the commentary is shared wirelessly.

I'm going to try to make it to the next of these programs, "Open Rehearsal: Bolshoi Ballet" on February 21st at 1:30 PM.

For a complete listing of upcoming dance performances in the Washington, DC area, you can visit the calendar on DanceMetroDC.

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Hybrid Performances Build Audiences and Sell Tickets

It's nice to have your predictions instantly confirmed.

I wrote last Wednesday in "'Grease' - New Synergies For Hybrid Productions" that

While the TV show's website may have some limitations, the idea of creating synergy between a TV competition and a Broadway musical is an excellent one. TV audiences not only get to watch competitors vie for the lead parts in the Broadway production, but they also get to participate in the selection process. And through this highly participatory process, it's hard to imagine that a huge number of tickets for the theatrical production won't be sold.

Yesterday, Playbill reported in "$1.3 Million in Tickets Sold for Broadway's Upcoming Grease":

Averaging 11.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings, the new TV show debuted Jan. 7 — the same day tickets went on sale. The synchronicity seems to have paid off as the box-office advance for the work — which doesn't hit the Broadway stage until July 24 — has already passed the $1 million mark.

Also, thanks to Ballet.co for including a write-up about my "Grease" post in their new weekly section, "Ballet.co BlogWatch," that highlights posts from dance blogs. (Once you click on this link for their weekly news stories, you'll want to scroll down page the page to the links for January 7th.)

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January 9, 2007

Selling Dance DVDs and Downloadable Videos

I've always been curious why choreographers, dancers, dance companies and teachers have not experimented more with different approaches to selling videos of their work online.

But I'm especially curious to know why creators of dance on camera works have not tried to sell their films through online channels. There are many dance film festivals that take place every year around the globe, yet it seems that very few of these films are sold online in DVD format or as downloadable videos. If there's an audience for these film festivals, there has to be a potentially larger audience online.

On the DV Guru blog, I came across a story, "Distribution made easy: CustomFlix and Amazon how-to" by Sheila Ward. This post describes a turnkey service offered by CustomFlix that helps you package and sell your videos either in DVD format or as video downloads through Amazon's new Unbox offering. Visit this page to learn about the specifics of this video download service and the revenue split.

What I like about this CustomFlix offering is that everything can be taken care of for you. DVDs are burned as needed, they offer DVD design services and they integrate their offering with Amazon's Unbox service. But a potential roadblock is that the minimum length for a downloadable video is 20 minutes and dance films can easily be shorter than this.

However, I'm assuming that if you used the Unbox service, you could sign-up for the Amazon affiliate program and generate additional revenue every time that a visitor to your website clicks on a link to purchase your DVD or downloadable video through Amazon.

If you use Unbox, Customflix or any other services for selling your dance videos online, I'd like to hear how well they work for you. Are you selling dance DVDs or downloadable videos? And how are you promoting your videos?

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:04 AM - Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

January 8, 2007

Building an Online Marketplace for the Licensing of Dance Choreography

Update: A few minutes after publishing the below post I came across Wall Street Journal article, "Fine Art of Distinctions: The line between creative performance and actual authorship blurs," by Terry Teachout. This articles deals with the confusing world of copyright laws as they apply to the arts - a topic I touch upon toward end of post. [via ArtsJournal]

In a number of spheres of the art and entertainment world - music, video/film/TV and theater, for example - there have been initiatives to create online marketplaces to facilitate the licensing and use of artistic creations. Yet within the dance community, there has been no such activity. The lack of such an online exchange is unfortunate because it could serve as an important new revenue stream for choreographers.

A Possible Model for the Dance Community

Last September I was listening to an interview on the radio program Studio 360. (Click on this link and then select "Playscrips" to listen to the program). The guests were Douglas and Jonathan Rand, brothers who started a new business in 2001 called Playscripts, Inc. The brothers realized that the process of marketing unpublished plays was very difficult and there were only two main companies through which playwrights had to work in order to get exposure for their scripts.

So the Playscript founders created an online marketplace where quality scripts could be licensed. Now the service has over 550 plays from more than 350 playwrights. Most of these plays are licensed to high schools and community theater groups. In the interview the Rand brothers pointed out that most agents are always in search of the big gigs for their playwright clients. The big challenge, however, is that there are only a few hundred professional theaters but there are tens of thousands of high schools that produce plays.

The end result is that everybody benefits from the Playscript concept. Amateur and professional groups in need of plays can now search for, review, license and pay for scripts. And the playwrights now have a new revenue stream through this innovative distribution platform.

An Online Licensing Platform for Dance Choreography

Is it possible to create a similar online marketplace for the licensing of dance choreography?

I think that this idea is worth exploring although there are some potential hurdles that may be difficult to overcome.

Among the key challenges:

First, is there a market today for licensing dance choreography? In most cases when choreography is licensed it is done to re-stage well-known works or for Broadway-style productions. But as the Rand brothers identified a huge untapped marketplace for plays in high schools, is there a similar unrecognized market for dance choreography?

Second, choreographers and dancers often do not get copyrights for their dance works. Without a standardized approach to protecting intellectual property - in this case dance choreography - it's not really possible to set-up a marketplace (online or off) where large numbers of dance works can be licensed. Take a look at "When Choreographer is Out of the Picture" by Diane Solway in yesterday's New York Times. The article points out that even the great choreographers of the 20th Century have paid little attention to ensuring that they secured a legal interest in their works and could control their own legacy:

“I don’t care frankly,” said the boyish Mr. Taylor with a sly laugh, fishing another cigarette from the pack. “I won’t be here to see the dances which I enjoy, so what does it matter to me?

Third, if large numbers of choreographers did seek copyright protection, a train wreck might ensue. Would there all of a sudden be hundreds of court cases with choreographers and dancers battling it out to determine who exactly owned what moves, steps and combinations? Dance may be better off the way it is now - a fluid process of creation, sharing and re-mixing where choreographers are inspired by many sources and incorporate many ideas into their dances.

Let's say that the above challenges can be addressed, how would an online marketplace look for the licensing of dance choreography?

I think it would be similar to Playscripts. Buyers could search for dance works by style, choreographer, audience-type, price and other criteria. Then users could read descriptions and watch video excerpts.

The pricing options would be listed for each piece of choreography. For example, there might be different prices for amateur and professional groups and different combinations of a flat licensing fee with or without a percentage of box office receipts.

In addition, the choreographer could choose to allow the creation of derivative works so that the licensed choreography could be used as the basis for a new work built upon this original piece.

So my hunch is that it would be very challenging to create a marketplace for the licensing of dance choreography - although if it were possible, it would create a new revenue stream for the creators of these works.

Posted by Doug Fox at 4:34 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

January 5, 2007

Dancing for a Better World

Here's how dancers around the globe can join together to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars a month to support worthwhile causes while simultaneously generating financial support for their dance careers and creative explorations.

A few months ago, Peter DiMuro, producing artistic director for Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, told me about "Postcard Dances," which were popular during the 60s. If somebody wanted to see a dance that dealt with a specific topic, they would write the description of the desired dance on the back of a postcard and mail it to a specific address. Then, a dancer or dance company would choreograph a piece in response to the postcard request. How the mechanics of this process actually worked I'm not sure about - if somebody in Los Angeles requested a dance that was created by dancers in New York, how did the postcard writer actually see the dance? I have to ask Peter about this.

In any case, I've been thinking about this idea of Postcard Dances in the context of the Internet. What would happen if we put out an online call for a specific type of dance performance? Say, we wrote that we were looking for 3-minute original dance works that addressed (in a concrete or abstract manner) specific topics such as poverty, healthcare and disease, violence and genocide, environment and global warming, or many other pressing issues of our time.

Dancers around the world could then make a video of themselves or their dance companies performing this theme-specific work and then submit it to a designated website. Visitors to this site could then watch hundreds of excellent dance videos that addressed specific issues. This would be my Internet version of Postcard Dances.

Once a video library of dances is created for each cause, the next question is how do we go about monetizing this undertaking? In other words, how do we raise money for different charitable efforts? If the first requested dance piece deals with global poverty, then we need to find a way to raise money for organizations that are dedicated to combating poverty.

Here's how revenue could be generated from both advertising revenue and donations:

First, by encouraging large numbers of dancers to submit videos that address specific issues, there will be hundreds of engaging dance performances accessible at a single online location. These videos will attract a large audience (with the help of a corresponding marketing effort).

Second, there are an increasing number of video applications and services that enable video creators to monetize their videos in different ways. This morning I was learning about In Video from AdBrite. In Video is a customized video player that you can embed on your website. This video player shows your videos along with advertisements in a "split-screen" so that the video watching experience is not interrupted. Video producers split the ad revenue with AdBrite (I don't know what specifics are of the revenue share). So if hundreds of dance videos are aggregated for each cause, thousands of hours of videos will be watched which will generate a good revenue stream from advertising. [InVideo story via TechCrunch]

Third, this archive of dance videos can also serve as a compelling vehicle for seeking donations from individuals and corporations. This morning I was reading another post, "The Power of One," in Maryann Devine's Smarts & Culture blog. Maryann writes about a successful online fundraising effort conducted by Beth Kanter that uses "fundraising widgets" or "charity badges" for seeking donations. Clearly, as the story makes clear, there is more to fundraising than simply using the latest Internet tools, but it's intriguing to see how these applications can be put to good use. To learn more about charity badges, visit Network for Giving on Yahoo.

So by using charity badges as part of a compelling fundraising effort, donations can add up for worthwhile causes even when contributions are made in relatively small increments. Beth Kanter rasied $49,537 from 745 donors for educational programs in Cambodia in just three weeks.

Forth, both the In Video player and the charity badges have a viral component. So visitors to the dance video site who watch the videos can take any of the videos and put them on their own websites and blogs. Ads are also shown on these distributed videos, which mean that ad revenue continues to be generated no matter where the videos are played. Plus, visitors to the dance video site can also be encouraged to put the charity badges on their own websites as well. This means that an increasingly larger and larger audience of Internet users will be encouraged to make donations.

Plus, if say 200 dancers submit videos for a specific cause, all of these dancers will be encouraged to place their videos and charity badges on their respective websites, blogs and MySpace pages. This type of distributed marketing will significantly increase the audience for the dance videos - increasing ad revenue and donations.

Fifth, dancers should also be compensated for their dance video contributions. Some type of overall revenue share program should be created so that of all the revenue and donations generated, a specific percentage goes to the contributing dancers. Then, a formula would have to be created to determine what percentage of the dancers' revenue pool each dancer or dance company would receive. Maybe it's based on the number of views or maybe it's just an even split for each dance contributor.

That's my game plan. I think it would work.

A note about In Video and specific charity badges. I've never used In Video or any of the charity badges or fundraising applications. So I'm just using them in this story as examples of what is possible.

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:50 AM - Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

January 4, 2007

My Dance Goals for 2007

To participate belatedly in Natalia's Dance Carnival, I'm including below my dance goals for 2007. Natalia of Bellydance: Experiences is encouraging dance bloggers to write about their goals for the year.

My dance goals for 2007:

- Keep making progress in the different dance classes I'm taking. I've been taking jazz for about 1 1/2 years, I started modern last September and I took my very first ballet class last night. I also want to do more social dancing this year - mostly swing dancing, which has a big community in the Washington, DC area. I take modern/jazz/ballet at Joy of Motion - I've been taking modern with Helen Hayes and jazz with Tom Mayock - both excellent teachers. And I've been taking swing with Tom & Debra -- the leading swing dance instructors in the area.

- Over the next year, I'll probably devote more time to modern dance than other styles. Even though I'm very much a beginner, I feel that I'm making good progress. Helen Hayes' Beginner 2 class is a little too advanced for me, but somehow I think I'm getting the hang of it.

- I've written in the past about responsive dance environments where a dancer's movements control various external media devices in real-time. For example, a hand gesture can activate a video sequence or a musical phrase. I'd like to advance enough in modern dance by the end of the year so that I can start experimenting with different types of responsive technologies in order to get a hands-on feel for how they work.

- Finally, I'd like to stay healthy. Almost all last year I was recovering from injuring my adductors and tendons in both legs. I did a couple of months of physical therapy and I continue to do the exercises and stretching that my physical therapist taught me. So these injuries are just about healed. But I'm always overdoing it, which isn't a good idea when you're starting to dance in your 40s. So I have to force myself to increase whatever I do in small increments so that I can avoid injuries in the future.

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