April 30, 2007A Whirlwind of Dance PerformancesI managed to see four dance performances this weekend here in DC - a wonderful experience. In addition to the three I mentioned in my Thursday post, I also saw, "Jazz Now" at Joy of Motion last night. I'll write more about the contact improvisation, ballet, modern and jazz performances I saw over the next few days - I need to think about them. It's always especially enjoyable to watch your dance teachers and fellow students perform. In the last performance of last night's "Jazz Now" program, I've been taught by or taken classes with 4 of the 5 dancers at Joy of Motion. I've taken jazz with Doug Yeuell and modern with Helen Hayes and Sarah Stoodley, and I've attended jazz classes with Felicia Skowronek. And Loren Amdursky, who I've taken jazz and modern classes with, danced in two different performances with JazzeMotion. Posted by Doug Fox at 7:54 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) More from The Nothing FestivalTo follow-up my post "Reflections on 'The Nothing Festival' at DTW," you can read Eva Yaa Asantewaa's "More Ado about A Lot." In her excellent post, Eva was kind enough to expand upon her thoughts about "States and Resemblance," a work-in-progress created and performed by Dean Moss, Ryutaro Mishima and Restu Kusumaningrum: States and Resemblance gripped me and had me on the edge of my seat largely because something tangible--a quiet, refined something--emerged from whatever nothing these collaborators took as their starting point. Moss--who sat at one far end of O'Connor's panel and, for some reason, spoke very seldom--said that "We are meaning machines: Put something out and we will make a story of it." As I watched Moss's subtle, slyly casual interaction with Mishima in States and Resemblance, I found myself forming and releasing a round of stories and meanings, happily birthing but not clinging to any, and this experience was brought to me by two artists in exquisite command of their physical and expressive powers. This work welcomed me in and made me a participant in a way that the other three simply did not. I say it again: Seeing this one dance again is all I want to do right now. I wanted to say hello to Eva at The Nothing Festival but she had to take off right at the end of the panel discussion so I didn't get a chance to introduce myself in person. Other articles about The Nothing Festival: - "A Little Something for Nothing: Choreographers start from scratch; no cheating allowed," by Deborah Jowitt in The Village Voice - "There’s Something Here, Emanating From Nothing," by Jennifer Dunning in The New York Times Posted by Doug Fox at 7:41 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) Documenting Dance Publication from Dance Heritage CoalitionIn February, I wrote about a new publication, "Documenting Dance: A Practical Guide," from Washington, DC-based Dance Heritage Coalition (DHC). You can now download this entire publication in PDF format from the DHC website. Posted by Doug Fox at 7:30 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) April 28, 2007How Are Dancers Profiting from Their Internet Videos?How have you benefited by posting your dance videos to the Internet? In yesterday's post, I wrote about seven ways that Internet videos can help dancers and dance companies be more successful and generate revenue. Now what I'd like to do is feature specific examples of how dancers are putting their online videos to work. Have you taken advantage of any of the following approaches to profiting from your online dance videos? How have you done this? Do you know of others who have? Do you have suggestions on how to launch a successful online video campaign? Here's a recap from my post of the main ways you can benefit from distributing your dance videos online? 1) Build dance audiences and sell more tickets 2) Increase bookings for your dance company 3) Improve your fundraising efforts and increase donations 4) Generate revenue from ads inserted into your videos 5) Sell online sponsorship to support your Internet video productions 6) Receive revenue from product placements in dance videos 7) Sell your dance videos online of performances and dance instruction Please post a comment or email me directly. I'll feature these stories in my upcoming book on dance videos and the Internet, which I'm in the middle of writing. My publication covers the entire process of how dancers and dance companies can shoot, edit, market and profit from their Internet videos. You can view an extensive archive of blog posts that relate to many different aspects of producing dance videos. Also, if you know of other dancers and dance companies who are using Internet videos in profitable and innovative ways, please let me know about them as well. Thanks for your help! Posted by Doug Fox at 9:22 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) April 27, 2007Generating Revenue from Online Dance VideosIn this post I offer an introduction on how to profit from your online dance videos. I start with the more practical approaches – increase ticket sales, bookings and fundraising – and then move on to ways to generate revenue directly from the Internet. Some of these online revenue opportunities are definitely in their formative stages, but I think that they will grow in importance. 1) Audience Acquisition and Ticket Sales One of the most important ways to use your Internet videos is to build audiences for your upcoming performances, dance events, dance classes, fundraisers and related activities. By adding video to your website and/or blog and integrating it into your overall marketing initiatives, you will capture the attention of more prospective audience members and encourage them to buy tickets and attend your programs. 2) Bookings For some reason that I don’t really understand, many dancers and dance companies do not use their Internet presence – website, blog, social networking pages - for making a compelling case for why performing arts venues, theaters, festival organizers and others should book them. If you haven’t done so already, I would recommend adding a section to your website that says “Booking Information.” On this page it is definitely worthwhile to add one or more videos that highlight your offerings. If, say, you perform and teach, why not have one video for each of your different offerings? These videos along with good marketing copy will help presenters and others have a much better understanding of what you do. 3) Fundraising and Donations I don’t mean to sound too depressing here, but I have not seen a single compelling example of a dance company using their dance videos as a component of an integrated online fundraising effort. The best approach to online fundraising is to raise money for a specific upcoming project. You can create a video where the members of you dance company speak directly to the Internet audience explaining the project and your need for contributions. Use a “charity badge” so that visitors can see how much money you’ve raised and can help promote your fundraising efforts on their own websites. And then send out a snail mail and email solicitation encouraging your audience to watch your online video and contribute to your fundraising drive. 4) Monetize Internet Video with Ads An increasing number of video sharing sites offer tools for monetizing (generating revenue from) your videos. There’s no reason not to explore and experiment with these advertising opportunities to see what works and does not work. There are no truly established revenue models for online video. But at the same time, I’m confident that the dance community will figure out over the coming year what types of dance videos are most compelling and what are the best ways to monetize these videos. Imagine the benefits of a world where Internet revenue contributes a significant amount to your annual budget – this is definitely not outside the real of possibilities. 5) Online Sponsorship If you already sell sponsorship packages to your financial supporters, there’s no reason not to expand these packages to your website and video content. In many instances extended exposure on your website, especially in the form of video promotions, can provide your sponsors with greater long-term access to your audience. Online sponsorship support can also enable you to create video documentaries, video access to your rehearsal process and mashup contents that let your audience re-mix your dance videos. And in the process of introducing these online video projects, you will generate more publicity, spur ticket sales and increase bookings. 6) Product Placement This is unexplored territory, but it has always struck me that there are ways to integrate produce placements in online dance videos. The beauty of dance is that movement is a universal language. Ideas and emotions can be conveyed without the use of words. In addition, product placement avoids having to bombard ad-averse Internet audiences from watching 15 or 30-second pre-roll videos that are really annoying. So what better medium than dance is there for promoting different products to a worldwide audience? Just consider the creative service offerings of Pilobolus for starters. The question is how specifically can products be integrated into digital dance videos and who would sell these product placement opportunities to corporate advertisers? This commercialization of dance may not be for everybody, but it does seem like a growth field that can create a new revenue stream for dancers. 7) Digital Content Sales Selling videos directly to consumers over the Internet is very much at this stage an unproven business model. And it may prove to be more challenging than monetizing videos through advertising. The main question is what type of online dance video content will the public actually purchase? Dance instruction seems like a good possibility – especially if it is made available for entire classes as well as individual moves and routines. Dance performances may sell if the video productions are shot in a way that is optimized for online viewing. And dance companies may seek payments in the form of donations for videos of works-in-progress and other programs. Posted by Doug Fox at 12:08 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) April 26, 2007Weekend Dance Performances in DCI'm attending the following dance performances this weekend in Washington, DC: - Friday, April 27 - Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround performs "MyOcean is Never Blue" at Dance Place [Schedule and ticket link] - Saturday, April 28 - Susan Shields Ballet Cocktail: An Evening of Contemporary Dance at George Mason University Center for the Arts [Schedule and ticket link] - Sunday, April 29 - Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's "Ferocious Beauty: Genome" at Atlas Performing Arts Center [Schedule and ticket link] Posted by Doug Fox at 11:45 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) Video Headcams and the First Person Dance ExperienceOne of the hottest and sometimes inane crazes on the Internet these days is Justin.tv. Justin Kan has strapped a small video headcam to the side of his head and records everything he sees and hears 24/7. The video feed is streamed in real-time to Justin.tv where you can watch the feed. (Here's a video from San Francisco Chronicle that shows Justin in action.)  Justin's video camera is connected to a notebook PC in his backpack. And the video stream is transmitted by a wireless broadband EV-DO card - such as the one offered by Verizon. All of this equipment is widely available and relatively easy to set-up. There are a number of streaming video services that you can use to It would have been nice to have found a video of a dancer wearing a headcam so you could see an example of a dancer transmitting video from a first person perspective. But I couldn't find one. So if you haven't seen other examples of first-person videos, here's a video of a snowboarder wearing a headcam - it's nothing too exciting, but it gives you a general idea: Headcams for Choreographers and Dancers in the Studio What would be possible applications for video headcams in the dance world? I think it would be fascinating to watch choreographers and dancers creating a new work from the first-person point of view. Imagine a choreographer wearing a headcam similar to the one used by Justin. As the choreographer works with dancers to create a new work, the Internet audience gets to watch the process unfold in the exact same way that the choreographer does. I think that this type of real-time video would be captivating. Even the slow parts would be fascinating to see - a completely unedited, authentic behind-the-scenes look at how dances are created. In addition, one or more dancers could have headcams of their own. So that way Internet viewers could watch the rehearsal process from both the choreographer's and the dancer's perspective. I believe that this type of video programming would capture a large audience and sponsors would underwrite this initiative. This would especially be the case if big name choreographers participated in this project. The real-time streaming video applications also have tools for community feedback. So as the dance-making process continues, the global Internet community would be sharing their feedback in text - or, for that matter, in audio or video formats. "Mr. Morris, I don't agree with your approach here, I just shot a video a few seconds ago that shows you how the dancers ought to perform this movement phrase." Mark Morris would then review my clip, and IM me back to tell me that my recommendation is right on the money! Headcams for Dance Performances One or more dancers equipped with video headcams during a performance would also be intriguing. Last year I wrote a post "Video Cams for Contact Improvisation, which addresses the same topic without the live Internet feed component. Tomorrow I'm attending Daniel Burkholder's "My Ocean is never blue" performance at Dance Place. I think it would be fun if a couple of the dancers wore video headcams that transmitted their feeds directly to the Internet for a global audience to watch. In addition, two monitors could be set-up on each side of the stage. This way the audience could watch the performance and simultaneously see two different first-person perspectives as experienced by the dancers. Here's a brief section with a much smaller cast of "My Ocean is never blue" which was performed at the super-small Transformer gallery in DC last month. You can briefly see me in the back in the red shirt in the opening seconds: Posted by Doug Fox at 9:05 AM - Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0) April 25, 2007Reflections on "The Nothing Festival" at DTWLast Saturday I attended "The Nothing Festival" at Dance Theater Workshop in New York. I saw the evening performances by four choreographers and attended an afternoon discussion led by the festival's curator Tere O’Connor. I enjoyed the panel discussion but, overall, I didn't find the performances very interesting. In the reviews I link to below, there's a lot of praise for Dean Moss' work. So I'm going to follow-up with Eva Yaa Asantewaa and Apollinaire Scherr to try to understand what I missed. In this post I would like to address Tere O'Connor's disdain for and anger that is directed toward both dance critics and dance funding organizations. It appears that his contempt for these two pillars of the "dance establishment" is a big part of his motivation for organizing The Nothing Festival. Before exploring this topic, I'd first like to direct you to links about "The Nothing Festival": - Eva Yaa Asantewaa's review, "Much ado about...something" in her new InfiniteBody blog - On Apollinaire Scherr's Foot in Mouth blog, there are a number of posts and comments about The Nothing Festival - including from me and Tonya Plank with whom I saw discussion and performance: ** GO: Dean Moss at the Nothing Festival, plus thoughts on "nothing" ** Readers respond to thoughts on the Nothing Festival ** Doug Fox: Skip the Funders--and go direct to the Internet ** Tonya Plank: More reflections on the Nothing Festival - New York Times review, "Choreographing From Scratch With No Recipe," by Roslyn Sulcas - Gia Kourlas interview with O'Connor in Time Out New York - "Much ado about nothing: Tere O’Connor skims the fat off the creative process in his new festival" The Inspiration for "The Nothing Festival" O'Connor believes that the requirements of funding organizations are diametrically opposed to the creative-process that inspires dance making. In the Kourlas interview in Time Out New York, he says: One thing that’s always been difficult for me, and that I think has had an effect on the entire form, is grant-writing and talking about my work in a narrative way in advance. But it’s always requested. For people who are able, early on, to elucidate the thematic information of their work, there’s almost a value system that says, “That’s better.” It’s more fundable. My complete interest is in using choreography as an abstract documentation form: You choreograph in the moment you’re in, ideas adhere to a dance and it becomes something, but you locate it through the process of choreographing. So the artists I’ve chosen [for "The Nothing Festival"] seem like people who work in that vein or whose work isn’t about representation or re-representation. O'Connor is also annoyed by dance critics. At the very beginning of the panel discussion Saturday afternoon, O'Connor referred to Roslyn Sulcas' New York Times review as "myopic" and thought the article with unnecessarily dismissive of the festival. Sulcas wrote that "the four pieces were amateurish and sketchy." Presumably Mr. O’Connor wanted to free these choreographers from habitual constraints, but the result was mostly a self-indulgent free-for-all that replaced the disciplined shaping of raw material with self-expression. That is not choreography; it’s just acting out. I believe that O'Connor's criticism of dance writers is completely unwarranted. Dance writers, contrary to his wishes, have every right to use a word, a phrase or an entire review to blast a dance piece if they choose to. That is actually the job of a critic - to say if they like a piece or don't like a piece. But I sympathize much more with O'Connor's frustrations with the funding process. It simply does not make sense for some choreographers and dancers to submit detailed funding proposals about work that has not yet been created. And for choreographers with a more abstract, less narrative approach, writing a storyline for a future work can crosses into the land of absurdity. If meaning derives from the movement itself, how can you use words to impose meaning on movement when that's not how you create dance? Rethinking the Dance Eco-System It's fine for choreographers and dancers to express their frustrations toward our "capitalist" economic system as they did during the panel discussion, but it would be more valuable to discuss how dance-makers can work within our existing economic structures to pursue the creative avenues they wish to explore. If funding organizations require narrative where none exists or descriptions of works that have yet to be imagined, then what other economic models can dancers pursue to finance their dance works? This is what I wrote in a comment to Apollinaire Scherr: Why does everybody assume there are no alternatives to financing new dance works besides seeking the blessing of funders? If funders impose too many burdensome requirements on choreographers and dancers, I say, forget the funders! I may have overstated my point a little. But I think it's time that choreographers and dancers start exploring new Internet models for financing upcoming projects. While at the same time, it's important to continue working with funding organizations to explore new approaches to seeking financial support. For example, are funding organizations open to supporting projects because of the specific approach taken to the creative process as opposed to requiring a specific narrative framework? And in terms of dance criticism and writing, I don't see any benefit to viewing dance writers in antagonistic terms. Dance writers play an important role in educating the general public about dancers and dance performances. But in terms of looking forward, there are some important ways that dance companies can help dance writers be more successful and reach larger audiences. I've written extensively about how dance writers can embrace the Internet in new ways by incorporating video footage into their reviews in order to give readers a better understanding of specific dance pieces and dance in general. I believe that choreographers and dancers should provide video footage of their dances to writers so that dance critics can begin to explore these new online journalistic possibilities. This multimedia dance coverage will reach more people than ever before, which will build new and larger audiences for dance. At the same time, dance writers need to be given complete freedom to use online video clips in the ways they deem most appropriate without any limitation on how they go about covering and critiquing dance performances. Posted by Doug Fox at 8:49 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) April 24, 2007Jaw-Dropping "Slow Dancing" Videos by David MichalekAs I mentioned yesterday, I attended the "Slow Dancing" program at the Guggenheim Museum in New York on Sunday night. This program was part of the museum's "Works & Process" series that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at many different art forms. The Sunday night program was superb. At this year's Lincoln Center Festival, starting in June, there will be an outdoor installation featuring 50-foot tall, high-definition dance videos projected on to the New York State Theater. What is special about these dance videos taken by photographer David Michalek - who is married to Wendy Whelan of the NYC Ballet - is how they were made and how they will be projected. Michalek invited 45 top dancers from around the world, representing many different dance styles, to a studio in NYC created for this project. He shot each dancer for just five seconds using a high-speed, high-definition camera that shot at a rate of 3,000 frames per second. So for each 5-second shoot, he captured 20 gigs of data. Then he turned the series of captured images into a slow playing movie to jaw-dropping effect. Consider this: He shoots a dancer for just 5 seconds but the resulting video is 10 minutes in length. That means that we get to watch extraordinary dancers move in slow motion so we can experience and analyze movement in ways that were never previously possible. It sort of is a modern take on the question that Eadweard Muybridge asked in the 1880's when he took pictures in quick succession of trotter horses to see if all four legs simultaneously left the ground - they do. But in this modern take, we get to ponder what really happens to a dancer's muscles and body position as they perform a series of movements. Sunday Night's Program At the Works & Process program Sunday night, we were treated to performances that viewers outside the New York State Theater will not get to see. We were shown three larger than life slow-motion videos that were created by Michalek. But before each video, the dancer came on stage - a small one at the Guggenheim theater - and performed their 5-second routine. Then we watched the high-definition video of the dancer immediately afterwards. The three dancers we got to see were Wendy Whelan, Herman Cornejo from ABT and Desmond Richardson. As Tonya Plank wrote in her excellent post about this event: Michalek joked that this was the only time we’d ever see dancers of this stature dance on a stage for a mere five seconds! In addition to watching the super-short performances and the slow-motion video, there was a panel discussion led by arts presenter and producer Nigel Redden featuring Michalek, Richardson and Whelan. Michalek did an excellent job of explaining how he researched and created this project. And Richardson and Whelan provided engaging insight from the dancers' perspective. As Whelan shared, a dancer is really exposing the most minute elements of her movement for the world to view and assess. The Work of Photographer Lois Greenfield In February, I wrote about "Held," a dance performance featuring Australian Dance Theatre's (ADT) and dance photographer Lois Greenfield. In a nutshell, Greenfield was on stage during the performance taking pictures of the high-flying moves of ADT dancers. These images were then projected in real-time on to two projection screens. This way the audience could see larger-than-life shots of the dancers that had been taken just moments before. I did not see this ADT performance, but my impression is that the "Slow Dancing" photos/videos (I don't know what to call them) of Michalek are more interesting to me. In "Held," Greenfield is making choices for the audience. The projected images we see are the ones she decided to shoot. But with "Slow Dancing," Michalek is not making choices for us in the same way. The entire 5-second movement phrase is available for use to watch, analyze and examine. On top of that, taking traditional pictures of dancers is an art form, but it is not dance in the sense of movement through space and time. A picture is just capturing a moment in time disconnected from all other moments. But the "Slow Dancing" project is directly about dance because we get to see movement unfold in front of our eyes in time and space. And we see what was previously unseen in stunning minute detail, which to me makes it a jaw-dropping experience. Posted by Doug Fox at 9:12 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) April 23, 2007"Slow Dancing" at the Guggenheim MuseumLast night I saw a wonderful program at the Guggenheim Museum in New York called "Slow Dancing." The discussion and presentation showcased the work of photographer David Michalek and dancers Desmond Richardson, Wendy Whelan and Herman Cornejo. The high-definition photos - taken at 3,000 images per second - of the dancers were projected in slow motion to highlight the the smallest increment of movement possible. I thought the program was wonderful and I'll write more about it when I get back to DC. Tonya Plank has an excellent write-up about this event. Posted by Doug Fox at 6:31 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) April 19, 2007New International Dance Association NeededMashable reported yesterday that YouTube may be on the verge of offering an advertising revenue-split with video producers. This development means that dancers will soon be able to monetize their videos on YouTube. Plus, many other video sharing sites have or will be rolling out similar revenue-generating opportunities for video producers. (To explore the financial opportunities offered by different video sites, link to these sites from my video directory that I posted on Monday). While there are an increasing number of ways that dancers can begin to create new online revenue streams, there are a few hurdles that will have to be dealt with: 1) There are a lot of unauthorized dance videos on the Internet. 2) As dancers seek ways to generate online revenue, the ownership rights of composers and musicians have to be properly taken into consideration. I need to learn a lot more about how music is licensed for the purpose of online distribution via digital videos. But from what I do know, it appears that the requirements of the major music licensing organizations (BMI and ASCAP) is excessive and onerous. A better method needs to be created so that dancers have access to a wide range of music under licensing payment plans that make economic sense to dancers and provide appropriate compensation to composers and musicians. 3) As what I'll call the parallel economic universe of the Internet expands revenue and business opportunities, dancers from around the world will want to collaborate and exchange ideas on how to develop and My proposal A new Internet-based membership organization is created for dancers around the world - part-time and full time, professional and amateur - The first thing that this organization would do is create an authorized-dance-video logo program. This logo program would be like a seal of approval and would be placed at the beginning of the online dance videos of all members. This way that Internet audience as well as video sharing sites would know that the dance video they are watching is an authorized dance video and was not created illegally. Second, this organization would have a publicly-accessible database of all members and all member videos so that anybody could verify the authenticity of any and all dance videos. Third, this association would promote the authorized-dance-video logo program on a large scale so that online dance audiences (and everybody else for that matter) was aware of the importance of only watching and purchasing authorized videos. Fourth, this group would serve the role of a watchdog and insist that unauthorized dance videos are removed from the Internet. Fifth, on a different front, as membership grew, this organization would do research on and formulate a game plan on streamlining and improving how music is licensed and paid for for the purpose of online distribution in dance videos. As I wrote above, these licensing issues have to be dealt with head-on. Plus, there is power in numbers. If large numbers of dancers join this organization, then the dance community is in a much better position to create favorable licensing options (and explore non-traditional approaches) for dancers while still ensuring that composers and musicians are fairly compensated. Sixth, as I wrote above, there is a need for dancers around the world to be able to share their Internet successes and experiments with others. This association would set-up online community forums and other related initiatives. Plus, members could use many different online tools to create their own local groups in cities around the world. Seventh, this organization would leverage the Internet to implement grass-roots campaigns to help promote all forms of dance while building larger audiences, more customers and simply encouraging everybody to dance. Posted by Doug Fox at 9:48 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) April 18, 2007Request for Dance Videos for Testing PurposesI'm in the process of experimenting with a number of video sharing sites such as YouTube, Blip.tv and many others. As part of this testing, I'm uploading short dance videos in order to figure out the best way to prepare videos for each site. If you've spent time looking at dance videos on YouTube, you've probably seen that some of the videos look great and others look terrible. For videos to look their best, they have to be prepared (encoded and compressed) in specific ways for each video sharing site. To conduct these tests, I could use some help. I'm looking for specific types of dance videos that I can use for these experiments. If you have a video that I can use, please email me to let me know. Please do not email me the video files. If you can provide me with the following types of videos, I'd appreciate it: 1) I'm looking for about 30 seconds of video in either Apple QuickTime or AVI formats. The files should be uncompressed - and will thus be very large. Preferably the dancer or dancers will take up 50% or more of the video screen. And the lighting will be very good so that all of the dancers are well illuminated. 2) Also, if you happen to have shot dance with a high-definition video camera, I would also like to experiment with a 30-second (or shorter) hi-definition uncompressed video file. So please email me to let me know if you have video that I can use - thanks! Posted by Doug Fox at 11:18 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) April 17, 2007Over Half a Million Viewers for Anaheim Ballet YouTube VideoIn what I think is a wonderful development that shows that there is a huge, enthusiastic audience for ballet, one of the Anaheim Ballet's YouTube videos has now been viewed 670,000 times. Here's the video titled "Dancers": On Saturday Evan Rosenberg, the producer of the Anaheim Ballet video series, emailed me saying that one of their videos was featured on YouTube's home page. I took this screen shot on Saturday that shows that at the time, the "Dancers" video had been viewed 3,736 times. Click for larger image:  Obviously placement on YouTube's home page makes a huge difference and without that positioning, the Anaheim Ballet's video would have never gotten such a large audience. So should we write-off this incredible traffic for a ballet video because of YouTube's huge audience? Definitely not. Look at the numbers for the other videos on the YouTube home page, and then toward the bottom of the page click "See More Featured Videos." You'll notice that the views for the Anaheim Ballet video are significantly higher than almost all of the other featured videos. So I think it's fair to say that both the non-dancing and dancing public was intrigued by this video. On top of that, this video has 796 comments - just about all very favorable. And 2,491 users have made this video a favorite. One of the reasons for the success of this ballet video and the others in this series is because of the approach that was taken in producing these clips. They're fun, engaging, accessible and intentionally anti-elitist. Here's what I first wrote about these videos in March. I'm always reading these depressing stories about the state of ballet and modern dance, the difficulty of raising money and the obstacles to building audiences - all real challenges. But at the same time, I think that it's time for all involved in the concert dance community - dance companies, presenters, associations, funders and writers to break out of their traditional view of the dance world and start looking at the future of dance in new ways. The Internet offers compelling ways to reach out to huge audiences, to generate revenue in new ways and, overall, to help dancers and dance companies to be financially successful and sustainable. (I'll continue to write about specific ways that dancers and dance companies can generate revenue directly and indirectly by leveraging the Internet.) But, I believe, that there is a real need for more experimentation and risk-taking on the part of everybody involved in dance. Which Internet initiatives work and don't work? What are low-cost online marketing projects that dancers can pursue now that have a high probability of success? And how can dancers and dance companies from around the world share their online experiences - both the good and the bad - with others? Many questions and challenges ahead. But one thing is certain: There are a lot of people who are enthusiastic about dance - even ballet as the Anaheim Ballet has shown. The question is how can this Internet audience be tapped into in successful and profitable ways. Posted by Doug Fox at 7:25 AM - Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0) April 16, 2007Directory of Video Resources for DancersIn this post, I've put together a large list of categorized links to a wide-range of video resources for dancers. VIDEO SHARING You can upload your dance videos to the following video sharing websites: Blip.tv Hi-Definition/High-Quality Video Sites: Upcoming: Article 19 - The Film Room VIDEO CHANNELS AND DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS There are many different approaches you can take to building customized video content, channels and distribution networks: Apple iTunes VIDEO EDITING APPLICATIONS Web-Based Video Editing Applications: PC-Based Video Editing Applications: - Windows: Windows Movie Maker - Mac: MASHUP (MIX) YOUR VIDEOS The following web-based applications can be used to let others create mashups (remixes) your dance videos: Cuts VIDEO ANNOTATION The following web-based applications allow you and your users to highlight sections within a video; add notes and graphics; and tag and link to specific video sections: Bubbleply HOW-TO VIDOES The following websites host and aggregate how-to videos. Dancers can upload or list their dance instruction videos on these sites: 5min SELL YOUR VIDEOS Sell your videos through online video services: Amazon Unbox with CutomFlix MONETIZE VIDEOS WITH VIDEO ADS Different types of ad delivery systems and networks are being developed to incorporate video and ofther ad types in to or along side your videos. Here are three applications to explore: AdBrite INTERNET CONNECTED SET-TOP BOXES We are in the early stages of connecting broadband Internet connections with both PCs and TVs. This development will offer new video distribution opportunities for dancers: Akimbo SENDING LARGE VIDEO FILES Video files can be very large and sending them by email is usually not a good option. Here are different services that let you send large video files to others: AllPeers VIDEO PLAYERS The following video players can be used to watch videos in different formats: Apple QuickTime Player VIDEO SEARCH SITES Search for videos across the Internet: Blinkx VIDEO CONVERSION AND ENCODING In addition to using video editing software programs, you may need additional software to convert and encode your video files into specific formats for video sharing sites and online distribution. Here are some options: Flash: Universal/Multiple Formats: AVS Video (Windows) (See following article on Robin Good's site for more encoding options.) Posted by Doug Fox at 6:53 AM - Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) April 13, 2007The Dancing ShoeHere's a video that demonstrates a dancing shoe that is controlled by a PC via a USB connection. This short video is in Spanish. The guy demonstrating the dancing show says that you can control four variables: rhythm, tempo, intensity and swing. Posted by Doug Fox at 7:42 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) April 12, 2007Buy Instructional Ballet Classes OnlineI came across the Buy A Class website when I was searching for dance videos on Vmix. As you can guess from the name, you can purchase individual dance lessons - ballet in this case - online. On this page, you can watch their promotional videos in Windows Media, QuickTime and iPod formats. Plus, you can access their videos on Vmix and YouTube. Here's one of their Vmix videos - upbeat and entertaining: For a specific example of an instructional video, you can watch this plié exercise. I sure wouldn't start by offering this instructional video as a teaser. The instructor jumps right in without giving any initial guidance and directions. As of now, you can buy a ballet barre class ($4.99), an entire class ($10-20) and individual exercises ($2 each). The price for the entire class varies based on which version you buy of this 70-minute class - the DVD version (2 gigabytes) is $20. In terms of their individual ballet exercises, I think they ought to start from the very beginning and offer video instruction on the most basic elements of ballet - then new students would be more inclined to buy the videos. The layout of their e-commerce offerings is confusing me and they use PayPal for some transactions and Yahoo's e-commerce system for others. So I'm having some trouble navigating through the different options. This Buy-A-Class website is created by a Norwegian-based company in conjunction with Graz Oper - I'll try to find out more. Posted by Doug Fox at 1:17 PM - Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0) April 11, 2007Subscribe to Blip Videos with Democracy PlayerIn my continuing quest to figure out how dancers can spread their videos online and get lots of people to watch them... I experimented yesterday with two applications: Blip.tv and Democracy video player. Blip.tv is another video sharing site to which you can upload your videos - and monetize them through ads if you wish. Kristin Sloan, creator of the behind-the-scenes video series to NYC Ballet's upcoming production of Romeo + Juliet, has just posted the first four video episodes to Blip.tv. I like the way that Blip.tv lets you create a comprehensive profile for each of your video channels. Plus, in the case of the Romeo + Juliet videos, you can watch them in either Flash or QuickTime format in a small or full screen. On the Blip.tv page for Romeo + Juliet, you'll see that there are tabs under the large graphic for this series. If you select the "Subscribe" tab, you will see different ways that you can sign-up for current and upcoming videos in this ballet series. Here's a screen shot of these different subscription options - click for larger view:  The third subscription option - I slightly cut it off on the graphic above - is for the Democracy video player, a free, open-source video player that supports many different file formats. If you click on the "Subscribe" link for the Democracy player, this channel will be added to Democracy and you will be able to automatically download the Romeo + Juliet videos as they are published to Blip.tv. Here's a screen shot of the Democracy player that shows my NYC Ballet channel. So far I've downloaded the 4th episode, which was just posted, and I still have to download the other videos. The files are large - the second episode is half a gigabyte.  I've justed started to use the Democracy player - so far I like its ease of use, its support for multiple file formats and its ability to subscribe to updated video content. Posted by Doug Fox at 8:26 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) April 10, 2007High-Quality Streaming Dance Videos in DivX FormatI've been experimenting with different approaches to delivering high-quality dance videos over the Internet. This morning I took a look at the DivX video format and the Stage6 video sharing site devoted to DivX-formatted videos. The DivX video format lets you create high-quality and wide-screen compressed video files that can be streamed over the Internet. You can see examples of dance videos in this format on Stage6. But to watch these videos, you'll need to download the DivX video player software, which appears to be available only for Windows PCs. If you click the link right below to continue reading this story, you can watch a DivX dance video that I've embedded in this post. I strongly encourage you to install the software so you can see how good the video quality is. Here is a DivX-formatted dance video Shakira "Hips Don't Lie" I'm also going to experiment with the software programs for saving videos in DivX format and then upload videos to Stage6. I'll write more about this video format when I do this. Posted by Doug Fox at 2:01 PM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) April 9, 2007Create Customized Dance Video Channel with Magnify.netI've been experimenting with Magnify.net, a new site that lets users create customized video content for their audiences. This new application is very versatile and not only allows you to select which videos to include, but also allows your users to add and rate videos. Plus, you can generate revenue from text and video ads. For dancers the obvious application for Magnify.net is to create dance-focused video content. I created a sample video channel on Magnify.net for Great Dance Videos. For a more elaborate video setup, you can visit the TechCrunch Magnify.net channel as well as read this post about this new service on TechCrunch. How Magnify.net Works Here's an overview of the feature set and functionality of Magnify.net. You can click on any of the below images for larger screen shots. Or for a more hands-on approach, just sign-up for a free account and set-up your own video dance channel. When you create a video channel, you control who has the right to upload and add videos. Plus, you can specify a specific rating that a video must have before it is publicly viewable by your channel's visitors:  During the set-up process you can select a template for your video channel. You can also access the design tools to create a completely customized look for your content. If you go back to the TechCrunch channel, you'll see that the headers and footers are completely customized and the latest blog entries are in the left-hand column. Here's the initial template-selection screen:  I added one of the Anaheim Ballet's podcast videos to my video channel by adding its web address from YouTube. You can change the video's title and description as well as add any tags that you wish.  One of the intriguing features of Magnify.net is that you can monetize your video content. You'll see in this screen capture that there are a lot of Google ads:  And in the following screen shot, you see that there are a number of ways to configure how you generate revenue and configure the display of text and video ads. Revenue is based on a split with Magnify.net from either Google AdSense and/or Revver:  Finally, here's a screen shot of a public view of a dedicated video within your Magnify.net channel. I just clicked on the rating button and you can see the different ways that viewers can rate each video. Plus, users can comment on, share and tag videos as well:  Conclusion I've just started experimenting with Magnify.net and I'm not certain about how to use all of the features and I was confused a couple of times about how to implement different capabilities. But overall, this application looks worthwhile and could be a good way to build a community-oriented video site focused on specific types of dance videos. Posted by Doug Fox at 10:32 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) April 5, 2007A Mishmash of Mashups of Maps and MisnomersMisnomer Dance Theater just launched a video remix contest. Misnomer uploaded one of their dance videos to the video editing site Jumpcut and users can create their own mashup (mix) by editing the video and adding their own audio and video clips. You can access the video clip to be edited here or click the "Remix" button on the bottom right of the following video: Here's a screenshot of the editing options for Jumpcut - click on image for larger view. I haven't used this video editing application yet, but the tools look very versatile.  Embedding Dance Videos on Google Maps I'm sure my title for this post is bewildering - but the idea is to make mashups of different types of content. Chris Elam of Misnomer is already encouraging his audience to create their own mashups. But why not combine these dance mashups with a new mapmaking mashup offering from Google? Google just launched a new feature for Google maps that lets users embed video directly into their own customized maps. So I took the code for the Misnomer mashup video on Jumpcut and added it to Google. As you can see from the following screen shot - click for larger image - you can actually embed and watch a video at a specific geographical location:  To experiment with this Misnomer map, you can click this link. (Note: I just did some more experimentation with embedding videos into Google Maps. There seem to be technical glitches because the video code is not always saved.) Just so you know, the location I created for Misnomer is the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. This is the venue where they are performing next week - it has absolutely nothing to do with their remix video. I just wanted to show how to embed a video into a Google map. Promoting Dance with Customized Google Maps These customized maps are great. You can add text, pictures and, of course, videos. I think that the perfect application would be to use these maps if you are promoting upcoming performances or a city-wide event that takes place at many different venues. Dance fans could visit your customized map and see at-a-glance where all the venues are located and watch video clips without leaving Google Maps. Posted by Doug Fox at 1:16 PM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) April 4, 2007Online Video Player Highlights New Approaches to Watching Dance Instruction VideosA post in yesterday's Mashable is about the new how-to video service from 5min.com called Videopedia. Videopedia has some video viewing functionality that I think is of interest to dancers and dance instructors. There are just a handful of dance videos available at this time. But if you take a look at this Korean break dancing video that instructs viewers in how to perform a headspin, you can explore these video features. Once you're on the video page, click on the "smart player" link at the bottom right of the video. You'll now see a screen that looks like this screen capture - click on image for larger view:  You'll notice that you can zoom in to different parts of the video, watch in slow-motion mode and watch the clip frame-by-frame. There's also a story board view that the creator of this video is not using. The story board lets a video producer create what is essentially a table of contents so that viewers can jump from one section of the video to the next. Other How-To Video Sites In February, I wrote about the ExpertVillage video site that features a wide range of how-to videos. Filmmakers can generate revenue by uploading their videos to ExperVillage. Here's an ExpertVillage video on conducting a 6-step breakdancing move by Q. Burdette: Posted by Doug Fox at 9:30 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) April 3, 2007Hi-Def Holographic Video Projections Added to PerformancesThere's a fascinating article by Steven McElroy in yesterday's New York Times, "Illusory Characters With Startling Stage Presence." In a new theatrical production, "Losing Something," directed by Kevin Cunningham of 3-Legged Dog, a high-definition video projection system is being used to project life-like 3D holographic images of actors onto the stage. You can watch an excellent audio slide show on the NY Times site where Cunningham gives an overview of the technology used for the production of "Losing Something."  This production relies on two main technologies. The first is the Musion Eyeliner Holographic Projection System, which projects hi-def 3D images onto the stage. On the Musion site, you can watch a number of examples of this technology at work including a video from the 2006 Grammy Awards that shows Madonna dancing with the animated Gorillaz.  The second technology is the Isadora Software from TroikaTronix, which is developed by Mark Coniglio. Isadora, available for Macs and PCs, is a graphic programming environment that allows users to have real-time control over multimedia elements during a performance. It is frequently used by dancers.  In February of last year I videotaped a demonstration by Mark and dancer Dawn Stoppiello that shows how the Isadora software works. You can access the video from my post "Troika Ranch Demonstration" video. For an additional example of holographic projections, you can read a post from last year, "Virtual Kate Moss on the Runway." The post includes a link to a video from the 2006 Ready-to-Wear fashion show in Paris which includes a pre-recorded holographic-like image of Kate Moss projected on to the runway - you have to go to end of video to see it.  Posted by Doug Fox at 11:56 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) April 2, 2007Comprehensive List of Dance Blogs FeedsHere's an updated OPML file with a huge number of dance feeds. You can download this file and import it into feed readers to automatically subscribe to all English-language dance blogs that I know of. If the above doesn't make sense, you can read my post from early March, "Quickly Subscribe to Dance Blog Feeds" from early March - hopefully that one makes sense. Posted by Doug Fox at 3:21 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) Dance Bloggers in DCWashington DC dance bloggers are on the verge of by-passing New York dance bloggers in size, scope, insight and wisdom!!! I'm just having fun. Here's a list of dance bloggers in DC: - And me: Great Dance The main website for Daniel Burkholder of "My Ocean is never blue" above is Improv Arts, Inc. "My Ocean..." is a performance of his contact improvisation group, which I saw in a super-small gallery on Friday - it was probably about 9' x 15'. It was fun to watch and be so close to the dancers. Here's Daniel's write-up of his Friday performance. Once I get healthy - I hope soon - I'd like to take one of Daniel's contact improvisation classes. Posted by Doug Fox at 2:36 PM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) New York Presenters Embrace VideoEditor's note: I misidentified the below video. The video is a clip from a 2005 work by Levi Gonzalez titled "The whole world has suddenly disappeared." In the past month Dance Theater Workshop has added 9 videos of recent and upcoming dance performances to its YouTube channel. Here's a video of choreographer Levi Gonzalez's "Clusterfuck," which just wrapped-up three performances at DTW: Claudia La Rocco has an unfavorable review of this piece in Saturday's New York Times, "Wondering What to Do in a Crazy, Mixed-Up World." While DTW provides easy access to a lot of videos, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) does a better job of integrating dance video previews into its website. From this link you can watch a video from Doug Varone and Dancers as well as watch videos of other past and upcoming performances. Posted by Doug Fox at 10:48 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |
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