December 31, 2007

Vote for Misnomer Web 2.0 Internet Project on Ideablob

Chris Elam's Misnomer Dance Theater is among a handful of finalists in contention for winning a $10,000 prize from Ideablob that will go toward the development of Internet tools for helping the performing arts engage with audiences in new ways.

You can read about and vote for Misnomer's project here. As I write this post, there are 16 hours left to vote for your favorite project - the competition ends at midnight (December 31st). The winner is the project with the most votes. Currently Misnomer's project is in 2nd place--about 40 votes behind a project that deals with the creation of an anti-procrastination system.

For the record, I have a bit of a vested interest in Chris' project. Chris and I are in the process of discussing how we might collaborate on the development and creation of Internet consulting offerings for dance and the performing arts communities. Our partnership may involve the Internet tools described in Chris' Ideablob proposal.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:16 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

December 20, 2007

How Do You Generate a Video Dance Craze?

Here's the Soulja Boy "Crank That" instructional video - 21 million views and 25 thousand comments:

And maybe more interesting from a participation standpoint is that there are 223 video responses - most of them variations of Crank That Soulja Boy.

At the ITP 2007 Winter showcase here in NYC earlier this week where students from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program presented their research and creations, Robert Moon demonstrated his Dance Dance Evolution.

Starting with the Crank That Soulja Boy:

Robert had viewers (people visiting his booth at showcase) watch and dance the routine, which he videotaped. Then this video of the first set of viewers dancing to Crank That become what the next set of viewers watched as they began to dance. So essentially a game of telephone where you see what types of changes take place over time as people dancing the routine become farther and farther removed from the original.

I'm also curious about a related topic: What makes a new dance a dance craze? Why does something catch like fire and everybody wants to know the dance? What than motivates some of these people to post videos of themselves doing the dance? Is there some kind of formula? Probably not or everybody would be replicating the formula and there would be too many dance crazes to count.

In Chicago Tribune, there's story about Art Institute of Chicago student and teacher of children's dance classes Sarah Febbraro who wants to get people around the world dancing [via ArtsJournal]. She created this video, "Global Dancing: Learn This Routine," that she wants others to do:

So far, there are 14 video responses.

Do you know of similar dance routines/crazes on YouTube? Are you planning to create one? Would a dance routine be a good way to market an upcoming dance performance?

Posted by Doug Fox at 6:51 AM - Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

December 18, 2007

Heading Toward Integrated Real and Virtual World Dance Experiences

We'll continue to see improvements in Second Life and other virtual worlds that will offer new opportunities for animated dance forms. But the ultimate developments will revolve around creating 3D environments that replicate the physical world that we already inhabit. Then, we will be able to experience dance performances that take place live and online. And the online versions will have the same look and feel as the real-world space but we will be able to fly through it and interact with dancers in new ways.

Dance Videos from Second Life

Here's a performance video of the Second Life Ballet in Second Life. If you haven't visited SL Ballet's website for awhile, you'll probably want to. The site is redesigned and there is new content about their virtual ballets.

And here's some social dancing in Second Life. If you jump to about half-way through, you can see the movements up-close to get an idea about the quality of the animation:

Experiencing Third Rail Projects on 2D Maps with Video

While we can't yet meld the physical and virtual worlds, we can begin to move in that direction. Third Rail Projects (they also blog on Great Dance) just returned from performing "Strangers on Tong Chong Street," a site-specific work they did in Hong Kong. Since there is video of this recent performance and another site-specific video from a Lincoln Center performance, I thought I'd embed their videos into 2D and 3D maps.

In the following map, you can click on the blue marker to see a pop-up window with embedded YouTube video of "Lacuna," a work choreographed by Tom Pearson for the Reflecting Pool at Lincoln Center. If this map is a little cumbersome, you can visit the customized map on Google:

View Larger Map

And here's a map that shows the location of Third Rail Projects performance as part of the Urban Dance Festival on Tong Chong Street in Hong Kong and you can watch an embedded video as well - here's the Google map link:

View Larger Map

Experience Third Rail Projects on Google Earth

Google Earth is the 3D version of Google maps. Users can create customized maps; add pictures, videos and markers; and even create customized 3D buildings. Here's a video that shows what it's like to navigate Google Earth:

So to keep things very simple, I went back to the Google Map I created for Lincoln Center and clicked on the link that reads "View in Google Earth". You'll see this link in purple at the top of the following screen shot:

If you have Google Earth installed, you will now be able to view the embedded site-specific videos of Third Rail Projects on this 3D mapping software.

Here's a screen shot of Lincoln Center on Google Earth. You can click this image for a full-screen view. On the panel to the left of the map, you'll see information about Third Rail Projects, if you click "Urban Dance Festival," you'll be flown from New York to Hong Kong. And if you click this link again, you'll see a pop-up window with the dance performance video:

The Future of Integrated Physical and Virtual Worlds

So I think that Second Life and other virtual world applications are a stepping stone to an integrated real-world and virtual world experience. Why not see a virtual world performance of Second Life taking place in a virtual Lincoln Center? Why shouldn't your avatars join Third Rail Projects on Tong Chong Street in real-time and interact with the dancers? And take this video of Project Bandaloop. Wouldn't it be nice to join them up-close as they propel off tall buildings? We don't have to take the risks, but we can just enjoy the view and the excitement.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:45 PM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The Power of Historical Dance Retrospective Videos

Why is the the Evolution of Dance video so popular? Now watched by 68 million YouTube visitors:

You could say that dancer Judson Laipply is funny, which he is. But there is also something inherently comforting in understanding how pieces of our past fit together and influence each other, in this case recent popular dance fads and crazes.

There's a similar famous bit that Robin Williams does in The Birdcage (1996). At the 2:50 minute mark of the following clip, he does his rapid-fire impersonations of the dance styles of famous choreographers. "You do an eclectic celebration of the dance - you do Fosse, Fosse, Fosse. You do Martha Graham, Martha Graham, Martha Graham. You do Twyla, Twyla, Twyla..." and he continues:

And here is a clip from Chita Rivera's Broadway show the Dancer's Life, a retrospective of the jazz legends she's worked with over the years. In this clip, she pays tribute to Jack Cole, Peter Gennaro, Bob Fosse and Jerome Robbins. (Here's NPR interview with her about this show).

I think that a good number of people come to all three of the above videos with at least some familiarity with the dance moves and styles, and the names of the choreographers. It might not be a lot of familiarity, but just enough for the viewer experience to be fun and engaging and for each of the videos to provide more historical context than the viewer had before watching them. My point might be a stretch with the Robbin Williams short sequence, but I think it definitely works for the other clips.

I would very much enjoy seeing more of these types of videos. Besides being educational and fun, I think that they are great marketing tools for choreographers, dancers and instructors.

- Choreographers/dancers could create videos showing which choreographers/dance traditions have influenced them.

- Dance instructors could demonstrate different ways of dancing, say, Salsa or Swing and also discuss the different cultural and regional influences.

- Dancers could link to online videos that showcase different styles of dance, create their own videos with additional examples, and integrate the two to provide additional historical context.

Posted by Doug Fox at 6:51 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

December 17, 2007

Ellen DeGeneres Visits Alvin Ailey in Two Hilarious Videos

These two videos feature Ellen DeGeneres visiting the Alvin Ailey studios here in Manhattan on 55th street and 9th avenue and working with the Ailey dancers. These clips are from her TV show.

I really didn't appreciate how funny she is. I saw her host the Oscars one or two years ago and I thought the program was terrible. But I started watching this first video and couldn't stop laughing. It probably helps that I've taken classes in the first-floor studio where Ellen teaches the Ailey dancers a routine:

And here Ellen helps fix-up the choreography:

Posted by Doug Fox at 3:50 PM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Tony Award-Winning "Spring Awakening," a Powerhouse User of Distributed and Viral Internet Marketing

A think it's helpful to take a look at the overall Internet marketing strategy of Broadway musical Spring Awakening -- Bill T. Jones is the choreographer for which he won a Tony. Here's his acceptance dance and speech:

Actually, that was slight digression - I just like the video. Back to Spring Awakening's Internet strategy. At the heart of what appears to be a highly successful online marketing program is the embrace of no-cost/low cost, highly viral distribution channels to reach large, enthusiastic audiences.

Here are the component parts of the Spring Awakening Internet Strategy. As you'll see, there is little here that dancers and dance companies with even the smallest budgets cannot do:

The Website

Their website is bold and nothing is extraneous. It's about selling tickets and merchandise, getting fans to spread the word about the show and making as many friends as possible on MySpace and Facebook. Take a look at the Spread the Word page. I don't think they missed a single avenue for encouraging visitors to help generate excitement and sell more tickets. Here's an example of a promotional banner that you can embed on your website/blog/social networking page:

MySpace and Facebook

On MySpace, Spring Awakening has amassed over 12,800 friends and 3,300 messages. If you take a look at this page, you'll notice that it was designed with existing content - music, video and details about the show. So it was not time consuming at all to create and generates a lot of traffic.

And for the official Facebook page, the show has another 13,000 or so friends. Their Facebook page is on the boring side, but obviously thousands of fans see value in signing-up, which means that the "friends" of these 13,000 group members also end-up learning about the show. Here's example of the viral nature of Facebook. I visited group page for Spring Awakening. I clicked the "Share" button and posted info. about this group to my profile on Facebook. Now visitors to my profile page see the following in my Mini-Feed:

YouTube and iTunes

Here's one of the many Spring Awakening videos on YouTube. It's been watched 44,000 times, has 44 comments and 86 ratings:

I'm confused by what is and is not an official show video on YouTube.

You can also sign-up for the Spring Awakening video podcast on iTunes and then watch it on your computer or iPod. Here's screen shot from iTunes - you can click image to see larger picture:

Conclusion

Above I didn't really delve into the strategy behind building an integrated Internet campaign that leverages the viral and distributed nature of the Internet. But I did just want to show the component parts of such a campaign. While implementing a successful Internet strategy obviously takes expertise and thus money, what's especially interesting is that the actual services above - MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and iTunes - cost no many to use and can help you reach huge audiences.

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:57 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

December 14, 2007

A Framework for Thinking About Social Networking for Dance

I was planning to write follow-up post about how to use Facebook to promote your next dance performance after I wrote about the Columbia Ballet Collaborative's use of Facebook yesterday.

But I thought it would probably make more sense to start with a bigger picture view and offer my definition of what social networking is all about. Without coming-up with a meaningful definition, there's no way we can figure out a worthwhile way to embrace (or not embrace if we choose) the large number of social networking tools, applications and websites.

What is Social Networking?

Social networking is a people-centric approach to using the Internet. Online users create, share, recommend, and network with their existing and growing networks of contacts. In some cases these contacts or "friends" are people one knows from the "real" world and in other cases they are new online acquaintances.

Before the rise of social networking, impersonal corporate entities were king. In other words, we were in the broadcast age where people consumed media (TV, newspapers, radio) in a manner that could be disconnected or removed from the specific interests and recommendations of one's circle of friends, family and business colleagues. Essentially, we had to put more trust into impersonal entities than we do now. Today, we can seek instant feedback from our social networks on anything -- books, movies, restaurants, dances.

What Are Examples of Social Networking?

Social networking does not just refer to MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and related websites.

Social networking refers to any tool, functionality, software application or service that facilitates a people-centric approach to sharing and communicating online.

Here are examples of social networking in addition to the three popular sites I just listed above:

- Ning is a white-label social networking application. "White-label" means that you can brand this application with your name and logo as you build a customized social network.

- A number of dance-specific social networks use Ning: The Inter Mission, dance-tech.net, and Ballroom Dance Channel.

- MC Hammer has an upcoming social networking site called DanceJam. Here's interview with MC Hammer about the feature set and focus of this site.

- Social networking does not have to take place on dedicated websites. In the upcoming redesign of Voice of Dance, you'll see that a MySpace friends list is pulled-into the home page. And the overall feel of the interface is very much social networky - to coin a phrase. And take a look at how SEOlogs blog incorporates the MyBlogLog community-building tool to add social networking functionality to the blog reading experience. You'll see in the right-hand column of SElogs thumbnails of recent readers. On the Mashable blog, the community membership functionality is directly built into Mashable and does not use an external software application such as MyBlogLog.

- Finally, take a look at Flock, which is an example of a social web browser. So, in essence, you can surf the web with other people.

I link to all of these examples just to make the point that a people-centric approach to the Internet can occur in many different ways and that there are many paths to creating social networking sites and functionality.

What Are the Benefits of Social Networking to You and Your Organization?

I'd like to stress something:

The first question is not whether you should use MySpace or Facebook to reach a larger audience and sell more tickets.

The first question is what are the potential benefits to you and, if you're part of an organization, your dance company or related group of using social networking capabilities in general?

By harnessing social networking functionality, applications and/or websites can you build larger audiences, increase donations or achieve some other positive measurable benefit?

Second, if the answer is yes to the above, do the possible benefits outweigh the time, energy and commitment required to achieve these results? It's a good idea to keep in mind that you probably have a website and you may be sending out email blasts on a regular basis - managing your website and email campaigns may already take up too much of your time.

And, three, do you have the people who are 1) sufficiently comfortable and experienced enough to use and implement these social networking tools and 2) going to stay will it long enough so that you will achieve the results you are looking for?

What Social Networking Tools and Functionality Should You Use?

If you decide that there is a good case to move forward, then the next step, I believe, is to decide how to implement a social networking game-plan.

In other words, how specifically do you plan to incorporate social networking into your overall Internet marketing, community-building and communications strategy?

The above applications give some guidance about what is possible:

- You can create a profile/page on sites like MySpace and Facebook.

- You could build your own private-label social network.

- You could add community-functionality into your blog with MyBlogLog and similar tools, or

- Create your own customized application with social networking functionality - an expensive proposition.

So there are many possibilities and many ways to waste time and energy if you're not focused on whether or not your social networking undertaking is really going to help you achieve specific, measurable objectives.

I'm not trying to discourage anybody from using social networking tools and applications. They can be very worthwhile. It's just a question of whether in each specific instance if it's worth the commitment of time, energy and resources to making it happen.

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:49 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Scanning the Dance Blogosphere

I feel like I've been losing touch with posts to a lot of dance blogs as I've been focusing on Great Dance blogs and dance in New York City. So I went on a reconnaissance mission this morning:

- Joe Grohens of The Topic is Tango links to MSNBC video story, "For blind teens, tango is a way to connect."

- Boris Willis hits the 25-hour mark for his Dance-A-Day video series.

- Maria at A Time To Dance points to news story about yet another dance site focused on social networking. This one is from MC Hammer and it's called DanceJam - in beta.

- The Evil Imp blog offers skeptical take on the rise of social networking sites as they relate to dance. I think that their criticisms have some merit, but there is also a very important upside that I will write about in upcoming post.

- Nutcracker rehearsal videos from the Joffrey ballet on their j-Pointe blog. Video 1 and Video 2

- Jolene of Saturday Matinee on her ideal Nutcracker.

- The latest video from Clare Byrne's Weekly Rites.

- Judith Mackrell on The Rolex model for sponsoring artists.

- Matt Gough writes about "«vicki» - virtual improvisational choreographer / kinetic instructor (also known as «choreobot»)" Read about VICKI here. Matt points to other software for choreography here.

- The creator of VICKI, Julie Cruse, is joining Tony Schultz's class at Sarah Lawrence College.

- Wendy Perron writes about Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA) benefit event this past Monday.

- Amanda Abrams kicks-off extended conversation in response to Daniel Burkholder's post "I'm an elitist, and so are you."

- Chopper offers a history lesson in popping.

- Carl recommends swing dance history books.

- More Washington, DC dancers share their dance-related stories on Bourgeononline.

- Shallom of Moving Space and Time posts video of dance she choreographed and performed in called "Dancing Waters."

- Matt of Ranting Details on musical theater and learning how to really perform.

- Two recent posts from The Winger that I like: "The Origin of an Idea" by Kristin Osler of Staatstheater Kassel Tanztheater and "Wings Rehearsal" by David Blumenfeld of Atlanta Ballet.

- I missed this panel last night that Culturebot wrote about that investigated "the performing arts and the geography of New York City." I would have liked to have heard Aviva Davidson, the artistic Director of Dancing in the Streets.

- This is not blog post. Here is story by Sarah Frater from Wall Street Journal about proliferation of dance styles around the world: "Great Leap Forward: Innovators Expand The World of Dance."

- Network Performance writes about dance performance that takes place today in Second Life. Here are performance/RSVP details. If you attend please write about it/screen capture it - or something along those lines. I'll try to make it.

- New dance therapist blogger Donna Newman-Bluestein links to this video of a dancing medium sulphur crested Eleanora cockatoo -- impressive!

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:01 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

December 13, 2007

The Columbia Ballet Collaborative Promotes Performance on Facebook

The Columbia Ballet Collaborative, a group formed by Columbia University students earlier this fall to increase awareness of ballet on campus, has successfully used the social networking site Facebook to promote their weekend performances (tomorrow and Saturday).

To access their Facebook pages, you'll need to register. You can visit the Columbia Ballet Collaborative page and also view the details about their weekend performances.

Here's a screen shot of their performance/event page - you can click image for larger picture:

Here's screen shot of the same page that highlights the Facebook event invitation tools. On top right visitors can RSVP. Then on bottom and in right-hand column, you can see who will, might and will not attend - click for larger image:

This morning I spoke by phone with Lydia Walker, a part-time Columbia student and professional ballet dancer who was one of five students who created The Columbia Ballet Collaborative. Lydia said that they used Facebook since all the students were already using this social networking site and it took the fewest resources to get up and running with it. She said that this application will work well for anybody who has a good friend base and it's a really easy way to let people know what you'll be doing.

To promote the Ballet Cooperative, they set-up a Facebook group and event page, and asked friends to join. Once you join this group, you then automatically receive updates from the group in your newsfeed on your Facebook profile page. Plus, your friends who visit your profile page will then see info. about the Columbia Ballet Collaborative.

Here's the mini-feed that appears on my profile page after I signed-up for the Columbia Ballet group:

Simply a great form of viral marketing. Once you sign-up to do something all your friends know what you'll be up to. (The Columbia Ballet Collaborative's Facebook initiative has inspired me to get more serious about Facebook. I have not been very active at all and I think I should start using it more.)

Lydia said that a good place for dance companies to start their Facebook explorations is with dancers under 35 who have a lot of friends on Facebook.

I would be delighted to hear from other dancers/dance companies about how you are using social networks to build audiences and sell tickets. Do you have success stories to share?

Other Articles/Posts about Columbia Ballet Collaborative

- Pictures of the Columbia Ballet Collaborative.

- Ballet Collaborative mentioned in this post about Dance at Barnard.

- Preview of Columbia Ballet Collaborative in Time Out New York by Gia Kourlas

Posted by Doug Fox at 1:57 PM - Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

December 12, 2007

How Did Modern Dance Get So Serious?

Here's a YouTube video of the "The Rich Man's Frug" from Bob Fosse-choreographed show and movie "Sweet Charity." (This clip is on the "Fosse" DVD):

Why are so many modern/contemporary dance performances so serious? Why isn't there a better balance between deep, meaningful works and performances that are just meant to be watched for the sheer joy of seeing dance?

In September, Danciti wrote a review of The Chase Brock Experience at Dance New Amsterdam:

The Chase Brock Experience is a refreshingly unpretentious one. In a world where everyone is concerned with meeting their quota of 'deep art' in their dance, Brock just creates dance that he likes. You can tell by the profound lack of unexplained screaming...With the exception of Tossing and Yearning, most of the dances seemed like musical style choreography; either comical characterizations or continual leaping. What's sad is that that sounds like a slight. There is nothing wrong with musical style choreography or light-hearted dance; we just don't see much of that around here.

.

Are contemporary choreographers simply drawn to the deep, meaningful and serious? Do they feel trapped in between dance reviewers and grantmakers who have set notions of what dance is supposed to be about?

Shirley MacLaine in the 1969 movie "Sweet Charity." And once again here's "The Rich Man's Frug" - dubbed in Spanish:

Would audiences be larger for dance performances? Would there be longer runs if there was a little more unadulterated fun?

This post may sound like I'm attacking "deep art" to use Danciti's term above. I'm not. I'd just like a better balance. What happened?

"The Rich Man's Frug" from the Sweet Charity movie with French subtitles:

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:49 AM - Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

December 11, 2007

Jazz Class at Luigi's Dance Centre

Last night I took a technique class at Luigi's Dance Centre with Francis Roach. Luigi is a famous jazz teacher who developed his own dance style after being seriously injured in a car accident. Check out his bio to learn about his career in the movies and on Broadway. I'll guess he's in his 80's since he served in World War II. He continues to teach and I plan to take one of his beginner classes soon.

Last night's class focused solely on the warm-up exercise that's done during the regular style classes. So I probably won't take the Monday class again. I'll just take the style class so I can learn the routine.

I tried to find a video of Luigi dancing or teaching, but no luck. But I did stumble upon this video with dancing by Chita Rivera and Jack Cole on the TV show "Tip Toe Through TV" with a wonderful intro by Sid Ceasar with his answer to the question: What is jazz?

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:09 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

December 10, 2007

New York City Ballet's Damian Woetzel on State of the Art and West Side Story

Watch the following video to see New York City Ballet's Damian Woetzel discuss the state of ballet and art in America. This presentation was conducted at The Aspen Institute this past summer.

[via State Street Ballet and Quodlibet]

During his talk, Damian Woetzel promises he'll teach audience members how to be Jets - go to 43:30 minute mark on above video to see his discussion about West Side Story. Here's clip from West Side Story.

While on the topic of Jerome Robbins, take a look at website for "Jerome Robbins' NY Export: Opus Jazz the Film." This is new film that offers reinterpretation of Robbins' 1958 "NY Export: Opus Jazz." [via Swan Lake Samba Girl].

I enjoyed watching the Opus Jazz documentary and teaser videos.

Posted by Doug Fox at 12:56 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

December 5, 2007

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet's Compelling Dance Video

I often complain about the quality of dance videos. So here's one I like. This short video clip is of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet's "Rite," a work-in-progress choreographed by Stijn Celis that will be performed as part of the company's 2008 Winter Season at their Cedar Lake Theater here in New York City. (January 10-19, 2008)

This is one of the few times that I've watched an Internet video and actually wanted to see the dance performance as a result of seeing the clip. I like the music, the dancing and the voice-over narrations by Artistic Director Benoit-Swan Pouffer and Stijn Celis.

The video is also timely. It was uploaded to YouTube two days ago and incorporated into an email marketing blast that went out on the same day.

Rehearsal Videos on NYC Dance Performance Blog

I also posted the above video to the new NYC Dance Performances Blog. My goal is not just to link to reviews. I would like to give audiences multiple ways of learning about and previewing dance performances they are thinking of attending. And one of the best resources that dancegoers can have access to are videos directly from the dance-makers themselves.

So if you have videos of rehearsals, works-in-progress or, or course, performances that you will soon be performing in the New York City area, I encourage you to submit them.

Bloggers at Cedar Lake

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet is also doing something innovative for dance bloggers.

At the dress rehearsal on January 9th, they have invited dance bloggers for drinks and mingling. As Caleb Custer of the ballet company wrote in the invitation to bloggers:

"It would be a chance for all the New York dance bloggers to see the show the day before it opens, meet and talk and even give some feedback."

So far 11 dance bloggers will be attending. I, of course, like this idea. And I think it's invaluable for a dance company. Here you have 11 people at a dress rehearsal who may write about your performance. And bloggers turn around reviews very quickly. This means that dancegoers can actually read the reviews while there are still performances to see. How do you top that?

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:48 AM - Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

December 4, 2007

I Would Really Appreciate Instructional-Type Modern Dance Videos

I'm endlessly frustrated by not being able to find the types of online dance videos I'm looking for. There are millions of Internet videos, but not the ones I want.

What I would like is this:

- Videos from modern/contemporary/improvisational dancers.

- The dancer shows a small piece of choreography - maybe from a few different angles.

- The dancer breaks down the piece so that viewers can figure it out and more or less replicate it.

- The dancer also highlights the elements of his or her technique that students should probably have a grasp of in order to practice the choreography.

That's it. It doesn't seem to me that I'm asking for that much. But I just don't find videos like this. Maybe dancers just aren't inclined to do this?

Personally, I want short routines to work on by myself and these kinds of educational videos would really help me. I'd probably pay for this type of video if they were good enough quality. Maybe $2 or $3 a video.

I wrote above right after reading Amanda Abrams thoughts about Zach Morris' video from Honk Kong (Zach Morris and Tom Pearson are blogging about their site-specific work in Hong Kong on their Third Rail Projects Blog on Great Dance):

Posted by Doug Fox at 4:56 PM - Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

December 3, 2007

New Social Networking Sites for Different Dance Communities

A number of new private-label social networking sites have launched recently for dancers with diverse interests.

- Kristin Sloan, creator of The Winger, launched The Inter Mission, which caters primarily to the ballet community.

- Marlon Barrios Solano created dance-tech.net for artists and practitioners in the dance/technology/new media field.

- Dancing With the Stars pro dancers Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Tony Dovolani, and Elena Grinenko created the Ballroom Dance Channel social networking site. [via Tonya Plank at Swan Lake Samba Girl]

- And Danciti linked to the not-ready-for-the-public Dancer Universe site from Dancer Publishing Co., Inc.

The first three social networking sites above use the Ning private-label social networking application. Anybody can use Ning to create similar social networking sites. The difference between Ning and MySpace, Facebook and the rest is that with Ning you create a self-contained community site over which you have complete control.

I have not spent enough time on these social networking sites to have an opinion about which ones are good and worthwhile. I'll try to get back to this topic in the near future. If you have thoughts, please share.

Posted by Doug Fox at 12:30 PM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

December 2, 2007

Helping Dancers Get the Right Shot

Dance blogger Matt Gough links to post by photographer Brian Shaler who uses a good combination of video, images and text to describe how he got the desired picture. In his case, a static car with a blurred background.

Matt has a good point. There are many Internet-based video and photo editing/publishing tools that could be put to innovative use by dancers. In Brian Shaler's post, for example, the video application Viddler is used. You'll see when you watch this video that you can add tags and comments at any point of the clip to highlight whatever you think is important. I'd really like to see experimentations with this type of annotation for dance, especially for educational purposes.

Posted by Doug Fox at 3:36 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Stretching Things a Bit with the Anaheim Ballet

Here's an August Anaheim Ballet video from YouTube that I came across on the Inamorata Ballet blog:

Is this all supposed to be light-hearted fun? There's no way I'll ever be able to do these stretches. I thought after the humorous opening, they were going to dive into stretches for humans, but it didn't go in that direction.

On a more positive note, I'm happy how far more stretching has come over the past three years. There's a lot I'll never be able to do because I started dancing at 43, but I'm still a thousand percent more flexible than I use to be.

On related note, I'm experimenting with ballet again. I took an intro to ballet at Alvin Ailey about two weeks ago that was a lot of fun. I'm trying to figure out if I can fit in a weekly ballet class into my schedule - I'd really like to do this, but I'm not sure I can pull it off.

Posted by Doug Fox at 3:12 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)