January 7, 2008

Dance Forum on Curation at Dance Presenters Conference

The Association of Performing Arts Presenters 51st Annual Member Conference from January 11-15th here in New York City. There are lots of dance performances to see and educational sessions to attend.

One of sessions I'm looking forward to is this Friday morning's "Dance Forum: Curating Dance - Ideas and Innovation." Visit this page and click "Dance Forum" to read complete description and see list of panelists. And here's part of description:

The Dance Working Group (DWG) hosts an open forum on the somewhat perplexing subject of curating dance. Artists, companies, peer mentor networks and presenters all engage in a challenging process when curating a dance season that can strongly impact audiences and communities.

Topics will include:

Overviews of diverse curatorial criteria and practices;
Risk, in terms of content, and how it shapes programming;
Responding to world situations through dance curatorship;
Curatorial influence on how dance is contextualized in community;
Strengthening the artist/presenter relationship;
Factoring practical considerations into the curation process.

I'm hoping that some of the speakers or at least audience questions address the issue of the Internet and its impact on the curatorial process.

In other words, the Internet is obviously a participatory medium and online users are very much accustomed to being at the heart of the action. Internet users can vote, discuss and let their voices be heard. This participatory inclination is even stronger among young people.

When it comes to dance, I think the two biggest examples of large-scale online involvement have been on the discussion boards dedicated to popular TV dance shows (here's just one example of a forum dedicated to "So You Think You Can Dance.") and the viral nature of the Soulja Boy "Crank That" instructional video (see my post). In the case of the latter example, this dance video has been watched by millions of people and hundreds of fans have uploaded videos of their own take of this dance routine.

I do start with the premise that the concert dance community cannot really ignore what's happening in the popular and social dance space as they explore current and new developments in curation. My simple answer is that the public (dance enthusiasts) simply have to be a bigger piece of the equation.

So my question for presenters and dancers is how specifically are you now or planning in the future to develop new approaches to curation that incorporate, in some manner, the online public? And what specifically will these new approaches to curation look like?

It strikes me that there are many possibilities as well as challenges:

- What types of risks are established performing arts venues and dance companies willing to take in terms of opening-up the curatorial process to online dance enthusiasts? Would you present on your website a list of dance companies who you are considering presenting and allow website visitors to vote on their preferences? Would a dance company allow online voters to determine which of their works are performed? What are other variations of this idea? And how can such programs be implemented that protect the artistic values and approaches of your organization?

- What are new ways of presenting dance altogether that rely heavily or entirely on online audiences? For example, how would you go about curating a series of site-specific works that featured dancers and dance companies selected by Internet users? How would such programs be structured and implemented?

- How could you go about creating a completely open-ended curatorial process that started with a simple question to Internet users such as "What pressing world issues do think need to be addressed? And then based on the issues that are determined to be the most pressing, a dance program could be built around these ideas with lots of user involvement.

- And, finally, curation can be very much connected with audience engagement. If online audiences know that they are in some way part of the equation when dance programs are being developed, they will also enjoy taking advantage of other ways to be part of the dance program. Take the Soulja Boy "Crank That" video above. How can more dance programs give audiences a way to actually learn parts of the choreography and then enable users to upload their videos if they wish? Is this something that you'd value?

There are many opportunities and challenges when it comes to opening-up the curatorial process. To date, I'm not sure I've seen any actual examples in the concert dance community. This is something I hope to see develop over the coming year and I hope that the dance forum at least touches upon these issues.

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:59 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

May 11, 2007

Voice of Dance Launches Video Content

Popular dance website Voice of Dance launched a dance video contest that pays $1,000 to the winner. Dancers are encouraged to upload original videos to YouTube to participate in this contest, which runs through May. The winner will be announced July 2nd.

The voting results for each week's best video and the grand prize winner in July appear to be determined solely by the vote totals not by the creator of this contest. And during May, you can vote three times each week for the same or multiple videos.

Voice of Dance could have implemented a better registration system - once you sign-up, you only need your name and email address - there's no password, which means that you could log-on to the competition site, sign-in using my name and email address and vote on my behalf. Most voting systems can be messed with, but this one more than most.

One thing I don't understand. The rules say you should upload your video to YouTube in "private" mode. But then, you're supposed to tag your video "voiceofdance." How can Voice of Dance search for a tag if the video is marked private? Maybe I'm missing something.

In the rules for this contest, VOD is very clear that you must upload your own videos and you cannot infringe on the rights of others. So while VOD is covering itself from a legal perspective, I wonder what percentage of the videos in this contest will actually be "legal." In other words, if the video is of a dance performance, have all the dancers and other artists (costume, lighting, set design) signed agreements/waivers providing permission for their work to be featured in this video which is competing for a financial award? And do they have permission to use the music that is included in their video. These questions follow-up on the post I wrote earlier this week about intellectual property and ownership interests. My guess is that in many cases the people who upload their videos will not have received all of the proper authorizations and licensing to submit their videos to this contest.

While I think this video competition is a great idea and I'm sure we will see similar initiatives in the near future, this is one more reason why the dance community has to start getting serious about IP and other legal issues surrounding the sharing of dance videos online. The bottom line is that it will be very difficult for dancers and dance companies to take advantage of the emerging online revenue streams without addressing these sometimes complicated legal issues.

Posted by Doug Fox at 2:37 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

March 29, 2007

Can Ballet be as Popular as "Dancing with the Stars"?

In a post earlier this week, "WHOA," Tonya Plank of Swan Lake Samba Girl blog writes about the massive audience for ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" in comparison to the relatively miniscule audiences for concert dance.

I had no idea there was this degree of difference between a popular TV show and ballet. I no longer think that the Internet is the be-all and end-all right now, the best way to reach out to people and gain new audiences. If the Internet is the future I don’t think it’s the present. The present is still the good old fashioned TV. Obviously the Internet is a good aid for promoting dance, through blogs and message boards, but there needs to be more ballet on TV. I don’t know how — commercials maybe? A full-length ballet once in a while like the Met Opera is doing. Except it needs to be on a basic network and during prime time...Tharp’s ballets are so modern, so fun, and so relatable. Certainly the same audience who gets so in to ballroom would be into her, right?! Or, Alvin Ailey’s The River or Pas de Duke, or Revelations even — they all contain some elements of Samba and Jive, etc. Anyone who takes any interest in DWTS would simply be blown away by those dancers and choreographies.

Tonya raises some good questions:

1) If DWTS is so popular, why aren't ballet and modern performances?

2) And given that there's already a huge audience for DWTS, how come these loyal fans don't become part of the audiences for concert dance performances? And,

3) Quoting from Terry Teachout's column, "Ballet, Never Head of It," in the Wall Street Journal that Tonya references,

...therein lies the challenge of reviving dance in America: Anyone who seeks to launch a new company, or revitalize an old one, must start by figuring out how to make large numbers of Americans want to see something about which they no longer know anything--save that Emmitt Smith does it [Smith won last year's Dancing with the Stars].

I think that there are a number of reasons why many dance forms are hugely popular in the US (by popular I mean people either watch or dance) but concert dances often are not:

1) The perennial difference between "high culture" and popular culture

2) Lack of exposure to and knowledge about ballet, modern and many other concert dance forms

3) Lack of an easy entry-point into some dance forms. In other words, the dances are inaccessible to the uninitiated

4) The embarrassment factor of believing that you will not understand what you're about to see

5) Some concert performances are boring and bewildering

6) The inaccessible way that dance reviews are written

7) The separation of concert dance from popular dances in the way the media covers (primarily writes about) dance. When did you ever read a review of a ballroom dance competition?

8) The unimaginative ways that some ballet and modern dance companies promote themselves and explain their works

9) The lack of industry-wide initiatives - especially on a national level - to build new audiences for dance

10) The historical elitism of the ballet. To quote from this morning's Baltimore Sun:

Classical ballet...emerged from the tradition of court dance in 17th-century France. It was dance done by and for aristocrats - and ever since, traditional dance has had difficulty defeating the perception that it is elitist and that a specialized knowledge is required to appreciate it.

Possible Answers

It would be great as Tonya suggests to have ballet or modern performances on broadcast TV. But I think that would be very difficult from a commercial standpoint unless you featured a dance company such as Pilobolus, which always sells out. Or maybe there is a variation of Dancing with the Stars for modern dance companies that could be on Bravo - but is there a large enough audience and this isn't broadcast TV?

For starters, many writers mischaracterize the state of dance in the US. In an article in the Los Angeles Times this week, "Ballet Pacifica Lacks Funds to Stay in Business," Mike Boehm writes about the soon-to-close Ballet Pacifica and its impact on the local dance community:

Ballet Pacifica's demise would deepen a widespread belief that Southern California is not fertile turf for dance; Los Angeles has not had a major ballet company since the Joffrey Ballet's Music Center residency ended in 1990.

Boehm is clearly referring to concert dance not dance in general. But writers are constantly doing this: They start with the very elite and condescending premise that there is only one kind of dance - concert dance - and all other forms of dance are not worth acknowledging. Because when you think about it, it is absurd to say that "Southern California is not fertile turf for dance" - there are many styles and types of dance that are incredibly popular in Southern California.

I make the above point about the use of the word "dance" because unless the performing arts dance community views itself as part of the larger dance community, it will be very challenging for ballet and modern dance companies to be more successful from an economic and audience development standpoint.

Take ballroom dancing. It is very popular in the US - partially spurred on by the success of Dancing with the Stars. There are many ways to enjoy ballroom dancing. You can watch or participate in professional or pro-am (professional-amateur) dance competitions. You can take American or International-style ballroom classes. And, of course, you can go ballroom dancing throughout the year - In DC alone there are many places to do this.

The question I take from Tonya's post is what is stopping these ballroom dancers from becoming fans of ballet and modern dance? These audiences - consisting of millions of people - are either avid fans of ballroom or are already ballroom dancers. The bottom line is that they are already engaged with dance.

What specifically would it take to convert some of these millions of ballroom dancers to frequent attendance at concert dances? How could you implement marketing campaigns and the Internet in particular to build this cross-over audience?

Making Dance More Accessible

Earlier this week I wrote about the new video series that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the New York City Ballet's Rome + Juliet. The second episode was just published. This second episode focuses on weapons training - a brilliant theme if you want to make dance more accessible to a wider audience. Anybody whoever mocked dance or dancers would sort of have to be in awe of the skills of the dancers who not only have to master realistic sword-fighting techniques, but they have to do it to the rhythm of the music. It's time to sell season tickets to the millions of NRA members.

Ballet Isn't for the Elite

I've already mentioned a number of times the new video podcast series from the Anaheim Ballet that flat-out mocks the notion that ballet is an elite art form in its very enjoyable profiles of its dancers.

High-Quality Dance Videos on the Internet

Also, while I think it's tough to get ballet on TV networks, there are a number of important developments taking place in the world of online video distribution that will offer some compelling ways for all forms of dance to reach a larger audience. With the introduction of services like Joost, which will distribute high-quality video programming and the roll-out of devices like Apple TV, which connects your computer to your wide-screen TV, there are an increasing number of distribution outlets for dance videos.

I'm going to leave it there or I'll spend the entire day writing this post!!

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:16 AM - Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

March 19, 2007

Injured Again

I haven't been able to take dance classes for about a month or so. I actually shouldn't have been taking classes for a month before that.

In February 2006 I injured myself more seriously and couldn't take dance classes for about seven months. I injured both of my adductor muscles and the tendons in each of my hips.

Returning to the present: At about the beginning of last December I hurt my back overdoing it on the crunches. I was doing the crunches where you're lying on your back with your feet straight-up in the air perpendicular to the ceiling. I increased very slightly the number of reps I was doing. Then I felt this shot of pain running through my back.

I didn't do much at first except take Advil and use a heat pad and go back to dance classes - except I stopped doing the ab work. It's stunning how fast the abs lose strength if you stop working on them.

But my back didn't improve. So I eventually went back to the orthopedic doctor and he referred me to a physical therapist.

So I went to the physical therapist for about two weeks and they taught me some very helpful back stretching and strengthening exercises. But they seemed to insist that I work with a different PT each time I went. So I just stopped going. I'd prefer just to work with one PT who knows what my problem is.

But the exercises they taught me have been very helpful. I do them every other day. And the most helpful advice was that I start using a workout ball.

I now think that workout balls are the greatest invention ever. I think all of the exercises I'm doing to strengthen my core and back are beginning to help too.

I've been using a book "Ultimate Core Ball Workout" by Jeanine Detz. The author does an excellent job of describing and illustrating hundreds of different ball exercises for your abs, back and other parts of your core. For me this is great because I still can't do regular crunches while lying on the floor.

I'm hoping that my back as well as some pulled muscles I have are in good enough shape for me to go back to dance classes in three weeks. On Saturday I ran into Helen Hayes my wonderful modern dance teacher. She's starting a new routine today and the next one will start in three weeks. So if I'm better in three weeks the timing would be perfect - but realistically I think it's only 50/50 that I'll be healthy enough.

I saw Helen at the "Winter Performance Class Showcase" at Joy of Motion. It's always fun to see other students perform - I take classes with a number of the students who were in the program. After another year or so of dance classes, I think I'm going to sign-up for a performance class.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:34 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

February 20, 2007

Costume Designers on the Web

In my previous post I wrote about the Houston Ballet's costume design competition and offered suggestions about how their competition could be more Internet friendly.

In this post, I'd like to point to some examples of how professional and amateur costume designers who primarily serve the dance world are promoting themselves on the Internet.

Overall, I'd say that of the costume design sites I did find, which was not many, I could barley tell what the designers actually did or whether they were currently designing costumes for dance. So if you have more information or know of good sites I should link to, please let me know.

Blogs and Flickr

- The nameless costume designer from House of Secrets has a profile on Flickr and here are some of her designs and pictures.

- You can learn about Carla Cid de Diego's costume design work on her blog (from 2005) and link to dance photos on Flickr.

- New blogger "1001 Nightmares - The Worst of Bellydance" shares belly dance fashion pictures along with her amusing thoughts about the designs.

YouTube

- Belly dance designs by Asi Haskal. Video includes sample belly dance costumes and dancing. (Link to her website).

MySpace

- Costume designer Kelly has a MySpace page where you can view some of her belly dance designs.

- Costume designer Micha Merrick has a MySpace page where you can learn about and see examples of her work -- she's really a theatrical costume designer - not many dance fashion designers on MySpace :(

Fashion How-To

- Dina Lydia "The Costume Goddess" offers a wealth of resources about belly dance costumes. On the Art of Middle Eastern Dance by Shira website, you can find lots of how-to articles written by Dina.

What's the story about belly dancers? Are they more Internet savvy than everybody else? There are probably more dance blogs about belly dancing than any other form of dance. Second is probably Argentine Tango.

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:32 PM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Bring Costume Design Competitions to the Internet

The Houston Ballet is holding a costume design competition. Here's a brief description:

You will be creating original artwork to be used as inspiration for the design of a world premiere ballet with choreography by Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch entitled A Doll’s House Story with music by István Márta. Your original artwork as well as the final design of the ballet is anime (Japanese animation). Your original artwork will include character images of 16 individual characters - eight men and eight women.

You can view the complete competition guidelines in this PDF file. The deadline for the submission of artwork is July 1, 2007. The winner will receive $2,500. And 8-12 finalists will also have their artwork displayed before and after performances in Houston.

So you can see an example of the Houston Ballet's work, here's a video from last year's performance of Dracula:

Dracula 2

Add to My Profile | More Videos

A Different Approach to Dance Costume Competitions

This design competition strikes me as a good way for designers to get exposure for their work and creativity. Although I don't know how tempting this competition is for professional designers who already have a number of paying gigs.

I'd like to suggest a couple of modifications to this competition that will

- get more exposure for designers

- help designers better understand the artistic requirements of the Houston Ballet, and

- Drive much larger numbers of ballet fans to the Houston Ballet website, which, in turn, will help sell more tickets.

My idea is pretty simple. Why not post all submitted designs to the Houston Ballet website or MySpace page? Or maybe all submissions that pass a certain basic threshold of creative quality?

The Houston Ballet could even allow website visitors to vote on their favorite costumes in order to help choose the winning sketches.

By implementing this type of web-based design competition, everybody benefits. The ballet company and designers get much more exposure, which means more designers will submit their artwork, and, as I said above, more people will go to performances.

Plus, this type of web competition gets ballet fans of all ages involved in the creation of a ballet, which is not usually possible.

Facilitating the Creative Process

I'd like to suggest one other change based on my very limited exposure to seeing how costume designers work. I attended many rehearsals of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's "Funny Uncles" last year - Peter DiMuro is the artistic director for this work. (The "Funny Uncles" blog is on hiatus until we get closer to the formal premiere later this year.)

During the rehearsals, I watched the customer designer - I forgot her name but I will get it - communicate with Peter so she would have a clear understanding of what specifically was needed from a design standpoint.

So in terms of the Houston Ballet competition, there is no real way for designers to get their arms around this project in a meaningful way. Costume designers can read the guidelines and visit the company's website, but that's about it.

What I think would be especially helpful is if all interested costume designers were invited to an online chat session or Skype-type conference call where they could pose questions to Artistic Director Stanton Welch and others involved in this upcoming production. That way designers would have a better feel for the types of designs they should submit.

Costume Designers on the Web

As I was thinking about this post, I was curious how designers were promoting themselves online. In an upcoming post, I'll link to MySpace pages, Flickr photos and YouTube videos that show how costume designers are using these marketing tools.

Posted by Doug Fox at 6:13 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 3, 2006

"How Do You Enjoy Dance" Continued

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

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

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

October 26, 2006

...And More Participatory Contests

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted by Doug Fox at 5:45 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

October 24, 2006

Digitizing Dance Community from the Bottom Up

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:51 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

October 22, 2006

My First Participation in Community Dance Performance

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

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

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

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

This is my first dance performance!!

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:38 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

October 19, 2006

Olaudah Equiano on the Place of Dance

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

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

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

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:57 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Re-Connecting Bodies to Performances

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:44 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

October 18, 2006

More on Dance and Politics

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

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

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:30 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

How do you enjoy dance?

Some questions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

1) I like small, informal settings.

2) I like watching dance classes.

3) I'd take a dance class.

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

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

Posted by Doug Fox at 4:38 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

July 31, 2006

Video Comments for Online Dance Feedback

One of the newest features added to online video sites is the ability to leave video comments. On the Grouper video service, you can watch a video and then follow-up with a video of yourself commenting on what you just watched.

I came across this story in a post in Techcrunch.

I couldn't find a good example of video comments on Grouper itself - maybe the feature is too new. But Techcrunch points to a good example on the Grouper Networks Blog that illustrates how embedded video comments works.

You'll see on the bottom left side of the video screen (image right below) that there is an image of a webcam with the number of video comments. If you click on this link, you can watch the comments.

I think that this type of embedded video comment capability would be a great tool when dancers begin to put video from their on-going rehearsals on the web - preferably in the form of blogs. Visitors to such a dance blog could watch clips of a work in progress, and then leave their video commentary. And if viewers are inspired, their video comments can be in the form of movement recommendations as well.

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:12 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

July 21, 2006

Link Within Your Google Dance Videos

On Digg, I came across a story about Google's Wednesday announcement that their popular video hosting service now supports direct links to specific points within a video.

This new feature is very helpful for dancers who upload videos to Google.

First, here's how it works:

Say, you're watching the "Dancing Around the World" video that features Matt Harding dancing at each location he visits on his global travel tour. You come across the section where Matt Harding is dancing in India and you want a friend of yours to see this specific section of the video as opposed to having to watch the entire video.

What you do is configure the web address for this Google video so a person is taken directly to the India dance scene:

So, as described on the Google VideoBlog, you first cut and paste the URL for the video from the top address bar. The URL for "Dancing Around the World" is:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1609134961558581805

Then you add to the end of this URL the time information. In this case, we want to take people who click on this link to the 0 minute and 48 second mark in the video. So now we'll add this time information to the end of the URL:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1609134961558581805#0m48s

Actually, I found that Google takes you to a point about five seconds before the point you specified, which isn't a bad idea. But you can adjust this if you want simply by adding about five seconds to the time section in the above URL.

The reason why I like this feature is because it gives dancers a way to write about and explain their dance videos in a more meaningful way.

Let's say you upload a dance video (maybe a performance or class) to Google and then you want to write about the video on your blog or website. Now as you write about each portion of your dance, you can include a link to the specific part of the video that you are currently discussing. These time-specific links will make it much easier for your readers to understand what part of your dance you are explaining and will help them visualize the points that you are making. This approach, I think, would serve as a good educational tool for teaching dance moves, providing a viewer guide for an upcoming performance, or showing the evolution of dance styles or choreographic influences.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:55 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

July 20, 2006

The Local Dance Scene on TurnHere

TurnHere offers video clips of things to do and see in neighborhoods and cities around the globe. It's essentially a video travel guide that's part a tour of the local scene and part a promotional opportunity for local stores and attractions. It appears that the largest video collections are for San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles.

I've been visiting TurnHere for the past month or so and I've enjoyed watching a number of the videos on their site.

Here are two dance-focused videos from Turn Here that highlight Argentine Tango and Belly Dancing in San Francisco:

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:35 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 29, 2006

Universal Dance Movement Vocabulary

I cam across this interesting post on TechCrunch about a new Israeli start-up, Zlango, that has created an icon-based language for exchanging messages via SMS.

SMS is essentially text messaging for cell phones. In the case of Zlango, their new application is not text messaging but two-dimensional icon messaging where each graphic icon conveys a specific meaning. So to send a graphic message to a friend, you select a series of graphic icons.

Here's a screen shot of how a mobile phone looks like running Zlango:

And here's a sample graphic message created by a user on the Zlango site. I turned on the text below each icon so you could see what the meaning of this message was:

Maybe not the best expressed thought in the world, but it did get me thinking about a universal dance vocabulary.

Say instead of a two-dimensional icon-based visual language, you were asked to create a 3D video-based language library that anybody could use as an alternative to written words? The goal would be to covey any idea, thought or action to others who may or may not speak the same language as you.

Would it be possible to create this universal dance vocabulary? Do certain movements cut across cultural borders and express universal emotions and reactions? Or is dance tied too much to the culture and society in which it is created? And if dance is culturally-based, how would different societies express common emotions and reactions through movement?

I realize that my project may not be that practical. With the visual icons from Zlango, you simply view a series of small graphic images to discern the meaning. With a video language, a recipient of a message would have to watch an entire video clip - even if just a few seconds - in order to understand the meaning of the message. But then again maybe the greater depth of meaning and nuance that can be conveyed by dance is worth taking the extra time to watch the video clips?

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:46 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

June 13, 2006

Step Up Movie's Online Audition Call on MySpace

The official site for the upcoming dance movie "Step Up" is on MySpace. An interesting twist is that the public is invited to audition for the film's music video, "Get Up."

On the movie's MySpace page there are now 20 finalists for the "Get Up" video. You can watch these video auditions and choose your favorite five.

This movie promotion combines many of the important online trends in a single package: social networking sites, user-generated content and empowering audiences to determine outcomes.

Thanks to Jo-Anne Green at Networked Performance blog for pointing me to this story.

[Via Step Up to dance on MySpace in Smart Mobs blog.]

Posted by Doug Fox at 6:01 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

June 9, 2006

Dancing in the Second Life Virtual World

I keep meaning to experiment with the Second Life virtual world.

Now with the growth in dancing in this alternative reality, I have more of an incentive to make an avatar for myself and start wondering around and going to clubs, get-togethers and, even, dance studio. This notice caught my attention:

This past Tuesday, the Takeshi's Dance Studio in Second Life held an event to teach people how to dance. Plus, they will soon be building a theater and they need dancers.

Since I haven't used Second Life, I only have a vague idea what it means to dance in SL. My guess is that users who went to Takeshi's Dance Studio learned how to write scripts so that their avatars could automatically perform a series of pre-programmed moves. I'm going to follow-up with Takeshi's Dance Studio to find out more.

In the meantime, I came across some interesting stories and pictures that offer a glimpse of the type of dancing that is now taking place in SL:

- Here are some pictures on Flickr that show examples of Second Life dancing:

- In Linden Lifestyles (Linden is the creator of Second Life), there is an article, "Concert Tips and Etiquette," that explains how to participate in SL music concerts - how, for instance, to listen to musicians and not be bothered by extraneous sounds. If you scroll down this article, you'll find a section that explains the concept of dance animators and dance balls. If an avatar couple steps on a dance ball and then activates the dance animator, their avatars will then be taken through a pre-determined series of dance steps. Here's a screen shot of a dance floor in an SL nightclub:

- Dancing doesn't just take place in virtual clubs. Events on private islands also feature music and dancing. Earlier this year, Creative Commons hosted a party. There are more pictures available with the write-up about this event:

- In "Get That Out of Your Mouth #24 - The Show Must Go Online," Chris Dahlen describes the experience of listening to music in Second Life, how indie bands take virtual tours and make money, and the limitations of gestures and dance in this virtual world:

Players also can't control their avatars with any spontaneity or nuance; if you want to dance at a show, you can trigger an animation that runs your avatar through the steps, but you can't personally step in to make the arm rest on your partner's back just so. The same problem applies for performers. If you look closely at Few as he's playing guitar, you'll see that he can't strum or move his hand on the fretboard, and his face is trapped in a stiff mask, like a dummy in a vintage Disney World ride. And while you can add more animations and poses to an avatar, if you have the time and you're handy with 3-D modeling software, you can't make the spur-of-the-moment gestures that even stiff indie rockers need to liven up their acts.

- And Rik Riel (his SL name) in his "Dancing with myself... with other people " post, says that he goes to a lot of SL events and music gigs. He describes how dancing works:

In Second Life, you are given a small set of pre-defined dance animations that you can trigger from your keyboard. It's easy to pick up other animations at parties or from friends. You can easily perform everything from a waltz to b-boying to country two-step (not to mention more, uh, provocative dancing).

But he's not really sold on this virtual dancing:

A real basic question is Why would you do this? Virtual dancing provides none of the perks of real world dancing, either the joy of movement, the physical response to music you are digging, the pleasure in touching another person, or the pride of executing a difficult move. There's no learning curve, no physical exertion, no effort to anything, except maybe the effort involved in designing your own custom animations.

I've been dancing my whole life, from all of the terrible 80's trends (smurf, running man, pac man, etc.) to popping and locking, salsa, tap, and now lindy hop. There are few other moments when I am happier than when I am dancing. There is nothing to compare to sharing great music with someone you care for swaying in your arms. I love dancing so much, I help administer the largest lindy hop community website on the net, Yehoodi.com.

Rik Riel adds this picture from Flickr to reinforce his point:

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:20 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

June 7, 2006

A Dance Vocabulary for Performance Art

On the Networked Performance blog I came across an interesting write-up about a multimedia and performance art work by Ursula Endlicher.

For this installation, "Website Impersonations: The Amazons (.at versus .com)," Ursula creates a movement vocabulary that corresponds to the underlying HTML code of a webpage. You can watch a video that shows exactly how users interact with this art work (QuickTime video file is about 27 MB):

A user sits down on top of a giant trackball as they watch two side-by-side projection screens positioned in the corner of a room. One image is projected of a performer whose movements reflect the HTML code for Amazon.com while on the other screen the performer's movements reflect the HTML code for Amazon.at. The code is generated in real-time from a live Internet connection. By moving one's butt to roll the trackball, users can determine the position of the cursor and thus the corresponding movements that appear on screen. Here's a diagram of the installation set-up and a larger version of these technical requirements are available on Ursula's site:

I think that the online presentation of this installation would be enhanced if there were a separate movement vocabulary gallery that showed, in a visual fashion, the specific connections between HTML code and the individual movements. For example, what are the specific series of movements made by a performer when he or she encounters a tag for the beginning of an HTML table? By creating this video-based movement vocabulary library, both online and in-person audiences would have a better understanding of the inner workings of this installation and would likely enjoy it more.

Ursula Endlicher will be showing her work this Saturday, June 10th at 7:00 PM at 315 Broadway, 5th Floor (between Duane/ Thomas Street) in Lower Manhattan.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:11 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

June 6, 2006

Maria Finn's Books on Latin Culture

Maria Finn is the author of just published "Mexico in Mind," a literary travel guide that takes readers through two-centuries of fiction and non-fiction accounts about Mexico.

Maria has created a plog for her book and upcoming tour on Amazon.com where she shares additional information about herself and her future projects. A plog is Amazon's name for a blog. I like that you can read an author's thoughts as you're learning about their book. In her plog, Maria shares her passion for dance:

I’m currently working on a memoir about learning how to dance. I started salsa lessons in New York City (on 2-for salseros who know what this means, but I can follow on 1 with no problem), and these led me to Cuba where I fell in love and married my handsome cab driver. This romance didn’t work out quite as well as I hoped, and so to recover from the heartbreak, I’ve immersed myself in the Argentine tango.

In an email to me last week, Maria described how she uses her plog:

The Amazon blog is supposed to help writers connect with their readers directly and I believe the purpose of this is to create a sense of community. Since writing and reading are such solitary activities, I think this is great. But when I'm traveling and arrive in a town where I don't know many people, I've found that if I go to a tango milonga, I'm immediately part of a community, and when tangueros that I meet arrive in New York, I give them tips on classes and milongas. So I'm trying to see if I can locate a cross-over and connect with readers and dancers and make my book tour more fun and blog a little livelier.

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:40 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 5, 2006

Integrating Dance into Our Contemporary Discourse

Dance and movement can offer important insights into the pressing issues of our time. Dance can also serve as a powerful springboard for encouraging conversation, building community, fostering understanding and inspiring action.

Yet while performances often encourage audiences to see contemporary topics from different perspectives and address issues that do not receive sufficient coverage in the media, dance is not in any meaningful way an integral element in how our society thinks about, reflects and reacts to the world in which we live.

Imagine an alternative reality where every time a newspaper, a TV show, a community group, a cultural organization, a governmental department, a non-governmental organization (NGO), a website, a blog, a trade association or any other entity addressed an important societal or political issue that they turned to dance for the answers.

Take some of the important and sometimes controversial topics and issues of the day: immigration, race, genocide, gender, gay marriage, gay lesbian bisexual and transgender (GLBT), environment, bio-ethics, poverty, war, education, disabilities, healthcare, natural disaster, AIDS/HIV, physical abuse, incarceration and many others. How often do the people and organizations that are devoted to addressing these topics actually turn to dance for answers and insights?

The answer is not very often.

But it doesn't have to be this way. Dance can be integrated into the overall fabric of how we contemplate challenging issues and think about taking action.

Two of the main challenges to achieving this goal, I believe, are 1) that most people don't know about the many dance programs that already exist for addressing contemporary topics and 2) there are no online resources that aggregate these dance programs (performances, workshops, educational programs and outreach initiatives) by theme and subject matter.

One of the things I'm thinking about doing is creating such an online resource in the form of a blog that groups the politically, socially, economically and culturally-focused efforts of dance companies on a thematic basis. So a user could visit this weblog and find dance-related content for any of the topics I listed above (plus other issues).

So, say, a person from an organization that addresses race and poverty issues is seeking dance resources regarding this topic. Through such a blog, they could quickly learn about dance companies that do performances, workshops, and community outreach programs that deal with race and poverty. Even more helpful, in some cases they could find video clips, audio programs, pictures and other multimedia resources that were already online and immediately available for use. And, in the future, there may be a way to license this digital dance content and add it directly to an organization's website. This way this hypothetical community group that addresses race and poverty issues could integrate directly into their own website dance programs that encourage their website visitors to think about these issues in new ways and, hopefully, inspire action.

I'll write more about this new dance resource soon. But for now, I thought I'd do some initial research and explore how dancers have been or are currently addressing some of these topics. Here's an list of eight annotated resources that explore what dancers are doing on a number of fronts - I came across a lot more, I just didn't have time to include them all. I think it would be great to conduct audio interviews for my podcast with the dancers below to learn more about their dance programs and how they hope to inspire their audiences to learn, contemplate and take action.

- Saturday night I saw a wonderful community performance of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's "We Are Still Crossing," an updated version of an 1986 commission that celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of the gift of the Statue of Liberty from the French to the US. The current version incorporates themes, stories and movement that reflect upon the current debate over immigration and the building of a wall between the US and Mexico. "We are Still Crossing" integrates both the company's professional dancers with community participants.

- Jennifer Monson's "Flight of Mind" dance performance is based on her multi-year study of the migration paths of birds and whales. This project includes the "Bird Brain Educational Resource Guide" for grades 3-6. (Download PDF classroom guide.)

- Anne Bluthenthal and Dancers performance of "Unsing the Song" deals with the nature of genocide. Part of a multi-arts exhibit that addresses Rwandan genocide, rape and deliberate attempts to spread HIV. You can learn more about this grassroots oral history project.

- Pat Graney Company's "Keeping the Faith - The Prison Project" is "designed to enable incarcerated women and girls to discover a sense of identity within themselves and to develop that identity within the context of community - through the vehicles of performance, video documentation and a published anthology of their writings. . .Each year, the program culminates in performance where the participating women perform their own movement and writing, and display their own visual art for 200 members of the general public, 500 of their incarcerated peers, and the prison administration."

- David Popalisky, director of Santa Clara University Dance Program, created and performed "Barred from Life" which explores issues of wrongful conviction "...through a combination of media including dance movement, video imagery, [and] excerpts from interviews with exonerees..."

- Urban Bush Women (UBW), founded in 1984, "is a performance ensemble dedicated to exploring the use of cultural expression as a catalyst for social change. Programs such as "Batty Moves," in the Caribbean "batty" means buttocks, "directly challenges the audience to question their own notions of physical attractiveness and appropriate movement. Now Urban Bush Women hosts "Batty Parties" to expand its civic dialogue practice to discuss positive body images."

- Dream Dance Company "brings innovative urban folk art and culture to the stage to tell personal and collective stories of struggle, transformation and inspiration. Their electrifying pieces fuse an incredible breadth of African diasporic movement (including Hip-Hop, House, Break, Funk and Afro-Caribbean dance) with theater, rap, beatbox and live music." [quote link] Their full-length production, "Dig Us Now," "shows how these rich cultural forms have flipped the script on the ugliness of poverty and racism to reflect the beauty and wonder of everyday life."

- Jena Marie Griswold has always been inspired by dance and "its capacity to facilitate cross-cultural understanding." As one of 50 graduating seniors this year who was honored with a Thomas J. Watson fellowship, Griswold will spend the next year traveling four continents pursuing a project she calls "Salsa: Spicing Up the International Dance Scene." Griswold who is motivated by her passion for social justice, will be researching how Salsa and Hip-Hop are both physically and socially reinterpreted as she moves from one destination to the next. (Her journey and exploration of dance would make for a wonderful on-going blog project as well. I'm going to email her to see if she plans to do this.)

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:54 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 2, 2006

An Online Blueprint for Making Dance More Relevant

As a follow-up to my post yesterday, "Reclaiming the Relevancy of Dance," I'd like to offer my initial ideas on how we might move forward with such a project.

First, I'd post a message to my blog saying that I'm creating a collection of links to dancers and dance companies that are in the process of creating dance works or have already created dance works that address a specific topic.

As dancers add content (descriptions, pictures, audio interviews and videos) to their websites, blogs and multimedia sites (YouTube, Flickr, etc.), they can then send me the links to these resources.

For example, I could post a message such as the following:

I'm creating a resource guide with links to dance performances (individual or group performances) that deal with the topic of global warming. If you have created such a performance, please send me links to the relevant websites. Clearly, the best type of resource is a video clip so that people can watch your performance. But pictures, text descriptions and audio guides are also worthwhile.

Your dance work does not have to be finished in order to participate in this project. If you've created diagrams or illustrations of costumes, for example, and posted these images to your website or blog, these would be of interest as well.

So overall the goal is to aggregate dances that deal with a specific topic as a way to reach a larger Internet audience. Environmental topics are especially worthwhile because once we put together a list of, say, ten existing dance works (either completed or in progress), I think this would be an excellent resource for the thousands upon thousands of websites and blogs that address environmental issues.

In the end, I think this project would help all participating dancers and dance companies get considerable exposure for their work and upcoming performances.

Once this project is up and running, it can go in a number of different directions. For example, once there are a handful of dance videos dealing with global warming, then we could launch a mashup competition and encourage people to create their own global warming dance mixes that can be uploaded to a public video gallery. It would be nice, of course, if we could find a sponsor for such a competition that would offer cash and other prizes for both the best dance videos and dance mashups -- this actually might be possible if there is enough interest in this project.

That's my idea. What do you think? Also, global warming is just one of many possible topics to focus on. What are some of the main themes and ideas you address in your dance pieces?

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:56 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 1, 2006

Reclaiming the Relevancy of Dance

One of the ways for dancers to reach a larger global audience - especially an online audience - is by choreographing dance works that address pressing social, political, cultural and economic issues.

Last week I wrote about dance pieces that address global warming. Wouldn't it be great if there were hundreds of dancers from around the world that were actively creating and performing dances that dealt with this important topic? It would be even better if videos of these works were made available online.

With a large number of dance videos to watch about global warming, the millions of people who are concerned about the health of our planet would have a new lens through which to reflect and learn about this important issue.

One of my questions is what are some of the ways that movement can help people - with or without a dance background - think about and relate to global warming? Can it bring people together in new ways and give them a stronger sense of community?

I think that dance videos can inspire more of an emotional way of relating to global warming and thus serve as a powerful springboard for building communities around this topic. This is especially true if some of the videos also strive to help Internet users create their own environmentally-inspired dance pieces and routines and share them with others.

The end result of such a project, I think, is that dance would have more relevancy because it would be integrated into the overall fabric of how people learn about and share their thoughts on important topics.

Imagine, for example, that on hundreds or thousands of websites that cover environmental issues there were direct links to dance videos that dealt with eco-issues. Dance would instantly be transformed from an enjoyable art form that is often disconnected from our daily concerns to a key piece of the puzzle that helps us understand the world in which we live.

In my next post, I'm going to describe some thoughts I have about encouraging large numbers of dancers to address global warming and other important contemporary topics.

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:03 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

May 30, 2006

The Shakira "Hips Don't Lie" Mashup

Jackie Huba in her Church of the Customer Blog has a post about how Shakira's fans were encouraged to create their own video dance mixes of her "Hips Don't Lie" video. You can watch this video on YouTube that shows clips from many of the fan contributions:

The beauty of video mashups is that they are an excellent way to build an audience of energized fans. Jackie Huba points out that there is no way to really know whether this mashup contest is really an important factor in sending "Hips Don't Lie" to the top of the charts, but it certainly can't hurt.

I think encouraging fans of any type of dance to participate in a video mashup is a good idea. It's not difficult to implement this type of program and it gets a lot of people excited about your dance performances and classes.

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:36 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

May 25, 2006

Dancing to Combat Global Warming

With the upcoming US debut of Al Gore's movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," that highlights the catastrophic effects of global warming, I thought I'd revisit the topic of dance performances that address environmental issues.

You can visit the official website for this film:

You can also watch the trailer on Google:

In April I wrote about and did an audio interview with Emily Johnson of Catalyst Dance about her "Heat and Life" production that addresses global warming through movement, video and sound:

And this morning I came across an excellent interview (Part I and Part II) with Brenda Way the artistic and executive director of ODC/Dance. Last year, Way choreographed "On a Train Heading South," a work that "focuses on social denial and complacency in the face of environmental degradation." In this interview in Grist Magazine, Way talks about this dance work, the role of artists and the challenges that dancers face.

When describing the role of artists she says:

A key part of our purpose is to promote perception and awareness, to incite reflection and reactions. I see us as strong allies with environmental groups in the struggle for enlightened social consciousness in our shared desire for a greater humanity.

I'd like to know if other dance companies have created works that have addressed environmental issues or plan to do so in the future? I'd also like to know if any of these environmentally-focused dance pieces will be ported to the web so that Internet users can watch video of these performances online.

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:40 AM - Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

May 23, 2006

Katherine Dunham Video Tribute

[For a February 2007 comprehensive multimedia guide to Katherine Dunham, please click here.]

Dance great Katherine Dunham passed away last Sunday at 96.

Credit: Dance Division, New York Public
Library for the Performing Arts

You can read about the life and contributions of Dunham:

- "How Katherine Dunham Revealed Black Dance to the World" in the New York Times

- "Dancer Katherine Dunham; Formed Black Ballet Troupe" in Washington Post

And here are video clips that I found this morning about Katherine Dunham:

- Katherine Dunham on need for Dunham Technique

- Katherine Dunham: A Simple Act of Faith (1 hour, 29 minutes)

- Katherine Dunham - Afro-Caribbean influence on her dance

- The Belafontes visit Katherine Dunham

- Free to Dance - Dance Timeline (1934-1945) -- Scroll to 1940 video clip of Dunham dancing in "Tropics and Le Jazz Hot"

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:02 AM - Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

May 18, 2006

Sharing the Creative Process

Neill Archer Roan has a post, "Don't Be Cool" that links to the "Incomplete Manifesto."

I like point number three in the Manifesto:

Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.

One of the positive contributions of all the reality TV shows is that they have provided direct access to the process of creation. If you think about dance, fashion and other reality shows, they are not just focused on the end-result - winning the competition - but highlight what happens during the run-up to the final performance and the selection of winners. Even Miss America had to convert its format to more of a reality-based program.

In the dance world, I'd like to see more of the creative process shared through websites, blogs and other online channels. Audiences are not currently offered a way to see how dance pieces are created and only get to watch the actual performance.

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:22 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 27, 2006

Monetizing Your Dance Videos

Brightcove, a commercial platform for distributing video content over the Internet, launches its public beta program today.

After watching the video tour and reading an overview of their service, Brightcove looks like an intriguing way for video content owners of any size to generate revenue through ads, sales and affiliate network distribution.

While popular sites like YouTube are a great way to get exposure for your dance videos, you end-up reaching a lot of eyeballs but you don't generate any revenue.

The concept behind Brightcove is to provide video publishers with a system that allows you to organize your videos into channels, determine how you will generate revenue and choose who will have access to your video content.

You could, for instance, create three video channels:

1) Dance performance previews

2) Performance videos for the web

3) Dance instruction videos

The first category you could distribute for free. The performance videos you might distribute as part of the Brightcove advertising network and video ads would be inserted each time your video plays. You would get a cut of this advertising revenue. And the third category - dance instruction videos - you might offer on a pay-per-view basis.

I think it's time to experiment with services such as Brightcove because there is clearly money to be made - the main question comes down to what the optimal business model is. Will Internet users pay for dance content? How much will they pay for different types of videos? Or is the advertising model the best approach for dance video distribution?

Technorati Tags: brightcove, dance, instruction, performance, ppv, tv, video

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:56 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 24, 2006

Crossing Flash Mobs and Site-Specific Performances

What would happen if you crossed a site-specific dance performance with a flash mob? I'm not sure, but you'd probably generate a large, engaged audience.

A flash mob is when a group of people -- who may or may not know each other -- use the Internet to arrange a public gathering to perform a specific act that takes place at a specific time and location. A dance flash mob would be when a group of dancers agree to meet at a designated location to dance for a few minutes and then disappear into the crowd. Here's an example of an Argentine Tango flash dance mob in Vancouver:

Or a more recent example of a flash mob took place at the University of Florida earlier this month to recreate a banned Xbox TV commercial that never aired. Here's the bizarre video of this recreation on YouTube:

The above flash mob is based upon a commercial that Microsoft never ran probably because of the excessive simulated violence -- just about everybody in the video is pointing their fingers at others as if they are going to blow each other's heads off. You can watch the original commercial:

What I find interesting is that within 12 days almost 50,000 people watched this University of Florida flash mob, which gives you an idea of what types of videos are most popular on YouTube -- ones that are inane, silly and meaningless. But I still think that there is some value that can be taken from this video and its success.

What is it about flash mobs that intrigue people? Why do people participate in flash mobs? Why do others want to watch videos flash mobs? I think it has to do with the compelling nature of spontaneous collective action. It's also an intriguing premise to consider how digital communication tools can be leveraged to bring strangers together within a very short time-frame to act in unison.

I was thinking about flash mobs when I came across a write-up on the Networked Performance blog for the upcoming Sitelines 2006 series of site-specific performances that is organized by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. You can view a map mashup that shows the locations for all of the performances:

The program kicks-off in Early May with a performance by Benoit Maubrey's Audio Ballerinas, which features dancers that wear "electro-acoustic clothes and dresses that make sounds by interacting with their environment."

I haven't figured out the answer to my opening question about the end result of crossing site-specific dance performances and flash mobs. But there must be something fun and intriguing that can be created - especially when you start with an outside performance by a technology clad dance troupe. So I ask you: how would you add a flash mob component to this performance to get more people involved and build greater levels of excitement and interest around this event?

Technorati Tags: dance, flashmob, performance, xbox, youtube

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:02 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

April 21, 2006

Build Buzz with Dance Event Photo Contest

I was just exploring the community-oriented events calendar Upcoming and I came across an event listing for the Bay Area National Dance Week, which starts today (link to National Dance Week website).

The Upcoming event tracking website, owned by Yahoo, is part of the Web 2.0 trend in that it allows users to tag events of interest and network with others who are tracking the same events. If you visit the profile page for Bay Area National Dance Week on Upcoming, you'll see a list of who's attending this event and whose watching this event (just a handful of people so far). At this point, nobody has added any tags for this event.

Bay Area National Dance Week

On the Bay Area National Dance Week site, you can explore all of the performances, demonstrations and classes that are taking place over the next 10 days. Sounds like a lot of fun.

As part of this dance event, the organizer is promoting an amateur photo contest. Participants/attendees can take pictures and submit them with the opportunity to win plane tickets and other prizes. I like the idea of a photo contest, but the way this contest is structured does not help promote this week's dance event or future Bay Area dance programs. Essentially, this is an old-school photo contest. You actually have to submit pictures by snail mail.

If I were organizing this photo contest, this is what I'd do:

1) I'd offer a competition for both videos and pictures.

2) Encourage all performers/instructors/lecturers to provide a blanket waiver that allows pictures and videos to be shot during any of their programs - no flash photography.

3) I'd include on the dance event website a listing all of performers who have signed the blanket waiver and who have not signed the blanket waiver. This way people who want to participate in the photo and video contest would know when they are allowed to take pictures and video.

4) I'd encourage everybody who participates to post their pictures and videos on high-traffic multimedia hosting websites.

5) I'd create an online submission form so that anybody who took pictures and video could submit their entries for the competition along with a URL for the location of their files.

For starters, my approach would get more people involved in the competition. It is too time-consuming to print pictures and submit them by mail. If participants can upload their pictures and video to any website(s) they wish, thousands of people can look at them and learn about this dance event while it's taking place, which is likely to build a much larger dance audience as this 10-day event progresses.

My approach instantly builds large-scale world-of-mouth marketing with zero investment on the part of the dance event organizer. The dancers get more exposure and more people get excited about dance.

Technorati Tags: calendar, dance, performance, upcoming, web2.0

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:55 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 20, 2006

Last.fm and the Future of Dance Videos

I think that dancers and dance companies are missing out on such a wonderful opportunity to use the Internet to reach larger audiences, build excitement for upcoming performances and generate revenue from online sales. I've said this before, but what made me think more about this missed opportunity is the Last.fm website.

Last.fm is a social networking site for music fans. Users can tag and categorize songs, create customized radio stations, write their own journals and join communities with those who share similar musical tastes. You can also have your playlists automatically displayed on your Last.fm profile page for others to view, listen to the radio stations of your friends and see which songs and musical groups are the most popular.

Last.fm, like MySpace, is simply a great way for musicians to build audiences for their music within the context of community-focused websites -- the fastest growing sector of the web.

There's nothing comparable in the dance world. Dancers and dance companies don't post their videos to the web so there can be no community-driven marketplace where dance fans can watch dance clips, tag videos and form communities with others.

But imagine if there were thousands of dance videos online. Dance enthusiasts could create customized TV channels with their favorite videos, share their channels with friends, and meet others with similar tastes. Such a service would enable dancers and dance companies to build larger audiences and at the same time create an online marketplace for selling dance videos.

One thing in particular that I don't understand is that there are many dance on camera film festivals around the world. This obviously means that thousands of dancers already have their works in digital format. So what is stopping them from uploading their videos to the Internet? Why are they not using these videos for promotional purposes? Why are they not trying to sell them online through Google Video and other services?

And in the bigger picture, the online universe is simply so incredibly large that it just doesn't make any sense to ignore it any longer.

I used to watch the TV game show "Let's Make a Deal" when I was younger. Contestants had to choose one of three doors. If they picked the right one, they won some wonderful prizes. If they picked the wrong door, they would end-up with some meaningless gift.

But imagine that before choosing a door, host Monty Hall said, "Now, we want you to choose one of these three doors. Before you choose a door, I want you to know that there is one million dollars behind door number two. OK, go ahead and choose a door."

What does the contestant do? He says, "I choose door number one."

I'm not saying that dancers are going to make a fortune anytime soon. But I am saying that there is a disconnect of massive proportions that does not make any sense. If there are millions of Internet users behind door number two. It is not logical to pick door number one.

Technorati Tags: dance, last.fm, myspace, web2.0

Posted by Doug Fox at 1:17 PM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

April 19, 2006

Dancing to the Sounds of the Earth

On April 4th, Principal Dancer Muriel Maffre of the San Francisco Ballet performed an eight-minute work to commemorate the centennial of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

"Ballet Mori," performed at the War Memorial Opera House, is an improvised solo work danced to natural sounds generated from real-time seismic data. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, led by artist and engineer Ken Goldberg, measured the low-level seismic activity of the Hayward Fault and transmitted these recordings to the Opera House. Based upon this live streaming data, earthlike musical sounds were generated to which Maffre danced.

Resources

- Video clip of Ballet Mori [via networked performance].

- Weekend America audio interview with Muriel Maffre and Ken Goldberg.

- "Maffre, Ballet dance to amplified sounds from a fault line in a new work created in honor of '06 earthquake centennial" article in San Francisco Chronicle by Rachel Howard.

- "Shaking Up the Ballet" article in Wired by Jonathon Keats.

Technorati Tags: ballet, dance, earthquake, performance, technology

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:19 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 18, 2006

Project Danceway

In a January 30th post, "If there was a modern dance reality tv show…," Rachel Feinerman proposes a dance series for TV along the lines of Bravo's Project Runway.

I think that this would be an excellent idea.

If you haven't watched Project Runway, this is what this reality show is about: Sixteen fashion designers who have gone through an audition process are chosen for this TV series. Each week the designers are given a project such as designing a garden party dress. During the show we get to watch the designers buy their materials, make their dresses, interact with the other contestants and deal with time pressures. Then at the end of the show there is a fashion show where models showcase the dresses and judges rate the outfits. At the end of each show one of the designers looses and is off the show.

What I enjoy most about Project Runway is that the creative process is exposed for all to see. You get to watch the designers as they create their outfits - sometimes struggling as they second guess themselves or have to work with the wrong materials. Plus you gain some insight into each designer's personality as they interact with each other and are forced to finish their work on time. So when the fashion show takes place at the end of the episode, you have an emotional connection with the designers and you probably have a favorite.

So if there were a Project Runway for modern dance, some variations would have to be made to the format but the overall idea would probably work. I think it would be a lot of fun to watch choreographers and dancers work together from start to finish to create a different dance piece each week.

There's no current format that I know of that provides dance audiences with access to the creative process at work. A Project Danceway would provide this access and make the experience of watching the performances at the end of the program more meaningful and enjoyable.

Technorati Tags: bravo, dance, fashion, tv

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:01 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 17, 2006

Embracing the Inventive Spirit of the Internet

The dance community has a serious challenge on its hands:

If the Internet culture is marked by interaction and contribution, and the dance culture is marked by observation and passivity, how can dance presenters and dance companies expect to grow audiences for future performances?

My short answer is that it will be very difficult unless the dance community seeks new ways to engage audiences.

The Internet is a very vibrant form of communication. Millions of Internet users are creating content, building upon what others have contributed, and collecting and organizing their favorite movies, songs and pictures. On the other hand, audiences at dance performance sit in their seats as passive observers without any opportunity to contribute to a performance. Can the performing arts world survive this stark contrast?

A New Framework for Audience Participation

In last Friday's post, "Word of Mouth Marketing Builds Audiences," I wrote about two educational sessions that will be moderated by arts marketing and management consultant Alan Brown at the upcoming National Arts Marketing Project Conference.

Alan has written some very insightful articles and studies including a July 2004 report, "The Values Study, Rediscovering the Meaning and Value of Arts Participation" (PDF).

In this report he creates a new framework in which arts participation is divided into five types or modes.

Click for Larger Image

Here is how these five categories are described:

"- Inventive Arts Participation engages the mind, body and spirit in an act of artistic creation that is unique and idiosyncratic, regardless of skill level.

- Interpretive Arts Participation is a creative act of self-expression that brings alive and adds value to pre-existing works of art, either individually or collaboratively.

- Curatorial Arts Participation is the creative act of purposefully selecting, organizing and collecting art to the satisfaction of one’s own artistic sensibility.

- Observational Arts Participation encompasses arts experiences that you select or consent to, motivated by some expectation of value.

- Ambient Arts Participation involves experiencing art, consciously or unconsciously, that is not purposefully selected -- art that happens to you."

In the context of this arts participation framework, how would you describe the way in which audiences participate in the performing arts and other cultural events?

Andrew Taylor, in his September 14, 2005 write-up about this report, wrote:

I'd suggest that the predominant (perhaps disproportional) emphasis of professional cultural nonprofits is the fourth mode on the list (observational). Have we been ignoring or discounting opportunities in the rest of the spectrum?

To see how different types of arts experiences are plotted within this framework, click on the following graphic (dance is in the bottom right-hand quadrant):

Click for Larger Image

Contrast the observational nature of most dance performances with how the Internet is used today. To use Alan's framework, millions of Internet users are either inventors, interpreters or curators. Anybody who shares a video, a song or a picture is an inventor. Likewise, the large majority of bloggers are inventors. A person who creates a video mashup by combining two or more videos is an interpreter. And every user of Apple iTunes is a music curator.

Here's a chart the shows the increase in the number of blogs tracked by Technorati. Currently, 35.3 million blogs are tracked and the blogosphere is 60 times bigger than it was three years ago - that represents a huge increase in the number of online "inventors":

Click for Larger Image

And here's a chart from Alexa that shows the millions of daily users for YouTube, Flickr and MySpace - all highly participatory and interactive communities:

Click for Larger Image

So with the help of Alan's framework and Andrew's question ("Have we been ignoring or discounting opportunities in the rest of the spectrum?"), I think the path for dance and the performing arts in general is pretty clear:

If Internet users are active participants and contributors (in other words, they are primarily "inventors" and "interpreters"), they will expect nothing less when they participate in arts programs. Thus, arts organizations will have to explore ways to move the predominant mode of participation away from the outer layers of the circle ("observational") and toward the heart of the circle where everybody can contribute, share and have their voice heard.

I don't think this process of broadening the available modes of arts participation is easy, but it is necessary.

Technorati Tags: arts, marketing, web2.0

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:03 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 12, 2006

Drift, a Flash-Based Animated Dancer

Koert van Mensvoort, an artist and scientist from the Netherlands, created "Drift," an engaging Flash-based animation that features a dancer consisting of moving balls.

Watch Drift - "An interpassive Flash clip of a dancer without a body" - as Koert describes his creation.

Drift features the moves of dancer Nancy Mauro-Flude, which were captured via motion capture technology and converted into a Flash animation.

Koert van Mensvoort describes Drift as a form of interpassive cinema because users can experience the work as if it were either a movie or a computer game. In movie mode, a user simply sits back as a passive spectator and enjoys the animated movements and music. In game mode, the user moves the mouse and the bubbles and music react to the movements of the cursor.

You can read an interview with Koert van Mensvoort about Drift.

Technorati Tags: animation, art, dance, flash

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

April 7, 2006

New Dance Film Promoted Through Video Mashups

Today the Antonio Banderas "Take the Lead" dance movie opens in theaters.

While I haven't read any positive reviews of this film, New Line Cinema's marketing strategy has generated a lot of buzz for its unconventional approach.

At the heart of its pre-release promotional efforts has been the music mashup feature on the official website that I wrote about on March 29th. In addition Internet users have been encouraged to create video mashups (video mixes) that are actually sanctioned by the studio - although at this point the video mashups appear to be semi-official and done by video DJs. Three video mashups are featured in the video section of the official movie site. And you can also watch the trailer and mashups on popular video services such as YouTube and Google.

Here's the official trailer and mashups so you can watch examples:

Watch Official Theatrical Trailer

Watch Addictive TV Remix

Watch Eclectic Method Remix

Watch DJ 2nd Nature Remix

Technorati Tags: dance, mashups, marketing, video

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:40 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 6, 2006

Video Mashups Offer New Possibilities for Dance - Part II

In Part I of what will be a four part story, I wrote that as a result of the introduction of a new type of online video editing software program:

dancers will be able to share, choreograph, document, learn, collaborate, analyze and create in ways that have barely been contemplated before.

In this second part of the story, I would like to describe the key features of this new crop of web-based video editing software. And in the next part, I'll explain why these features are potentially so important for dancers.

Introduction to Online Video Editing

Whether you use a video editing software program on your computer or a web-based video editing software program, the idea is the same: You edit a video clip by placing video sections on a time-line, trimming portions of the video, adding transitional effects and including introductory and other titles to your work.

A fast way to gain hands-on experience with online video editing is by visiting the Jumpcut website [via TechCrunch] . From the home page, click "Explore" to find a movie to watch. You will now be watching a video and the screen will look like this - click for larger image:

Click for Larger Image

On the above screen, you'll see that on the right-hand side there is a column with thumbnail images for each section of the video, in the bottom left there is a listing of "tags" that are created by users to categorize this video, and in the bottom right of the video screen there is a "Remix" button.

This "Remix" button is pretty radical. Click on "Remix" and you will be taken to the video editing area that looks like this - click for larger image:

Click for Larger Image

So even though you are not working with your own video, you can now remix the video, audio, titles and transitions in any manner that you would like. Then you can save and publish your work. I guess using the word "your" is a stretch. So I'll say you can now save and upload your remixed version of the original work.

Jumpcut does not appear to allow you to edit an existing video by adding one or more of your own video clips to the remix. So when I discuss in Part III specific applications for dancers, I'll assume that there soon will be or already are online video editing applications that allow video clips from any source to be used for remixing.

Tagging and Deep Tagging

In the first screen shot above, you can see the tags for this video in the bottom left-hand side of the screen. The tags are: "squished, funny, humour, faces, distortion." This video was tagged by users (or the original creator) so that all Jumpcut users can group videos that share specific characteristics. For example, show me a list of all videos tagged "funny." This is the essence of the concept of tagging. The owner of a website does not categorize information; the users of the website are the ones that categorize content - in this case movies.

But there are some richer possibilities for tagging and that's what is now known as "deep tagging." The reason why I talked about the video editing software program Motionbox in Part I was because it is the only program that I know of that will have this capability (it is not yet launched). In the context of video editing, deep tagging means that you can tag any section within a video clip.

So let's imagine that in the second of the two screen shots above that you wanted to tag this section of the video clip "racinggoggles." You would use the video editing tools of Motionbox to mark off this section of, say, 5 seconds and add the tag "racinggoggles."

Now users can conduct a deep tag search for the word "racinggoggles" and find any sections in any video clips that have this tag. This is clearly a lot more powerful than just tagging an entire video clip. You can now tag just 5 seconds of a clip (or any length you wish) so that other users can easily find it.

Wrap-Up

So for the sake of the upcoming Part III of this post, this is what we have:

1) An online video editing software program that allows us to mix multiple video clips from any source.

2) A software program that allows us to add video clips to a timeline, trim sections as needed, add transitions and include titles. And,

3) A software program that lets us add tags to any section of a video clip.

Technorati Tags: dance, education, mashups, software, tags, video, web2.0

Posted by Doug Fox at 4:00 PM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

April 5, 2006

A New Business Model for Dance Companies

Since starting my blog in September of last year, I've come across many depressing stories about the economic perils faced by dance companies. Some dance companies simply can't survive or their economic health remains tenuous.

In an article in today's New York Times [via Downtown Dancer], choreographer Bill T. Jones is quoted:

"You don't make a damn cent in dance."

That succinctly sums up the problem.

The question for dance-makers is the following: Given the constant financial challenges, what new approaches can be taken to improve the economic conditions of dancers and dance companies? Or, better yet, how can more dance companies ensure that they have a healthy and secure financial future?

I have a two-part answer:

1) Dance companies should broaden the sources from which they seek financial support, and

2) Dance companies should seek commissions for dance works that have both a live and online component.

Science and Dance - A New Partnership

Before providing an explanation of my two-part solution, I need to highlight a trend that has potentially wonderful ramifications for dance.

Over the past half year, I've noticed that a number of dance companies have been exploring scientific and technological themes in their works.

Here are just a few examples:

- Rambert Dance Company: "Constant Speed" (Physics)

- Australian Dance Theatre: "Devolution" (Robotics)

- Liz Lerman Dance Exchange: "Ferocious Beauty: Genome" (Genetics/DNA)

- San Francisco Ballet: "Ballet Mori" (Earth Science)

These dance works are very intriguing because they offer examples of how human movement can serve to give audiences a different and enhanced way of reflecting on science and technological developments.

There is also an economic component to the fusion of dance and science. Focusing on scientific themes makes good business sense for dancers. There happen to be thousands upon thousands of scientific, technological, medical and related companies that need to market and promote their products and services. And the art form of dance is already showing itself to be a compelling means of explaining, exploring and grappling with scientific and technological developments and changes.

So what better partnership could there be than for dance companies to seek commissions or other forms of financial support from private companies in the scientific and technological arena?

Plus, there is one more element that I want to point out about companies in the technology/scientific realm: They appreciate the importance of leveraging the Internet to reach their customers - I'll elaborate on this point in just a moment.

Back to My Two-Part Solution

As I just explained, dance is a wonderful way to explore and make vivid a huge range of scientific topics. So the first component of my plan is straightforward: Seek commissions/funding/sponsorship from companies in the scientific, technological, medical and related fields - or funding from associations, foundations and related entities that represent these companies.

The second component of my plan is a little trickier because it has not been done yet - but it represents a huge growth area for dance.

The economics of dance companies, which, as Bill T. Jones explained, is miserable, is not going to significantly change until dancers find financially profitable ways to exploit the Internet. The logic is simple. Even in the best of circumstances, you can have only so many people who are going to buy a ticket to watch a performance. The Internet, on the other hand, allows you to reach an audience of potentially unlimited size.

So in addition to seeking commissions from scientific and technological companies, you'll want to propose dance works to these corporations that are designed for the theater as well as the online world.

This dual-track approach to performance will be much more compelling to potential sponsors. Not only will they receive the traditional benefits of sponsoring a dance performance, but they will receive the many benefits that come with helping to underwrite the Internet-based version of your dance piece as well.

From your perspective, you'll be able to raise more money, there will be good synergies between your live performances and their online component, and you will be able to generate additional revenue from online sales.

But I'm leaving out one critical component: What is the structure and nature of the online component of your dance performance and how specifically will you make money from it?

To be continued...

Technorati Tags: business, dance, marketing, performance, technology

Posted by Doug Fox at 2:54 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Review of "InterPlay" - Another Language's Multi-Site, Internet2-Enabled Performance

This past weekend was the performance of "InterPlay," a multi-site dance and arts event that linked performers at different locations together in real-time via the high-speed Internet2. I recently conducted an audio interview with Beth Miklavcic and Jimmy Miklavcic of Another Language who created this program.

You can read a review of this weekend's performance in The Salt Lake Tribune.

Technorati Tags: dance, iternet2, performance, video

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:33 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 4, 2006

Dance Audition Links - Part I

This is my first post about how to use the Internet to find dance auditions. In this post I provide my initial impressions of websites with dance audition listings that do not charge you a fee. In upcoming post I'll write about fee-based dance audition listing sites.

Please email me or post comment with your thoughts, additions or corrections.

To get started, I posted messages on three dance message boards saying that I was about to write about how dancers can use the Internet to find auditions. Here are my messages and the responses - Voice of Dance had the largest number of responses:

- Ballet Talk for Dancers

- Critical Dance

- Voice of Dance

Free Audition Listing Sites

(The below listings are not in any particular order - I just listed them as I wrote about each site.)

- Answers4Dancers: A few dance auditions for US East and West Coasts are listed on home page as well as in their free email newsletter. To access the large majority, you'll need to sign-up for their fee-based service. I'll write more about Answers4Dancers in my next post about audition listing sites and services.

- Article19: Page with up-to-date auditions in UK and other European countries.

- Dance Europe: Page of dance auditions in Europe - mostly updated. But some listings are for past events.

- Craiglist: random, scattered, limited number of dance auditions in different cities around the world. Here are sample listings from New York City.

- Pointe Magazine: Message board with audition section. But from my brief browsing, it seems like discussion about auditions and not listings of actual auditions.

- DanceArt.com: Select "Audition Notices" from drop-down list at top of message board. There are posts for auditions but the audition dates appear to have already past for the listings. So not very helpful.

- Dance Magazine: There is no listing of dance auditions - just wanted to include them since their magazine includes extensive audition listings.

- Voice of Dance: Message board with a large number audition listings with primary focus on US West Coast - as with most message board type set-ups, you can't easily figure out when audition dates have passed.

- Critical Dance: Auditions/Opportunities: They list a limited number of company auditions in a single thread, which makes it very tough to find relevant information - most auditions have already passed.

- Elitedance Broadcast Network: Includes links to a large number of audition websites - I should have written about them at the top of this list - but I'm not sure I agree with their rating system. They give Critical Dance a 9 out of 10. I like the Critical Dance message board, but not their audition listings.

- CastingAudition.com: Listings for "dance - live shows" and "dance - filmed/recorded". First searchable database I've come across, but you have to submit your email address and wait for a casting director to get back to you to learn more about a listing that you like - seems like a hassle.

- Dance.net: extensive listing of updated dance auditions in US and Canada with a clear indication of deadline dates.

Technorati Tags: audition, dance, performance

Posted by Doug Fox at 6:30 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Emily Johnson Interview about "Heat and Life"

This morning I interviewed Emily Johnson the director of the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based dance company, Catalyst Dance. She discussed her latest work "Heat and Life" which deals with the subject of global warming. The next performance of this work will be at the Dance Theater Workshop in New York City on June 28th.

Click here to listen to audio interview (MP3 format - Stereo - 7.12 MB - 15:32 Minutes)

Emily Johnson - Background

Emily Johnson is the director of the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based dance company, Catalyst Dance. Since its founding in 1998, Emily, an Alaskan native, has choreographed dance works for her eight-member company that are both thought-provoking and entertaining.

With the contributions of poets, musicians, sculptors and video artists, Catalyst Dance has performed on stage, in parks, at art galleries, storefronts and bars.

"Heat and Life," which focuses on the topic of global warming, is Emily Johnson's latest creation and is in the midst of a 50-state tour since its debut in October 2004. Heat and Life combines movement, video and sound into a work this is part dance concert and part installation.

Technorati Tags: dance, environment, global warming, performance, podcast

Posted by Doug Fox at 1:50 PM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

April 3, 2006

Video Mashups Offer New Possibilities for Dance - Part I

A post by Michael Arrington at TechCrunch blog describes a soon-to-be-released video editing software program that has some compelling possibilities for the dance world.

With the online Motionbox application users will be able to edit video, tag sections of a video clip, and mix video clips and sections into mashups.

Click for Larger Image

Tag sections of a video clip with Motionbox
Credit: TechCrunch

By combing these features into one software program, dancers will be able to share, choreograph, document, learn, collaborate, analyze and create in ways that have barely been contemplated before.

In order to provide adequate coverage of this topic, I'm going to write four separate posts:

- In this first post, Part I, I just want to introduce this topic and give credit to Matt Gough (see below) for providing the theoretical framework for the dance applications I'll be discussing.

- In Part II, I'll describe the specific features and capabilities of Motionbox - as best as I understand them. Motionbox has not even been released to the public yet. But in the big picture whether Motionbox succeeds or not is not of critical importance. The important point is that we are about to see the introduction of new video editing software programs that will have far reaching benefits for all dancers.

- In Part III, I'll describe in concrete terms how dancers, choreographers, teachers, students, researchers, librarians, notators and dance enthusiasts will be able to use this new breed of video editing software. And,

- In Part IV, I'll highlight some of the potential challenges and limitations to the dance-specific scenarios I describe in Part III. Among the key challenges include: 1) intellectual property protection, 2) ensuring the wide availability of good quality dance videos, and 3) the creation of sustainable business models.

If it were not for dance blogger Matt Gough's post, "networked choreography - ii," I do not think I would have recognized the possibilities of a program such as Motionbox for the dance community. In his post Matt offers a theoretical description of how Web-based video editing and tagging applications can serve as the basis for a new type of collaborative dance art. I actually did not understand Matt's post - it's intended for an academic audience - until we talked about it for an hour by phone. Once I understood his premise, I was very enthusiastic about the possibilities for dance, which I'll elaborate upon in the upcoming sections to this post.

Technorati Tags: dance, education, mashups, software, tags, video, web2.0

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:40 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

March 31, 2006

New Strategies for Booking Dance Companies

Performing arts booking conferences serve to bring presenters and performers together for business, networking and educational purposes. In the world of dance, this means that presenters (performing arts venues, dance festivals, tour organizers and promoters) have an opportunity to see performances and book dance companies.

To explore an example of an upcoming performing arts booking conference, you can visit the site for Performing Arts Exchange, an event that will take place in Baltimore, Maryland from September 27-30, 2006.

While these face-to-face encounters and performance showcases, offer excellent opportunities for assessment, interaction and learning, they are just one component of what could be a much larger and richer collaborative endeavor to book performances for an upcoming season.

What these booking conferences lack is large-scale, structured input from audiences (or potential audiences) about the types of dance performances that are of greatest interest to them. And until the emergence of what is now referred to as the Web 2.0, there was not really a mechanism whereby dance enthusiasts could contribute in a meaningful way to indicating their preferences for specific dance companies and preferred types of performances.

For a good introduction to the Web 2.0, you can read this week's cover story in Newsweek, "The New Wisdom of the Web."

Here is my scenario of how the more collaborative culture of the Web 2.0 can play a role in helping presenters book performances that are appealing to larger, more diverse audiences:

- Imagine that all dance companies participating in an upcoming performing arts booking conference created a profile on a social networking site - I'll use MySpace as an example, although the young demographic profile of this site's users is not completely on target for the purpose of dance performances. On their MySpace profile page, dance companies can describe their upcoming performances and include links to performance video clips on YouTube and pictures on Flickr.

- In addition to or instead of MySpace, some dance companies may have their own blogs where they write about their dance company and performances.

- Now web surfers with an interest in dance start viewing the MySpace profiles and reading blog entries as well as watch dance videos and view pictures.

- Dance enthusiasts can respond to this dance company content in many different ways. Maybe a dance fan posts a message to his or her blog about one of the dance company's videos. Another dancer saves the link for a set of dance photos to the collaborative bookmarking site Del.icio.us. Another adds a MySpace profile of a dance company to their friend's list on My Space. Another saves a dance video to their YouTube favorites and posts a comment.

Tag Cloud from Flickr
Cloud show more popular tags by size

- Even more fruitful is that as dance fans explore, write about, comment on, save and evaluate the online dance content, they are constantly categorizing (tagging) the pictures, videos, links and other resources that they like. A video might be categorized, for example, by tagging it "moderndance" and "environment" - I'm assuming that a modern dance piece happens to deal with an environmental theme. Once this video is tagged, it is then possible to find this clip by using either tag as a search term. So if you enter "moderndance" into the video search engine, you'll see a listing for this environmentally-focused modern dance work.

And now to jump way too quickly to the end result: Let's imagine that the above collaborative activity has been taking place for two months preceding a booking conference. What kind of new insights would presenters and dance companies have?

- They could explore the social networks created around specific dance companies on sites such as MyFriends. Why are some dance companies very popular and have hundreds or thousands of "friends" while others do not? Is this just a popularity contest or are there meaningful insights that can be gleaned from these explicitly expressed connections? Are certain styles of dance, themes or creative intent more captivating than others?

- By accessing the blog search engine and analysis tool Technorati, they can find out what types of conversations have emerged around the blog postings of specific dance companies and dance fans. What are the hot ideas that are being debated? What do people like and dislike? What are the challenging, disruptive questions?

- On YouTube, videos can be searched by the number of views and comments can be reviewed to determine how viewers reacted to the dance clips. What are the most popular dance videos and why? Do the top 10 most popular videos share something in common? What key terms have been used to categorize different types of dance videos?

- On Flickr, as with YouTube, dance pictures can be considered by popularity and reviews can be scanned to understand viewer reactions.

- And on bookmarking sites such as Del.icio.us, saved links can be analyzed by what tags dance fans used to categorize their favorite videos, pictures and other resources. Do the tagging schemes of users indicate that there are specific themes that especially capture their interest? And which of these links have been bookmarked by the largest number of users?

Above I'm just scratching the surface in terms of the range of ways that Web 2.0 data and connections can be evaluated and analyzed to gain an understanding of what dance enthusiasts are looking for in terms of dance performances. But hopefully, it offers a glimpse into what some of the possibilities are in terms of the emerging collaborative web.

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:50 AM - Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

March 29, 2006

Liz Lerman Audio Interview About "Ferocious Beauty: Genome"

This afternoon I interviewed Liz Lerman of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange about her company's latest work "Ferocious Beauty: Genome." I'm fascinated by the intersection of dance and science so it was great to have an opportunity to hear what Liz had to say about her exploration of genetics through dance and movement. Below you'll find a bio of Liz and her dance company as well as links to recent articles about "Ferocious Beauty."

Click here to listen to audio interview (MP3 format - Stereo - 10.1 MB - 21:32 Minutes)

Still From "Ferocious Beauty"
Credit: George Ruhe for The New York Times

Background - Liz Lerman Dance Exchange

Liz Lerman is founding artistic director of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. Her dance company features a multi-generational ensemble that creates, performs, teaches and engages people in making art. Throughout its 30 year history, Dance Exchange has defined dance as a multi-disciplinary art form that encompasses movement, music, imagery, and the spoken word.

Dance Exchange, which is based in Takoma Park, Maryland, has created over 50 innovative dance and theater works and has participated in thousands of performances and community encounters in the United States and around the globe.

Liz Lerman has received numerous honors, including the American Choreographer Award, the American Jewish Congress “Golda” Award, and Washingtonian magazine’s 1988 Washingtonian of the Year. In 2002 her work was recognized with a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship, and she was recently designated for the National Foundation for Jewish Culture’s Achievement Award and induction into the University of Maryland’s Hall of Fame.

Background - Ferocious Beauty: Genome

Liz's latest work is "Ferocious Beauty: Genome," which premiered February 3rd at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. "Ferocious Beauty" is a multimedia performance that explores the latest developments in genetic science and the impact of this research on our own lives. The goal of this endeavor is to foster a long-term partnership among a national group of scientists, bio-ethicists, researchers, clergy and artists who will bring their best thinking to bear on the promise and threat of a new biological age.

Links for Ferocious Beauty: Genome

- "Liz Lerman Exchange connects science and dance" - The Wesleyan Argus

- "Connecting Bodies, Apples and DNA Through Dance" - New York Times

- "World Premiere of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange’s Ferocious Beauty: Genome" - Press Release, Wesleyan University - Center for the Arts

Posted by Doug Fox at 3:35 PM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

How to Offer Your First Dance Video Mashup

Last night I saw a poster in the DC Metro for the upcoming "Take The Lead" movie with Antonio Banderas. I tried to remember the site's URL but forgot about it until I saw the post about this dance movie in Edward McPherson's blog.

Mashup Music Maker from Take the Lead

It's interesting exploring this movie website to see how it compares to promotional sites for recent dance movies - and related online dance promotion efforts in general. I'm getting a little tired of these virtual dance games where you click and drag a series of dance steps into a time line and then record and share your dance creations - that's what you can do on the Take the Lead site. It's time to move on and innovate. What I did find interesting about this movie site is that they also have a Mash Up Maker where you can mix two songs and save the final piece. And you can listen to mashups created by other users as well.

So I was trying to figure out how dance companies could create their own dance video mashups on their own websites as a way to build buzz for upcoming performances. This is what I came-up with:

Why not take a camcorder and film a dancer or dancers against a bluescreen background. Put this video on your website and encourage visitors to download your video and mix it with an additional video that is relevant to the themes of your dance piece. Once a user finishes creating their mashup, they can upload it to a gallery on your website where all the mashups can be watched. Maybe you can add a competition component to this mashup offering as well where you pick the best mashups of the week.

Still from Heat and Life

Here's an example:

Take a performance such as "Heat and Life" from Emily Johnson's Catalyst Dance Company that deals with the topic of global warming. You could video tape a 2-minute segment from this work with the dancers performing against a blue screen (or green screen) background. (When you shoot video with a blue or green screen background, it is easy to remove this solid color background and drop the objects your are filming into another video - video editing software programs call this chroma-key.) You post this 2-minute segment on your website and visitors download this video clip.

Then site visitors would be encouraged to take the dancers and superimpose them on their own video clip that dealt in some manner with global warming. Maybe the video backdrop shows images of polar ice caps melting or something closer to home such as industrial plants pumping pollutants into the air. The mashup video clip could also include the creator adding videos of themselves dancing into the mix. Many possibilities - even making the entire backdrop completely abstract.

After the dance video mashups are submitted, they could be placed in an archive for anybody to watch and either the dance company or website visitors or both could vote on their favorites.

I think this idea would be a lot of fun and generate a lot of buzz. So definitely let me know if you decide to do something along these lines.

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:15 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Importance of Generating Online Revenue

According to an article in today's New York Times, "3 Out of 4 Visitors to the Met Never Make it to the Front Door," by Carol Vogel, many millions more people interact with the Metropolitan Museum's website than step foot into the Met's building on 5th Avenue. 15 million people per year visit this museum's website and 4.5 million visit the physical museum.

While I would think that the ratio would be much higher - that say for every one museum visitor, there would be something like 15 to 20 website visitors - the point of the article is that the Met generates significant revenue through its website. According to the NY Time's article, $6.5 million is generated online through the sale of memberships, merchandise sales and fundraising.

While a certain percentage of this total online revenue would have been generated whether or not it was processed through the museum's website, the main point is that this website and the websites for more and more museums represent significant sources of revenue for these arts institutions.

In the dance world, unfortunately, dance companies - from large to small - have not yet taken any meaningful steps to generate revenue from their web presence. I think that this situation should be rectified. For starters, dance companies, like most artists and arts organizations, need to generate more revenue. But most importantly there are practical steps that dance companies can take today that will help them generate additional sources of revenue by exploiting the opportunities offered by the online world. Digital content can be sold in the form of videos, online fundraising campaigns can be launched and larger audiences can be attracted to upcoming performances.

I'll continue to write about these various online revenue generating opportunities for dancers and dance companies in upcoming posts.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:15 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

March 27, 2006

Take a Tour of Jasmin Vardimon's Park

The UK-based Jasmin Vardimon Dance Company performs works of physical dance theater that even Article19 likes:

If the Lab [Article19] was picking favourites then this company would be one of them for the sheer inventiveness of the choreography and the quality of the performances.

On Article19 you can watch a 7-minute excerpt of "Park," a work of choreographer Jasmin Vardimon that just finished touring in February.

There's a dedicated website for "Park" that's worth exploring. It's colorful and engaging and reflects the mood of their dance piece. From a marketing standpoint, visitors are invited to participate in a competition to win an iPod, there's a subscriber update via email, there's a questionnaire to gather feedback and there's a press section with print-quality photos for download.

In terms of other features, you can access a video clip, listen to the eight performers discuss their characters and watch audience testimonials.

The only thing that bugs me about their site is that they embed scrollable frames in the middle of their pages, which I always find to be an annoying way to navigate website content.

Overall, a fun, engaging site that is far better than most dance websites - and an enjoyable video.

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:20 PM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Exploring Science Through Dance

One of the trends I've noticed recently is the increase in the number of dance performances that explore scientific topics. I think that it's great that dance is being harnessed to help illuminate developments in technology, biology and earth sciences.

Here are some recent and upcoming performances that explore genetics, energy conservation and seismic activity:

In "Ferocious Beauty: Genome," Liz Lerman Dance Exchange explores the impact of developments in genetic science on human development. Next performance April 28th in San Francisco. (New York Times article, The Wesleyan Argus)

Credit: Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group

The San Francisco Ballet performs Ballet Mori to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1906 earthquake. Principal Dancer Muriel Maffre will dance to live to seismic data on April 4th. (Press release, Guardian Unlimited)

Credit: Prof. Alan Rosiene, FIT

Choreographer Emily Johnson of Catalyst Dance presents "Windfarm" in Minneapolis on March 19th. Windfarm explores the intersection of humans, machines and nature and the potential of windfarms to stop the degradation of our environment. (StarTribune.com)

Credit: University of Wisconsin-River Falls

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:46 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

March 24, 2006

Dance Critics Don't Get It

In a February 28th article in The Village Voice, dance critic Deborah Jowitt asks dance writers at other New York publications how important it is for them to understand the intentions of a choreographer when reviewing a dance work.

Jowitt asks this question in the context of an "inside the dance-way" dust-up that started when choreographer Tere O'Connor had the audacity to criticize a review, a positive one at that, written by New Yorker dance critic Joan Acocella. Paul Ben-Itzak of The Dance Insider has an article that tells this story from the beginning with links to all of the relevant articles and letters.

I think it's amusing that some dance critics view themselves in such grandiose terms. This is the opening sentence of Jowitt's February 28th article:

When Tere O'Connor premieres his new Baby at Dance Theater Workshop on March 22, he'll be facing a New York audience for the first time since a letter he wrote to The New Yorker late last summer sent shocks through the dance community.

This is what his DTW performance is about? Talking back to a dance critic is such a big deal that all of the thin-skinned dance writers circle the wagon to protect their precious franchise so that other choreographers are on notice not to ever question their pronouncements? By the way, The New Yorker did not print Tere O'Connor's letter.

Here is what Jowitt's fellow writers (from just two publications) have to say about the role of the critic:

Joan Acocella, New Yorker dance critic:

I do not see my job as requiring me to go to artists, find out their intentions, report their intentions to the reader, and then talk about how they fulfilled or didn't fulfill their intentions. There's actually a word for that approach; it's the intentional fallacy in criticism (that is, you judge [a work] on its intentions). . . . I see myself as a member of the audience, so whatever the artist's intentions are, many of them—maybe most of them—I won't be able to discern.

Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times:

I don't think reviewers should have any inside knowledge; it seems to me very important to respond as an informed audience member. I hate the word critic; I like the word reviewer because I think that [what I write] is a second view, a re-view.

John Rockwell of The New York Times:

Even if [critics] think they're deeply involved in the birth of a work, they have to be seeing it from the outside—and not just as the audience's representative; the very nature of the perception of artwork places one at a distance from the creator, or indeed anybody else watching the artwork. To pretend otherwise is kind of futile.

Rockwell also puts forth the notion of criticism as a parallel art form: "Then the issue is not so much replicating the choreographer's thought processes and somehow analyzing the work in the terms that the choreographer himself would use; it becomes a parallel exercise in which some combination of intellectual analysis and poetic and tactile invocation are all used in an effort to create for the reader a vivid picture."

I should also add Jowitt's take:

There often seems to be a disconnect between what choreographers say they're doing and what actually occurs onstage.

I think that Acocella's "intentional fallacy in criticism" premise is a smoke-screen to justify not making an effort to understand a choreographer. And it's bogus for a dance critic to say that he or she is just a member of the audience - they are not! They got a free ticket and they ought to know a hell of a lot more than most audience members - about all aspects of the choreographer - including his or her intentions.

Dunning is equally not credible. What does it mean for a dance writer/critic not to have "inside knowledge"? If a one-hour video is made of a choreographer talking about an upcoming dance work, is Dunning not going to watch this interview until after the performance if at all? And even if she sees it after the performance won't this give her too much insight for the next work she sees from the same choreographer? Where do you draw the line between "inside knowledge" and "informed audience member"? Are you supposed to live in a bubble and not talk to dancers, choreographers or audiences? If Dunning does live in an artistic bubble and has no or very limited interaction with choreographers, dancers and other critics, then I will retract the above.

Jowitt seems to be saying that it's not worth understanding a choreographer because they don't have the capacity to describe their own work in an intelligent manner.

Rockwell appears more reasonable - at least he doesn't start by advocating ignorance or criticizing choreographers, but I don't necessarily agree with him. The process of perceiving art not does by definition put you at a distance from the creator or other viewers - it can just as easily put you in the same mind-set and bring you closer together.

But I find Rockwell's last line of greater interest: His goal is "to create for the reader a vivid picture." My answer is: not for long! The role that dance critics think they play and the expanding digital universe are on a head-on collision course.

Sooner or later - I hope sooner - choreographers are going to realize that they can reach-out to their own audiences directly. They can share their intentions, ideas, questions, struggles and experiences with dance enthusiasts through videos, blogs and other digital tools. Choreographers will not need dance critics to create vivid pictures in the minds of readers. Dance audiences can watch a video and see the real images for themselves.

So eventually dance critics are going to have to re-think what they do - there's still a very important role for the good ones because they bring insight, experience, sensibilities and other qualities that dance-goes can benefit from - but their work will be distinctly different and they will no longer play their cherished gatekeeper role. And critics are going to have to stop playing the fake-ignorance card because in the Internet age with massive amounts of information available to be consumed, you can't go around acting as if you don't know what's going on.

Posted by Doug Fox at 6:35 AM - Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

March 17, 2006

Projects for Dance and Technology Students

It's been nice to receive more emails lately from students at colleges and universities who are pursuing studies in dance and technology or are taking a class or writing a paper that relates in some way to the fusing of dance and digital tools. I'm happy to help answer questions, if I can, or forward your messages to others who can answer your questions or give you suggestions.

I was thinking that there are a number of projects students could work on that would be both worthwhile research endeavors and wonderful ways for dancers around the world to learn about the latest developments in interactive performances, new media tools and related technologies.

I would be delighted if you were working on any of the following projects (or related one) and could make your final research public for others to access:

- Annotated picture guides of interactive performance tools and technologies: Let's say that you are taking a class or doing research on motion tracking options for dance performances. What I think would be great is if you take pictures at every step of the process so that people who view your project could have a solid understanding of how motion tracking worked. You could take pictures of your camcorder, dancers, software screen shots and other elements and upload these pictures to a photo gallery such as Flickr. Then you could add annotations to each of your pictures so that viewers would understand every part of the process. I'd be delighted to link to these pictures or pull them into my blog for people to access.

- Annotated video guides to interactive performances: In this case, I have the same idea in mind as above except that now you would work with video. You could take video to show how motion caption systems (or other technologies) are set-up and then used to capture the movement of a dancer. Then, you could edit this video and add a voice over that describes specifically what is happening. Finally, you could upload this video to You Tube, Google Videos or other free video hosting services.

- Documenting dance performances: You can, of course, take videos and pictures of works in progress and final dance performances that you're working on. Then you can upload these videos to the web. One of the things that I haven't seen that I think would be very worthwhile would be if you upload two versions of each video. With the first video of a rehearsal or dance performance, you upload it with the musical track. With the 2 version you create an audio track where you and other dancers/choreographers explain what your performance is about - essentially this is like the second audio track on a DVD where you listen to actors and directors discuss a movie.

- Performance blogs with videos: I'd love to see more experimentation with weblogs where the choreographers and dancers start posting to their blogs from the day of the first rehearsal through the actual performance. I enjoy getting inside the creative process and understanding how a dance work is developed from the initial idea to the final result - your performance. So at every practice, you can take video clips and post them to your blog. These videos would let your readers follow your progress and also provide a forum where visitors who watch your videos can offer you feedback.

Those are my thoughts for now. I'm sure there are many other possibilities.

Please let me know if you are going to pursue any of the above projects or other ideas you have for sharing your experimentations, research and performances with an online audience.

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:55 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

March 15, 2006

Robots Take to the Dance Floor - Part II

Transformer robot takes its first dance steps (via Gizmos for Geeks).

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:24 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Robots Take to the Dance Floor - Part I

Robots don't want to be left out of the dance action. Watch Sony Robot Dance (via Gizmos for Geeks). This is one fascinating video.

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:14 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

March 13, 2006

Dancing Up a Storm with Gene Kelley

I enjoyed watching a mechanical umbrella performance done to "Singing in the Rain" designed by installation artist Peter William Holden (via Boing Boing).

Busby Berkeley choreographed dancers to mimic the motions of machines and modern inventions. “AutoGene” is the flipside of this. It’s a simple aesthetic looking robot composed of eight modified umbrellas mounted in a circular pattern. A cocktail of air hoses and electrical cables join these umbrellas to a central computer which enables “AutoGene” to produce a choreographed dance which erodes the machine's mechanical qualities.

And if you want more Singing in the Rain, watch this hip-hop dance take on this famous song in a Volkswagon TV commercial.

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:57 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Momix Dancers in Hanes Ad

Rachel Feinerman at Downtown Dancer writes post, "Momix and Hanes," that links to TV ad featuring Momix dancers. (When you get to the ad page, you have to click on the image of "Women's Comfortsoft TV").

Click for Larger Image

Rachel writes:

I have always wondered why ad agencies didn’t run after dance companies to use in ads and commercials and now I just caught the Momix dance company in a Hanes commercial.

I think that there may be an increase in the number of dancers featured in TV ads - I think it's great opportunity for dancers and advertisers. I especially like the online interactive campaigns where the dancers wear the clothes or other merchandise of an advertiser and website visitors can buy these items on the spot. This is what I wrote about last week in my post about a Nike ad that features a dance video, a break-down of moves and the ability to buy the featured clothing on the spot.

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:03 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Expanding the Possibilities of Hyperchoreography

Matt Gough in his Splines in Space blog has a post, "network choreography - ii," in which he offers his thoughts on how the collaborative tools of web2.0 applications can be fused with digital dance videos to create new ways for online users to experience and create dance.

Here's a screen shot of the interface of the video-editing application that Matt envisions which would allow users to merge together dance videos:

I'll write more about Matt's post soon, but I have to ask him some questions because there are some concepts he discusses that I don't understand. His post, however, covers similar ideas to what I wrote about in "Spreading Dance with Mashup" last Friday.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:28 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

March 8, 2006

Internet2 and Expanded Opportunities for Arts and Performance

I spoke with Ann Doyle this morning. Ann is the manager for Arts and Humanities Initiatives at Internet2, a consortium of universities, industries and government that are developing and deploying advanced networking applications and technologies. (Beth Miklavcic and Jimmy Miklavcic, whom I interviewed yesterday about their InterPlay performance, use the Internet2 for their distributed programs).

You should definitely visit the link to the Arts and Humanities Initiatives that I just mentioned above. There are some fascinating resources about a range of distributed arts programs. I happened to come across an interview (PDF) with James Oliverio, director of the Digital Worlds Institute at the University of Florida, whom I'll be interviewing tomorrow about their dance and performance programs that unite multiple locations around the globe.

I first contacted Ann Doyle because I wanted to learn more about the "Cultivating Communities" dance program that she hosted for Internet2 in 2002. If you visit "Cultivating Communities," you can learn about a series of dance performances that brought together dancers from multiple locations using motion tracking, motion capture and other interactive technologies in conjunction with the near TV broadcast quality of the Internet2 infrastructure - you'll also find a number of videos for these performances.

Ann believes that there are two important ways that the Internet2 project contributes to fostering new types of artistic possibilities and performance opportunities.

First, the network infrastructure delivers near broadcast quality video and audio to participating sites. Plus, there is very low latency, which means that the "roundtrip interactive time," as Ann says, is virtually nil. With top-notch video and low-latency, there are opportunities for distributed spontaneity that really didn't exist before when collaborating with remote colleagues and artists.

Second, this network infrastructure provides an opportunity for dancers and other artists to "think digitally." For example, if you go back to the "Cultivating Communities," a new choreographic question arises. Choreographers now have to think beyond the fixed borders of a single stage and consider their work in the broader context of multiple locations joined together by a digital network. These types of distributed programs raise many questions about the choreographic process and dance in general.

They also raise the question of how dancers and other artists are being prepared for distributed programs at the college and university level. Ann mentioned the Manhattan School of Music (MSM), which has been a leader in leveraging the Internet2 for conducting master classes and performances. Here's an article by Christianne Orto about the educational programs at MSM. Orto is the director, recording and distance learning at MSM and you can read an overview of their Distance Learning programs. Ann also directed me to dance programs at universities that are using Internet2 to conduct performances and classes - I'll be following-up soon with these contacts.

Posted by Doug Fox at 12:55 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

March 7, 2006

Interview with Another Language About InterPlay

Today I interviewed Beth Miklavcic, the artistic director, and Jimmy Miklavcic, the executive director, of Another Language, an interdisciplinary dance company, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, that they started in 1985.

Click here to listen to audio interview (MP3 format - Stereo - 9.1 MB - 19:18 Minutes)

During this interview Beth and Jimmy discuss their InterPlay series of performances that unite multiple venues in a real-time collaborative program that relies upon high-speed video conferencing over the Internet2 backbone.

Their next program, "Dancing on the Banks of Packet Creek: RealTime Distributed Surrealistic Cinema" will take place March 31st through April 2nd 2006 at multiple locations from the University of Alaska Fairbanks to the University of Maryland where I plan to watch this performance.

Posted by Doug Fox at 1:13 PM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

March 3, 2006

Video Cams for Contact Improvisation

I came across this wearable video recording set-up yesterday for less than $600. With this portable kit, you can save video of any events you wish throughout the day with a mini video camera connected to your glasses.

After interviewing Yacov Sharir yesterday about his research into wearables and performance, which can include contact improvisation between a human dancer and a 3D avatar, I thought it would be interesting to equip multiple dancers with these wearable video recording systems.

It would be interesting to get 10 dancers to participate in a contact improvisation experiment. Each dancer would be equipped with a video headcam to record their perspective of the dance. And then after the performance the 10 different video feeds would be made available online for people to watch the performance from each dancer's perspective. I guess there's probably also a way to output the video in real-time via a wireless connection to a projector so that you could switch among the 10 different video feeds as the program was taking place.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:18 AM - Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Devolution - Robots and Humans Share the Stage

Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) is premiering today its newest work, "Devolution," at the Adelaide Arts Festival in Sydney, Australia. Artistic Director Garry Stewart collaborated with machine designer Louis-Philippe Demers to create a performance that puts dancers and robots on the same stage on an equal footing.

I wish I could find some good pictures of what these dancing robots look like. Short of that, here are some articles and interviews about the performance:

- Interview in RealTime with Garry Stewart about his thoughts on dance and robotics

- "Closing the Gap Between Man and Machine," in The Age

- "Danger! Machines in motion," in Thee Advertiser

Posted by Doug Fox at 6:45 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

March 2, 2006

Yacov Sharir Interview - Wearable Computers and Performance

Today I interviewed dance and technology pioneer Yacov Sharir about his research in wearable computers and performance. In this post you'll find a profile of Yacov Sharir, pictures from his research, and external links to related articles and performances.

Click here to listen to audio interview (MP3 format - Stereo - 8.85 MB - 19:20 Minutes)

Profile - Yacov Sharir

Yacov Sharir is a choreographer, dancer, technologist and innovator. He is a professor of Theatre/Dance and Virtual Environments at the University of Texas-Austin and artistic director of the Austin-based Sharir Dance Company.

He has performed under the direction of Martha Graham, Jerome Robbins, Jose Limon and Anna Sokolow. Sharir is the founder of the American Deaf Dance Company and the Sharir Dance Company. As a multiple recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Choreographic Fellowship, he has choreographed for the Bat-Sheva Dance Company, Hartford Ballet, Dallas Ballet, the Kibbutz Dance Company of Israel, the Utah Repertory Dance Theatre and others. He was a recipient of an "Arts And Virtual Environments" two-year fellowship awarded by the Banff Center for the Arts and is engaged in extensive international lectures and workshops directly related to the issues of virtual environments, cyberspace and computerized choreography.

Image Gallery - Wearable Computers

During the audio interview Yacov Sharir refers to the below pictures.

Click on pictures to view larger images

Links - Articles, Papers and Research

- Yacov Sharir - Associate Professor of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas-Austin

- Yacov Sharir Studio

- Explorations in wearable computers

- Cyber Human Characters and 3D Worlds

- Virtually Dancing

- Interfacing Virtual & Physical Spaces through the Body: The cyberPRINT Project by Yacov Sharir and others (PDF)

- cyberPRINT project and performance

Posted by Doug Fox at 11:16 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Dancing - The New Computer Interface

Thanks to Microsoft research, you can now manage and manipulate your email and pictures through a "step user interface" like the one used by the computer game Dance Dance Revolution. You can read about this research and watch a video. (Article from CNN and post from We Make Money Not Art.)

Click for Larger Image

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:11 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 10, 2006

New Dance and Technology Directory

The new Dance and Technology Directory is up. Please take a look and share any comments. I'm especially interested in feedback about the category and sub-category names - I'm going to continue to make changes to them.

Please feel free to add your listing. Just go to directory section where you want your listing placed and click "Add Link" at top of page.

Posted by Doug Fox at 6:25 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

December 5, 2005

A Video Archive of Jazz Dancing Styles

My 13-week Jazz class at Joy of Motion in DC will wrap-up next week. The class is taught by the dance center's Executive Director Doug Yeuell. The class has been great - and challenging - and a few weeks ago I also started taking Level I Jazz classes as well. Before taking the Level I classes, I thought Level I meant introductory, but that's definitely not the case. Most of the students in the class have a good number of years of dance experience and I end-up struggling through the floor exercises and the routine. I think it will take a few months to catch on.

As I learn more about jazz dancing, one of the things I would like to find online is a website that shows videos of different styles of jazz dancing and the influence on jazz by famous choreographers. I haven't found anything like this. It would be very helpful to compare these types of videos to understand how jazz has evolved.

Actually, I'd like a website that compared all forms of dance and showed the historical connections among different styles and traditions - there doesn't appear to be anything like this. Focusing first on jazz in US, the videos on such as site could start with dance styles from the turn of the last century and show how both popular and stage influences shaped the different jazz styles that are danced today.

I have to figure out how to create this type of video-intensive website. It would require contributions from a lot of jazz dancers demonstrating and explaining different jazz styles for starters. Plus jazz dancers would have to have camcorders to film dances and upload them to the web. If you have thoughts on this type of project, please let me know.

Posted by Doug Fox at 6:19 AM - Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

October 24, 2005

Jazz Dancing

Rachel Feinerman (Downown Dancer) has post about skit on Saturday Night Live this past weekend with Catherine Zeta-Jones doing piece that featured classic Bob Fosse moves. I did search to try to find video clip of SNL skit, but no luck. I'd like to see it - if anybody can upload DVR video of skit, that would be great - I guess that's probably long shot.

Also on Jazz front, Evie of Dance Thoughts posts link to good overview article about Jazz dancing, famous choreographers and history.

I've been looking for more Jazz-related dance articles and resources since I started taking Jazz last month. I'm taking a 13-week introductory jazz class at Joy of Motion with Douglas Yeuell. The class is great. I'm going to go to the level I drop-in jazz classes soon, but I wanted to get about five or six weeks in of the basics before going to the drop in classes. A woman in my class asked me last week whether I felt self-conscious about being the only guy in the class - there are about 25 people in the class. I said I did for the first few weeks, but now it doesn't bother me that much even when I get completely lost.

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:28 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

October 4, 2005

Science and the Dance: The Perfect Partnership

The Institute of Physics commissioned England's leading modern dance company, Rambert Dance Company, to develop a dance program that celebrated the 100th Anniversary of Albert Einstein's three great scientific papers of 1905. The work, "Constant Speed: Physics in Motion," is a tribute to Einstein's famous work and discoveries about Brownian motion, the special theory of relativity (E=MC2), and the photoelectric effect.

Constant Speed was first performed at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London on May 24th and this dance piece will continue to be performed throughout the rest of 2005 and into 2006.

I had a great time visiting the online resources (links above) that provide background and insight about how this work came to fruition and how the choreography and dancing pay tribute to Einstein's discoveries. On the Rambert Dance Company website, there is an excellent video that includes a brief history of Rambert along with footage from Constant Speed rehearsals.

Since I enjoy learning about both science and dance it was a thrill to study these write-ups and videos. Now I have to figure out when to go to London to see the performance.

Posted by Doug Fox at 10:20 AM - Permalink | Comments (0)

October 3, 2005

Merce Cunningham at Stanford Interdisciplinary Course

During the winter semester earlier this year, Stanford University offered "The Anatomy of Movement: an Interdisciplinary Course" that featured the participation of Merce Cunningham through a one-week residency. This hands-on study of anatomy brought together physicians and surgeons, engineers, animators, and visual and performing artists.

There are a number of online resources that you can access to learn more about this fascinating program:

- The Anatomy of Movement Course website

- Enconter: Merce

- "Dancing with data adds to the show", article in March 2005 edition of Stanford Report

- "Anything Can Happen: Dance pioneer Merce Cunningham keeps the campus on its toes", article in March/April 2005 edition of Stanford Magazine

- MotionAnalysis (manufacturer of motion capture equipment) write-up about the participation of Merce Cunningham in this Stanford educational program with video of Cunningham dancer being tracked via motion tracking sensors.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:00 AM - Permalink | Comments (0)

September 27, 2005

Motione Performance at ASU

Motione is an interactive, multimedia dance performance that featured Bill T. Jones and Trisha Brown and premiered on April 9, 2005 at Arizona State University. The performance and companion website are a joint project of the Arts, Media and Engineering Program at the Herberger College of Fine Arts and the Fulton School of Engineering at ASU.

The motione website is fantastic. I must have spent more than two hours late last week watching the videos, reading research papers, and learning about the participants.

Posted by Doug Fox at 1:13 PM - Permalink | Comments (0)

September 16, 2005

Premiere Aqueous Myth

Tonight is the opening of Aqueous Myth: Tales of a Water Planet

Here's partial description of this media-enhanced dance work:

The Department of Dance at Florida State University joins forces with local, national, and international artists to proudly present the world premiere of Aqueous Myth: Tales of a Water Planet, a full evening of modern dance performed in a media-enhanced environment of projected video and surround sound. The Nancy Smith Fichter Dance Theatre located inside the newly retrofitted Montgomery Hall on the FSU campus will house the event. Performances are scheduled for 2 nights only, September 16 and 17 at 8PM.

A work in the planning for a number of years, Director of Aqueous Myth and FSU Assistant Professor of Dance, Tim Glenn, has at last realized his vision, that of creating an evening-length “techno ballet”, complete with 8 pre-edited video projection sources and 2 real-time videographers on stage. The production stylistically borrows from the film genre, blurring the boundaries of cinema and concert dance, and results in a sophisticated new work of multimedia dance theater. Glenn says, “A small, personal project, initially inspired by the university’s plan to demolish the historic Montgomery Gym swimming pool at FSU, has, within a 3.5 year period, evolved into global voyage exploring past and future experiences with water.” Aqueous Myth was selected by the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at FSU as a testing ground for technology applications. [Read extended description]

On the Aqueous Myth site, you'll find an excellent introduction to this event and the creative process.

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:54 AM - Permalink | Comments (0)