June 14, 2007

Dance Magazine Launches New Website

This morning Dance Magazine launched its new website. It doesn't look very impressive. I read about this upcoming redesign in their email newsletter a couple of months ago and I was hoping for something more exciting, more community-oriented.

The new site includes two blogs that aren't very "bloggish." One is from Editor In Chief Wendy Perron and the other is from Managing Editor Hanna Rubin. There are no links, no RSS feeds, and no comment functionality.

When I went through site a number of links didn't work but they are probably fixing these problems as I write this post.

Follow-up:

Danciti doesn't agree with me.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:45 AM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

October 31, 2006

Breaking Down Resistance to the Internet Economy

DK in his new blog, "DK Is Lighting Dance," follows-up my post about being perplexed with a story about the level of resistance some of his production seminar students have to the idea of posting dance videos on the Internet.

Doug Fox in his blog Great Dance Weblog has often offered the suggestion that choreographers video tape portions of their rehearsal and post a bit of tape on the Internet via blog and ask for feedback - click on the title of this blog to read it. I posed this exact question to my Production Seminar class which has ten MFA choreographers.

They didn't like the idea at all! I know this is a new idea, so opinions will likely shift as they consider it over time. One student is very worried someone will steal her work and her ideas. Another wonders why you wouldn't just ask another choreographer in the studio next door. The conversation got quite heated (actually we all love when this happens) with me suggesting scenarios where you might need a more sophisticated point of view, a wider band of feed back and simple self-promotion.

I've come across this type of resistance before. While I understand it, I believe it is unwarranted and distracts from the bigger picture. Yes, it is always possible that artistic work will be "stolen" as distribution options proliferate. But that's a very negative way to evaluate the situation. If video of rehearsals and performances is distributed online, then many more people will watch these dance videos than ever before. Which means that dance companies and dancers will get larger audiences, get more bookings and increase the chances of making worthwhile connections with other artists that they would never even have known about.

I think it's worthwhile to look at how music is distributed online. There are thousands of outlets for music to be uploaded, shared and sold. Bands have made it big on the Internet as a result of the fact that their music is widely available and often free. Bands and musicians get more exposure and increase the chances they will reach a larger audience and find new ways to generate revenue.

In the dance world there simply is no Internet economy. This doesn't really make sense in an environment where dance companies are always struggling for financial survival and stability.

Then DK explores what he thinks is the ideal fusion between the Internet and dance. His premise is that we ought to focus on the local level and not so much nationally or internationally:

Following the newer model of Regional Theater and following the Regional Ballets like the ones in Memphis and Tulsa is a much more likely scenario. We may still have our Super Stars but we need to think about becoming Local Heroes. Memphis Ballet is creating New Work based on the locale and generating audiences who have knowledge of the local history or have civic pride.

The Internet tools used then could be an interactive website offering a chance to give reviews (I think this was Doug's idea in a past blog) which gives people the feeling of ownership and connection with a company. I also really like the idea of "profiling" on MySpace even though it's flawed, the idea is right -- of finding people of like interests and bringing them together. Using a blog to "preview" an upcoming performance is a much more appealing idea than generating feedback on a piece of choreography.

I think all of these areas are worthwhile for exploration. I especially like the focus on dance within a local community. I think one of the reasons that dance companies don't think about using the Internet to connect directly with their audiences is because they put to much emphasis on the importance of dance writers and newspaper coverage at the expense of devoting time and energy to building online relationships with their local, loyal fans. Obviously, I'm not discounting publicity. I'm just saying that it is one of multiple ways to connect with dance fans and build larger audiences.

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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)

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.

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July 18, 2006

The Winger Dance Blog

Kristin Sloan is doing an excellent job expanding her dance blog, The Winger - both in terms of content and contributors.

Kristin and I Skyped last week and she gave me an update about her blog.

From the time she started her blog, Kristin made extensive use of pictures that she posted via her cell phone. To post digital snapshots with a mobile phone, you need 1) a blog, of course, 2) a cell phone that has a built-in camera and 3) an account with photo-hosting site Flickr (or another online application that will automatically send pictures to your blog.)

So, once you take pictures with your phone, you send any pictures that you want to post to your blog to a Flickr email address. Then you can configure Flickr to automatically send the picture as a post to your blog. Flickr supports most blog software programs - Kristin uses Movabletype.

Samsung just gave Kristin a video camera. So soon Kristin will be uploading video clips to her blog.

I didn't realize that The Winger also has a message board, The Winger Board, an online community where users can post their questions and thoughts about different aspects of dance.

In terms of contributors, you'll see on the left-hand navigation bar that The Winger now features a number of dance bloggers who dance with the New York City Ballet, The American Ballet Theater, Amy Mashall Dance Company and Pacific Northwest Ballet.

It would be nice to see more dancers blogging as well as adding multimedia content to their blogs. Most cell phones sold today have built-in cameras and there's really no additional cost to posting pictures to your website. And in the case of video, camcorders are fairly inexpensive and there's easy to use software to edit and upload your videos.

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

July 17, 2006

Building a Comprehensive, Historical Dance Video Library

Two comments on a post I wrote last month, Global Historical Dance Video Project, inspired me to write more about this possible online collaborative dance project. (You can read Liam and Lauren's comments.)

To recap, the idea behind this project is to create a categorized video guide to all contemporary and historical dance forms and styles. So, ideally, if you went to this website, you would be able to access a navigation tree that would take you to video clips of any style of dance and you would be able to see which other dance styles influenced it.

What would it take to actually create this project? I think the best approach would be to use a WIKI so that anybody could contribute to this on-going project. It's simply too big of an undertaking for a few people to manage this effort.

I was just looking at a couple of hosted wiki applications: PBwiki and Wetpaint. An alternative, would be to find a free-standing application that I could install on my server.

In terms of the basics of this project, I imagine a simple hierarchical structure so that visitors could quickly find the style and type of dance they are looking for based upon its geographical location, cultural identification, time-period or other distinguishing characteristics. Then, in each section there would be links to videos that highlighted each form or style of dance. In addition, we can also encourage contributors to add text descriptions of each style of dance along with information about the key dancers/choreographers of the dance and the key influences that led to the specific style of dance.

I think to start this type of project, it would take about 20 people or so who wanted to start collaborating on this effort. We'd have to decide what software/application to use, how to structure the periods and types of dances, what guidelines - if any - for the types of videos that would be linked to and many other issues.

Is this a project you would like to participate in? Please email me if you'd like to discuss.

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:06 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

June 28, 2006

What Moves You?

Move-Me is a traveling booth touring the UK that records informal videos of participants moving to the audio instructions of choreographers.

Once a participant has had one of their dance masterpieces recorded in the Move-Me both, the video is put in an online gallery with all of the other clips. On the Move-Me website you can watch these clips, rate them and add them to your favorites.

The creators of Move-Me have also invited a group of users to create their own curated sets of their favorite videos, which you can access. Select "Curated Dances" from top left-side menu bar.

Move-me.com is co-produced by Ricochet Dance Productions and Goat Media Ltd, from an original idea by Simon Fildes and Katrina McPherson.

Simon Fildes is also the organizer of the Video Dance Forum, which took place two weeks ago. I would have written about Move-Me earlier but I was confused by how it worked until Simon emailed me a description yesterday. I was under the wrong impression that the dancers in the booth were watching a video clip of different choreographers who were offering instructions on a series of moves. And I was wondering why the Move-Me website didn't include these videos so that online visitors could actually see what the dancers inside the booth were watching. But that's not how the system works. The dancers inside the booth listen to a pre-recorded audio messages from the choreographers walking participants through a series of moves - there's no video to watch. With some of the videos on Move-Me, you can clearly hear the choreographers in the background.

Posted by Doug Fox at 8:25 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.)

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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)

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

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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 10, 2006

Product Placement and E-Commerce Technology Offer New Career Opportunities for Dancers

PersonalScreen Media, a new producer of TV programming for the Internet, has introduced technology that enables viewers to get instant access to products, clothing and other items featured within a show. As you watch a show online, you can click on a dress, for example, get a pop-up screen that provides the details and purchase the dress through an integrated e-commerce system.

Click for Larger Image

I think that this type of integrated product placement and e-commerce functionality offers some great opportunities for dancers. Even though this market is very new, it strikes me that dance offers advertisers and retailers a quick and effective way to grab the attention of multi-tasking and easily-distracted Internet users.

You can learn more about PersonalScreen Media in an article in this morning's edition of ClickZ.

For more dance-specific possibilities for integrated e-commerce and product placement, read two recent stories I've written:

- "Nike Offers Marketing Campaign Featuring Hip Hop Dance Video" - Here's an impressive online marketing campaign that features a dance video, a breakdown of dance steps and the ability to buy the clothing worn by the dancers. ClickZ also has a recent article that provides background on the creation of this online Nike campaign.

Dance Video

- "Emerging Digital Dance Careers": In November I wrote about new career opportunities for dancers in the online world. One of the areas I discussed was product placement and a video ad from Nordstrom's that features the Go-Go's. Viewers can watch the video and buy the featured clothing and accessories.

Technorati Tags: ads, audition, career, dance, e-commerce, marketing, video

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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)

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

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 22, 2006

How to Improve the Quality of Online Dance Instruction Videos

I did a search yesterday for dance instruction videos. What I found was pretty horrendous. So what will it take to improve the quality of online dance instruction videos?

My thoughts:

1) Create good quality dance instruction videos. I don't mean fancy - I mean that I can clearly see the dancer or dancers' entire bodies, the audio quality is good and the lighting is more than adequate so I can see the moves/routines. Don't waste my time with your promotional hype or slick video editing. Just start the video with a brief intro and show me the moves/routines you plan to teach. This can all be done very inexpensively.

2) It's important to break down the moves and routines in a coherent way. Show the moves at a slow pace from different angles, explain challenging parts and finally show the moves to music.

3) There are many types of instructional videos that will make for good online viewing. If you teach Jazz, show a portion of your warm-up exercises or a routine. If you teach Salsa, make videos available of moves and combinations for different levels of dancers. You can also create supplemental videos so that students can more easily practices moves, combos and routines outside of your class.

4) When you prepare your video for the Internet, make sure the video quality is good enough so that viewers can actually see the dancers. You can post the videos to your site, but it's more important to post your videos to the large video sites that host millions of videos.

5) Now for the tough part: Do you sell your instructional videos or give them away for free. Clearly, you want to make money. But first, you are better off making a limited number of videos available free of charge. If your videos are good, then you have the potential to reach a large online audience, which will help you get more students and help you sell more DVDs, if you offer them.

In terms of selling video clips online, my thinking at this point is that it is possible to do but we are just at the early stages of people getting used to the idea of buying videos online. I have to do some more research in this area, but I think that over the next 3-6 months it will become much easier for anybody to sell their videos, whether through iTunes, Google or other services. The opportunities here are potentially phenomenal. If you can build buzz for a single instructional video and you start selling thousands of clips at $2.00 a piece, you'll be doing pretty well.

6) You'll build buzz if the word spreads that you have a good video that's worth watching, whether it's free or requires a payment. How do you build buzz? Well, there is only so much you can do. In the end it's up to dance students to classify, evaluate and promote your video.

To elaborate: I've been writing posts lately about the Web 2.0 and social networking software programs. These applications represent the future of the Internet. What they are all about is groups of people with similar interests organizing and ranking the resources they like and don't like. Here's an example: Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site. You can save and classify websites you like and see the websites that other people have saved. If you search for "dance," you'll see a list of links with the number of people who have bookmarked each dance resource. The higher the number of people who have saved a particular resource, the more popular the website/blog/video/picture/song is.

The same thing can happen on video sites. You upload a dance instruction video. Users come across it and start classifying it with "tags." For example, they may tag your video with "jazz" "dance" and "instruction." Then, when other users search for videos that are tagged "jazz," your video will be on the list.

Whether your video is at the top of the list of jazz dance instruction videos depends on how popular it is. If people save it in their favorites or give it great ratings, then it will be on the top of the list and people will watch it or buy it.

The bottom line is that the emerging collaborative web is turning the marketing process upside down. Users are in control and will create good buzz if you deliver good dance instruction videos.

Posted by Doug Fox at 3:45 PM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

March 20, 2006

Making the Web Dance Friendly

I would like to work with others in the dance community to improve both the way we use the web and benefit from the web.

I'd like to start by encouraging dance bloggers to experiment with a service called Rojo.

Click for Larger Image

Screen Shot of Rojo
Dance Blogs Listed on Left
Most Recent Posts in Middle

Rojo is what is called a blog feed aggregator. Instead of visiting every blog you want to read, you can track all of the blogs you like in a single web-based application.

If you visit the Great Dance Blog's home page, you'll notice in the right-hand column that I've listed over 20+ dance blogs. One of the buttons for each blog reads, "Rojo." By clicking on this icon, you can automatically subscribe to the selected feed. You do first have to sign-up for a free account, which you'll be invited to do once you click on an icon.

But you can actually save time. Once you finish the sign-up process for an account, add me to your "Contacts." (I'm "dougfox" or "doug@greatdance.com"). Then, you can automatically subscribe to the same dance feeds I subscribe too - both dance and others. I would recommend against signing-up for all my feeds during the initial sign-up process. If you do this, you may end-up with a lot of feeds that you don't want.

In addition to subscribing to blog feeds with Rojo, you can also categorize and rate blog posts so that others can quickly learn what is interesting.

To categorize a blog post, you "tag" it. Tagging means that you add keywords that help you organize posts that you want to save for later reference. Tagging is very helpful because you can go back to Rojo at any time and quickly pull-up all posts that you have tagged, say, "dancevideo." And very importantly, every time you tag a post, you make it easier for other people to find stories that are of interest to them.

To rate a post, you simply click on the "Mojo" button to the right of every post. So when you are reviewing posts, you can see at a glance which ones have the most mojo - the most votes in other words.

But one of the best features is the ability to access the blog feeds, tags and favorites of other Rojo users. As I mentioned above, you can automatically access all of the dance feeds that I subscribe to by adding me to your contacts.

So even though I think that Rojo has some weaknesses - the main one is that the interface and navigation tools could be improved to some extent - I think that Rojo's combination of features can be a good first step in improving how dance bloggers and dancers in general use the Web.

For instance, if all dance bloggers and say hundreds of dancers signed-up for Rojo, then there would be a great community of dancers who would be contributing to evaluating, organizing and sharing dance resources. Plus a very likely outcome would be that many more dancers would be encouraged to create their own blogs. When I say dancers, I mean everybody involved in dance: professional dancers, students, choreographers, dance companies, educators, writers/critics, new media artists, technologists and others.

Rojo is one of the many web-based applications that are part of what is called the Web 2.0. The Web 2.0 usually refers to social networking services that enable groups of users to upload/save, share, categorize, collaborate, communicate and rate items with each other.

By starting with a service such as Rojo, we are categorizing just one type of content in the dance world - that is dance blogs and postings. But there are many other types of content that can be organized such as pictures, websites, and video. And there are many Web 2.0 applications for these types of content as well. I've been using Flickr for pictures, YouTube for videos and Del.icio.us for bookmarking websites. In terms of the categorization of dance content, I'd say Flickr is the farthest along.

Posted by Doug Fox at 4:36 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | 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 13, 2006

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)

January 3, 2006

Thinking about Dance in New Ways

Here are my suggestions on how dancers and dance companies can be more successful in 2006.

A number of these recommendations are based on the two white papers I wrote toward the end of 2005:

- Embracing Blogs: A New Blueprint for Promoting Dance on the Internet

- Building a New Dance Economy: Expanding Opportunities for Dancers and Choreographers

14 Suggestions for 2006:

1) Build exciting and compelling websites that focus on achieving specific economic benefits. Unfortunately, most websites that promote dance companies and dancers are just not very good. But there are relatively simple steps that can be taken to improve these dance websites.

2) Embrace blogs. Weblogs (or blogs) offer a low-cost, highly effective way for dancers, choreographers and dance companies to build their own audiences and communicate directly with donors and patrons. Blogging within the dance community is in its very early stages and I hope hundreds of new dance blogs are introduced this year. One of the very important positive benefits of blogs is that they can contribute to preserving the artistic integrity of artists. If dance companies take responsibility for building their own audiences by sharing their vision directly with likely theatergoers and donors, dancers and choreographers will be less beholden to others when it comes to deciding what will and will not be staged - more to come soon on this connection between blogging and artistic freedom.

3) Take and disseminate digital pictures and videos. Performing artists have been traditionally and understandably reluctant to take pictures and videos of performances and rehearsals and make them publicly available. But this reluctance is causing marketing challenges for dancers. In order to get wide exposure for upcoming dance performances, it is important that dance companies make quality digital pictures and digital video clips available on their own websites and available to other websites that wish to promote these performances.

4) Pursue new online sponsorship opportunities for donors and supporters. There is no reason that your financial supporters cannot have video and pictures about their products and services promoted through your website. Instead of just giving a listing for a financial contributor in your program guide or on your website, why not conduct a video interview with the CEO of a company and put that video on your website or blog? Nobody does this and this is a great way to give invaluable exposure to your best supporters. It is very prestigious to be associated with the arts and if an executive from a company can talk on camera about why they support you and what they do for the arts community in general, you'll have the opportunity to reach many more sponsors.

5) Raise more money from small donations. If you improve your website as described above and launch a blog, you will have a more compelling marketing presence for reaching larger audiences. At the same time, your enhanced digital marketing efforts will also make it significantly easier to solicit donations from people who visit your website. For example, if your blog provides engaging first person accounts of upcoming performances from dancers and choreographers, blog readers will be more likely to support your on-going efforts through small contributions.

6) Develop and sell digital dance assets. In most instances, dancers and dance companies make money from performances, grants, sponsors and donations. The amount of money that comes in from these revenue sources is usually not enough. I think now is the time for the dance community to start creating, distributing and selling digital assets in the form of dance on camera offerings, performances, routines and class instruction. Here's just one example: millions of people are already purchasing TV episodes of leading shows from Apple's iTunes and downloading them to their iPods. There is no reason that dancers cannot sell content in the same manner.

7) Form new partnerships. In many cases, dancers and dance companies will not be able to implement the above six suggestions without partnering with new media companies, Internet marketing firms or independent contractors/companies that provide these design, marketing, digital distribution and fundraising services. I think it is important for the dance community to start exploring new business models and partnerships that will enable dance companies to work with these different types of experts and organizations in order to improve their financial picture and implement successful digital marketing campaigns.

8) Educate young dancers about emerging digital dance careers. Digital tools, technologies and environments are creating unprecedented opportunities for dancers to seek challenging new paths and outlets for their talent and creativity. From digital dance on camera productions to interactive gaming environments, the opportunities for dancers have never been greater. Read my November 22, 2005 post about "Emerging Digital Dance Careers." I think there is a need for directors of dance associations and dance programs at colleges and universities to get together to explore these emerging careers and to develop a game plan for sharing with dance students what these digital dance opportunities are all about. At the same time, as some of these new career options grow in importance, there may be a need to offer new types of dance classes to educate students about these new career possibilities.

9) Create a universal dance notation language. Yes, there are dance notation systems such as Labanotation, but there is no widely used and recognized notation language. Without such a widely embraced notation system, dance will never reach its full potential. Please read my white paper, "Building a New Dance Economy: Expanding Opportunities for Dancers and Choreographers," which explains why I believe that the lack of a universal notation language poses a big challenge for the dance community.

10) Embrace motion tracking systems on a large-scale for recording dance routines, classes and performances. Motion tracking systems are used today within the dance world on limited scale. But motion tracking systems should be embraced on a global basis to record dance performances in the new universal dance notation language described immediately above.

11) Open motion tracking-based dance notation studios in cities around the world. If there is a universal dance notation language, then it becomes economically feasible to build dance recording studios around the globe that record dance routines, classes and performances with motion tracking technology. Motion tracking technologies will come way down in price because of heavy demand for these tools.

12) Get serious about protecting the intellectual property rights of dancers. Dancers for the most part are not seeking intellectual property protections for their creative work. The bottom line is that dancers and choreographers are losing an opportunity to make money through sales and licensing because they don't have such copyright protections. By following the three recommendations above, dancers will be able to submit their routines and performances in a universal dance notation language in order to receive copyright protections.

13) Support the creation of innovative independent dance websites. Partly as a result of creating a universal dance notation language, improved intellectual property protections, the rise of blogging and the increased use of digital video and pictures tools, it will become possible for a wide range of new dance websites to emerge. Some possibilities: A community blog where people call-in to leave an audio review of a performance they just saw. A video search engine that advertising agencies and corporate marketing departments can access to find dance companies whose work they wish to license for an upcoming ad campaign. A video search engine that meeting, convention and special event organizers can access to find dancers for a performance showcase and class at an annual conference. These are just a few of the possibilities. There will be many more such sites as dancers increasingly embrace the digital world.

14) New advocacy, educational and support organization for dancers, choreographers and dance companies. The Internet is underused by dance associations. Given the low-cost, incredible reach and instant nature of the Internet, there is no reason that dance professionals should not have an equally low-cost membership organization to join that looks after there interests on a national and/or international level. Consider what the possibilities would be if a large percentage of dancers could join an Internet-centric dance association for say $35 a year that provided professional support, low-cost health and other benefits, constant advocacy on their behalf, cutting-edge, timely education and compelling online community resources.

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

November 16, 2005

Rachel Feinerman on "Embracing Blogs" White Paper

Rachel Feinerman has post, "You Say You Want a Revolution" in her Downtown Dancer blog in which she offers kind thoughts about my white paper, "Embracing Blogs":

For those of you who haven’t yet noticed, Doug Fox of Great Dance has been leading a call for a revolution. His white paper on dance companies and use of technology and his recent post on changing the inherent relationship dance companies have with print reviews and building audiences, is nothing short of revolutionary.

In her post Rachel also talks about how the dance community has tried various approaches to reaching larger audiences. She includes links to TV shows and innovative dance programs that have had mixed success in reaching out to people who usually do not attend performances.

Posted by Doug Fox at 7:09 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Continuing the Conversation about the Dance Blogosphere

Leigh Witchel offers his thoughts about my white paper, "Embracing Blogs: A New Blueprint for Promoting Dance on the Internet."

A blog may be inexpensive but it is labor-intensive. The things Doug mentions - cultivation of a voice and consistency especially – are not to be taken lightly. Writing is a skill. It takes me a good hour to do a decent blog entry.

As Leigh points out writing a blog can be time-consuming - I often spend more time than I realize writing and editing a single blog entry. In my white paper I did not explicitly deal with topic of how much effort would have to be spent by a dancer or dance company to update their blogs. My guess and hope is that over time, a number of dance companies will turn to blogs as one of their primary marketing/communication mediums for reaching their audiences (dance audiences, sponsors, press and others). And, in the process, less time and resources will be spent on other, more traditional forms of communication such as creating direct mailing pieces and writing press releases. Since blogs, as I explain in my white paper, offer a better way to communicate and interact with audiences, the extra time spent sustaining quality blogs will be justifiable.

Yes, writing is a skill, but at the same time, successful blogs can be written and presented in many different ways by people who share their stories and insights in different manners. A photoblog, for example, that consists of pictures from performances or rehearsals with brief text annotations may prove to be very engaging.

Good blogging isn’t just a diary or an advertisement. It’s the careful cultivation of a public persona...My suggestion would be that if you enter into the blogosphere because you want to contribute to the discussion, you will do something of value. If you enter it to promote your dance concert people will, and should, smell it a mile off.

The issue of how dancers and dance companies use their blogs is critical. I agree 100% with Leigh that anybody who is serious about building a successful blog should carefully consider the "public persona" they wish to create. It will take time and energy. Using the example of promoting an upcoming performance, the question is how does a dance company write about it in their blog? I think the goal is to provide value to readers. Maybe you educate them, maybe you discuss the intentions of the choreographer or maybe you seek feedback and suggestions. But you definitely don't post a blatant promo piece and leave it at that - although you should highlight upcoming performances that is the goal in the end. For the most part, I avoid blogs that just list upcoming classes and performances - to me the people/organizations publishing this marketing material are using blogs, but they are not blogging in any meaningful manner.

Amateur voices in the blogosphere are essential. The blogosphere thrives on having a large number of voices. I’d also like to self-interestedly say something for recognizing the value of the pros...

...One reason I love writing for Danceview Times is that it adds the value of new media (immediacy, access and SPACE!) while preserving a level of quality associated with print. But there's plenty of dross on the Internet because of the low barrier to startup. I started writing because I thought too many people were looking at the dancers and too few at the dance. I find it disheartening when I see "You too can be a critic" articles. Writing on dance isn’t about voicing your opinions – I mean, who really cares what I think of Christopher Wheeldon or Ashley Bouder? I love her and you loathe her and that’s that. Why do I love her and what can I show you about her? Can I show you a different way of looking at a blackbird? The dance writers I admire are champions of an aesthetic. I skip the ones who write a self-centered and self-aggrandizing litany of opinions.

I want to stress that I'm not questioning the value of professional dance critics. The purpose of my white paper and recent blog post is to explore how the audience for dance can be expanded. One of my answers is that by having more bloggers writing about dance online, both professionals and amateurs, more people will learn about and experience dance for themselves. Clearly some blogs will be horrendous and others will be wonderful; some blogs will cover topics that may seem trivial to experienced dance-goers and others will feature posts that provide more "meaningful" commentary. In the end, I think it's all good if it grabs the attention of dance newcomers and helps dance companies be more successful.

I hope that Rachel, Doug and I aren't setting up an echo chamber of links and trackbacks. Rachel Howard wrote hopefully yesterday about the blossoming of the dance blogosphere. I think we need a few more people to join in before we can savor the bloom on the rose - so make a comment or post your own entry!

As things stand now the small number of dance bloggers does represent a type of echo chamber. But I think it is important that we are starting to build upon, react to and critique each other's ideas, and learn from each other in the process. More and more people within the dance world will visit our blogs and will see the comments and trackbacks - they'll see that we are in the early stages of building a dance-focused blogosphere. So the existence of our interactions are bound to give others ideas of how they can contribute and create their own vehicles for growing the conversation about dance.

Posted by Doug Fox at 9:53 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 15, 2005

Bypassing the Mainstream Media to Promote Dance

In previous post I linked to blogs and online newspapers that have recently featured stories about the decline of dance coverage in local papers.

This paucity of dance coverage is one of the major complaints within the dance community.

Here's where I stand on this topic: dance companies, presenters and dance critics should accept as fact that any direct effort to encourage newspapers and magazines to increase coverage of dance will not be successful. Letter writing campaigns to newspaper publishers and editors, for example, are a waste of time and energy. I agree with much of Rachel Feinerman's statement:

I’m not discouraging the community from fighting for the newspaper space we’re going to lose but one has to wonder whether what we have now is even worth fighting for. How worthwhile are the small paragraphs that barely have enough room to name the show and the choreographer?

So if the mainstream press will not cover dance, then how will dance companies, presenters and performance venues build audiences?

Here's my four-part game plan for bypassing the traditional media:

1) Build Your Own Multimedia Distribution Channel

As I described in my 24-page white paper, "Embracing Blogs: A New Blueprint for Promoting Dance on the Internet," the most important first step that dance companies can take is to build their own multimedia weblog to ensure large-scale promotion for upcoming dance performances.

If you can't get the coverage you want and need in the local media, then build a direct communications channel with your own audience. It is not expensive or difficult to create a blog and promote it on the Web.

2) Recognize New Categories and Types of Dance Writers

When thinking about getting coverage for your upcoming performances, it's important to think about dance coverage in new ways.

There are certain assumptions that we take for granted when we think about published articles written about dance performances:

- Assumption One: Only professional dance critics (as opposed to hobbyists) will write about performances

- Assumption Two: The written pieces will be reviews (as opposed to, say, a viewer guide on how to watch a dance piece) of dance performances

- Assumption Three: Reviews will be delivered almost exclusively through words (as opposed to pictures, audio descriptions and video clips) and will usually be in print format - although more reviews are now appearing online

Now, let's think about these underlying assumptions in the context of how dance promotion and criticism can be presented in the online world.

Essentially, each of these assumptions is way too limiting when it comes to the web. If you uncritically accept these assumptions, then you will significantly limit the type of promotion you will receive online for your dance performances.

Assumption One: Professional Dance Critics

Terry Teachout has a piece in the Wall Street Journal, "You, Too, Can Be a Critic," that explores how art journalism is expanding through weblogs. He identifies an emerging type of online arts writing that is done by practitioner bloggers - artists who also offer their own arts criticism.

But Terry is not going far enough. Not only can professional critics and practitioner bloggers write about dance and the arts online, but hobbyists and enthusiasts who simply want to share their passion and insights can and do blog as well. Admittedly, Terry is focusing specifically on art criticism; I'm focusing on the larger pool of anybody and everybody who may write about dance.

Assumption Two: Just Dance Reviews

We are so used to reading dance reviews that we never consider that there are other ways to convey information about dance.

Many years ago (about 1984), I read the autobiography of the Spanish-born filmmaker Luis Bunuel (for the life of me I can't find this book on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble or the web). In addition to recalling that he drank everyday and smoked a daily pack of Ducados into his 80s, I remember that he told an interesting story about the early days of silent movies in Mexico.

When silent movies were first shown to audiences, the series of moving images did not present a coherent narrative to viewers. Essentially nobody had any clue what was happening on the screen. So a person called an "explicador" stood up-front by the side of the screen and explained how to understand the storyline and the interactions among the actors. Over time, if I recall correctly, viewers developed an intuitive understanding of how to interpret movies and no longer required the aid of an explicador.

At the same time I was reading Luis Bunuel's autobiography I was watching my favorite baseball announcer Tim McCarver (well I've watched Tim McCarver over many years). The reason why I think McCarver is great is because he offers strategic insights into the game that I never thought about. Even though I played baseball growing up, McCarver would offer a way of looking at plays that I had never contemplated. I can't say the same for most football announcers, which frustrates me to death. I've played in pick-up games over the years, but I've never played in an organized football league. So it would be nice if for once a TV football announcer would offer some insight into the strategy and tactics of professional and college football teams, but they almost never do.

With Bunuel's silent movie "explicadors" and McCarver's play-by-play insights in mind, I'd like to introduce a new type of dance writer. This is a writer whose focus would be to reach out well beyond devoted, very knowledgeable fans of dance to the much larger audience of people who would be more than happy to become dance enthusiasts if somebody would simply show the way.

Current dance criticism is often not very accessible to people who haven't been immersed in dance for years. So dance writing in the form of reviews does not serve the purpose of growing the community of dance fans.

Taking myself as an example: I do not always understand the dance reviews that I read. I would like to understand them and I'm sure that over time I will as I attend more dance performances and continue taking dance classes (I'm taking Jazz classes right now at Joy of Motion in DC).

What I really could use - and I'm sure many others would benefit as well - is an "explicador" in the form of Tim McCarver. I want knowledgeable dance enthusiasts writing in their blogs about dance in a manner that is