October 15, 2007

Dance/NYC Townhall - Part I: Dancing for the Environment and 15,861 Bloggers

Last week I wrote about my upcoming participation in Dance/NYC's October 24th townhall on how the Internet and technology will impact the concert dance world.

One of the questions that will be discussed during this forum is: How can we use [the Internet] to grow our audiences? (Here's the complete description of the townhall and an RSVP form).

I'd like to offer my first answer to this question:

Dance-makers (choreographers, dancers and dance companies) should actively pursue ways to integrate their dances into the causes, interests, organizations and activities about which they are passionate.

For example, if you make a dance about the environment and put an excerpt from this dance on YouTube, why not encourage all bloggers who cover global warming and related issues to embed this video on their blogs? You're offering bloggers engaging, captivating content, which will help them connect with their audiences and you are building a larger audience for your upcoming performances.

Why Not Reach 15,861 Bloggers?

Today is "Blog Action Day." The goal of this initiative is to raise awareness and encourage action on behalf of the environment. If you visit the list of participants, you'll see that 15,861 bloggers, with a readership of 12,697,713, have agreed to write a post today about the environment.

Natalia of Bellydance: Experiences is one of the participating bloggers. You can read her post, "8 Little Things Bellydancers Can Do For The Environment."

Let's say you're creating a dance piece about the environment. Three months before the next Blog Action Day for the environment, you approach the organizer of this outreach effort and offer the following proposal:

You will shoot and edit a dance video specifically for the next Blog Action Day. With heightened interest in dance as a result of popular TV shows, your video on the home page of their website will encourage even more bloggers to participate in this event. In addition, you will add a brief clip before your dance of the organizer of this event talking about this initiative and encouraging more people to join the effort. Then the organizer will conclude by saying: "Now stay tuned for a dance video about the environment and our Blog Action Day."

So the video will be viewable on the home page of Blog Action Day, and all participants will be encouraged to embed this video on their own blogs.

A nice and simple way to reach tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands or millions, of new fans in a single day. On top of that, you will likely reach individuals, corporations and grantmaking organizations who will be interested in providing financial support for your choreographic work.

All you have to do is create one great, engaging video!

Trackback Pings

1 Comments