October 22, 2007

Dance/NYC Townhall - Part III: How Does Live Dance Compete? Embrace Amateur Dancers

I'm continuing my posts in preparation for this Wednesday's Townhall meeting at Dance/NYC titled "Dance Have a Future? Implications of a Technological World."

In January of this year, I attended an educational session, "Professional Presenters and the Amateur Arts," at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Conference in NYC. This session, which I wrote about, was conducted by the students of Andrew Taylor (his blog) at the Bolz Center for Arts Administration. The focus of this session was on how presenters should respond to the growth of participatory and amateur art-making. In addition, the students explored whether this explosion in non-professional art-making represents a competitive threat or possible partnership opportunity for presenters.

I believe that the Internet is contributing to the growth of amateur art-making and I think that this increase in the number of non-professional artists who are actively involved in the process of creation is a very positive development for performers and presenters intent on sustaining and growing their audiences.

The Internet has benefited amateur art-makers because it provides anybody with any interest under the sun with quick access to the resources, expertise and, most importantly, others who share the same hobbies and passions. So whether you're interested in scarpbooking or virtual jamming with musicians around the globe, you can easily find the people and guidance you need.

Be Like Mike or Buy Pavarotti CDs

In the on-going discussion on the Foot in Mouth blog about whether the dance world needs its own Pavarotti, Apollinaire Scherr offers a perspective that is alien to me. In her post, Apollinaire publishes a comment from Natalia of Bellydance: Experiences. Natalia suggests that what the dance community really needs is a Michael Jordan and not a Pavarotti. Natalia writes:

There's another issue here, which I haven't seen addressed: Do we want shows to turn people on to watching dance or to doing it? It's not the same thing, and although it's not an either/or proposition, if I had to choose I would hope shows inspired people to get off their couches and shake their tail-feathers a little bit. ;)

I think the dance world could use a Michael Jordan more than a Pavarotti. Sure, Pavarotti sold albums, but were kids running around wanting to "Be Like Luciano"?

Apollinaire responds to Natalia's recommendation:

But what makes me leery of just saying, yes, let's ditch the Luciano model and go for Michael Jordan, is that we've hit this moment in the culture when everyone wants to do. No one wants to absorb what others are doing and have done.

There are probably more people writing novels today than reading them, more people wanting to be a celebrity or a model or a dancer on TV than fawning over them. The culture has gone so over the top with participation (blogs are another example: the constant chatter) that I'm reluctant to encourage any more--though, yes, we do need to shake our booties as often as possible.

What drives me crazy about the pro-participation argument--and it's driven me crazy before on this blog--is it usually dismisses the possibility that being in the audience is also a form of participation. It's a very profound form, I'd say; it just happens to be taking place inside a person.

I find it difficult to accept Apollinaire's perspective on just about any level.

For starters, the idea of a professional class of art-makers is a a very new one. The culture and art-making developed and created over thousands of years has always been amateur in nature and highly participatory. The idea of discouraging amateurs from pursuing their creative interests would have, until recently, been an unimaginable notion. Before radios and records, people use to gather around the piano or guitar, play music, sing and have fun. So why this type of enjoyable art-making became unacceptable is a very strange development.

More Amateur Art-Making Leads to Larger Audiences

If anything, the opposite of what Apollinaire writes is true. The more people do, the more they want to see. The more people write books, paint, play an instrument, sing, dance or engage in any other creative endeavor, the more they want to see or enjoy the work of "professionals." And these amateur art-makers probably are more observant audience members/fans than the non-doers.

In terms of my own experiences learning to dance over the past two plus years, one of the most gratifying experiences for me has been the process of developing muscle memory. In other words, learning how to see a dance teacher show a routine and for me to be able to replicate it. Even though my technique has a long way to go, my ability to remember movement has gone from zero to a decent level in two years. When I started taking dance classes, my body simply could not remember and replicate anything that an instructor did - movements, changes of direction, synchronization with the music or anything else - my mind was just blank and my muscles were clueless.

In my remaining days in DC, I've been using up my class card from Joy of Motion. One of the classes I took was a jazz class with Maurice Johnson on Thursday night. The routine at the end of class was a little too fast for me. But the next day, when I was practicing on my own, I had just about 100% of recall of the routine and was able to replicate it. This may not sound like a big deal to experienced dancers, but for me it represented a lot of progress.

And this ability to remember and re-create movement definitely makes a difference in terms of enjoying and thinking about the dance performances you attend. Just to offer one example, if you attend a performance with little ability to remember movements and patterns, it is very difficult to make sense of the overall structure of a dance work.

So if the hope is as Paul Parish writes (his comment is published in Apollinaire post) for spectators to become

...real audience members, people who would pay deep attention and lose themselves in the vicarious experience [of dance performances]

then more amateur art-makers are needed and not fewer. Natalia's "Be like Mike" recommendation makes a lot of sense.

Tapping into Amateur Art-Makers

The Internet is flat-out a great way to reach amateur dancers -- especially if you define "amateur dancers" in very broad terms: students of concert dance forms, social dancers, ballroom dancers and competitors and dancers and students of world dance forms are all audiences to pursue.

And one of the fastest and easiest ways to tap into these audiences is through the social networking sites, message boards and blogs that cater to dancers and dance students with very diverse dance interests.

This targeted social-networking-focused approach is especially worthwhile for dance-makers who already bring an eclectic approach to their choreography. Anna Brady Nuse (see her Move The Frame Blog) wrote the following in a recent comment she wrote in response to one of my posts:

You are absolutely right that cross pollination doesn't happen enough between different dance styles and genres. However, there are plenty of exceptions to this, and I'm always encountering new choreographers and companies who like to mix it up: Nicholas Leichter, Doug Elkins, Parijat Desai, Merian Soto/Pepatian, just to name a few in my circles. I think that enough exceptions like these exist that have made a substantial impact on the art form. If enough of these types of artists learn to market themselves effectively in web 2.0, I think major change could come rapidly for dance.

A popular marketing strategy is to go after the "low-hanging fruit." In other words, market to the people who are already receptive to your message. If your upcoming dance work combines elements of Lindy Hop, doesn't it makes sense to embrace swing dancers who are already hitting the dance floor one or more times a week?

Posted by Doug Fox on October 22, 2007 11:15 AM

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