January 3, 2008

Review of New York Times Article on Dance and the Internet

It was great to see the December 29, 2007 article in The New York Times, "The World of Dance Tries Out New Moves On the Web," by Julie Bloom. The focus of this piece is on how the concert dance community is using the Internet (websites, video and blogs) to reach larger audiences and "change the nature of the form."

I think Bloom captures some important trends and stories that highlight how social networking, the online sharing of personal stories and tributes, a greater emphasis on multimedia content and more user-friendly websites are increasing the profile of the professional dance community. For example, she features an interview with dancer/choreographer Camille A. Brown, who performed her "The Groove to Nobody's Business" as part of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater season at City Center, about her My Space page. Brown says that as a result of MySpace, she has been contacted by directors interested in using her work and she uses the bulletin feature to keep her 500 "friends" updated on her latest activities.

Also, Megan Sprenger, director of marketing for Dance Theater Workshop, discusses the recent revamp of the DTW website and the importance they placed on making their new site about movement through the extensive use of videos and constant color changes.

But I also think that the article has a few weaknesses. First, when discussing Camille A. Brown, Bloom writes that she is "...one of many young artists using the Web as a way to level the artistic playing field." That's an accurate statement up to a point, but an additional interview or two is really needed here. The opening of this article highlights people (Brown as well as David Hallberg and Kristin Sloan) who are connected to the most prominent dance organizations in New York City (Alvin Ailey, American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet).

I'm definitely not criticizing the people or institutions I just mentioned above. I'm just pointing out that if the Internet is really about a level playing field, then the author ought to find artists, festival organizers and performing arts venues that have used low-cost Internet tools to build audiences from scratch or significantly grow their audiences. For example, who are the dancers who had no following at all, turned to the Internet to create an audience and now are presenting their own work to large crowds? I should also figure out the answer to this question - if you have thoughts, please share.

Actually, to modify what I just said a bit. It's possible that Brown's MySpace page led to an increase in ticket sales for Alvin Ailey in December and the same goes for the video series that Kristin Sloan did for Romeo + Juliet for the New York City Ballet. If I recall correctly, I think Kristin told me a few months ago that the R + J video series did help ticket sales.

A second shortfall with the article is that Bloom says upfront that artists are using the Internet to "change the nature of the form." In other words, choreographers and dancers are somehow using the Internet to change the shape/approach/structure of the dances that we see at theaters or, maybe, enjoy online. But she never really elaborates on this premise except through one vague example. Bloom mentions that iPods were used by audience members during the Merce Cunningham performance of "eyeSpace" so that each audience member could be listening to a randomly selected sound track during each section of the dance performance. This example, it strikes me, is more a case of how personal digital communication devices can be used in different ways in a performance environment and not really an example of how the Internet is transforming dance. To combine the Internet with chance procedures, I think you'd want to allow for more online audience involvement and input. Maybe musicians could upload and recommend their own musical scores, and audiences could download their favorite musical tracks to enjoy while watching the live performance. Actually, I'm not even sure my example qualifies as an example of "changing the nature of the form" either. In any case, it would be great if more examples of form-changing were featured in the article--if any actually exist.

Finally, I disagree with the opening of this New York Times article in which Bloom takes the standard art critic potshot at the very popular "Evolution of Dance" YouTube video, which she demonizes as an "absurdly silly stand-up comedy routine."

I wrote about the value and importance of this video two weeks ago. I think that what is worthwhile about "Evolution of Dance" is that dancers and non-dancers can relate to this video because of the basic level of familiarity that many of us have with the dance fads and crazes in the US over the past 50+ years. And it's nice to see these different dance crazes tied together in a seamless whole that provides context and understanding to viewers. These notions of continuity, context and understanding are, I think, invaluable ideas for the dance community to explore as they experiment with the best way to embrace the Internet.

Julie Bloom's article is actually challenging to write. How do you encapsulate the latest Internet trends and developments for concert dance in a single piece with deadline pressure? It would be a good exercise for me and others to take a stab at this.

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