Dancehunter, my body, my blog, so to speak, is the outgrowth of a still deeply invested in moving dance writer. I cover mostly what's happening in Houston that is not covered in other local media. I also reprint many of the piece I write for publications that do not maintain a web archive. I entertain fantasies of getting funding to blog. Wish me luck.-Nancy Wozny

Downtown Dancer is a blog of my thoughts as a modern dancer, teacher, and choreographer in the New York, downtown, modern dance scene. It seems specific but considering the breadth of dance, people, and nationalities that travel through, I hope that it transcends the geographical boundaries.

WanderingSalsero first started by me going to clubs and writing about it in emails that Salsa Eddy, my primary teacher, would post on his website.

Later, in a very good ezine I subscribe to called Early To Rise, I read about blogs and the idea sounded attractive to me immediately. The article mentioned blogger.com among others so that was where my first blog was.

At first I thought I'd cover 'news' but after awhile I realized that was sorta pretentious and naive of me...i.e. to think that I was going to be able to be everywhere there was anything happening. And that's not even considering the fact that we're all part of one clique or another and there's always something going on that somebody thinks is none of my damn business.

So I gradually realized that it was enough that I still went 'out' more than most dancers so therefor I still had something to offer. And I realized that opinions are just as interesting and stimulating as news especially if they're presented in an interesting manner.

So since that time I've not claimed to know everything or be everywhere but I have tried to make what I do say interesting and unique in some way or the other.

My site is also 'voiced' towards the 'non-experts' in the salsa community. I think most people in salsa (or any other dance) are not in it to compete or perform. They just want to have fun. Yet the 'performers' and 'competitor' seem to get most of the attention and discussion. So I try to remember that dancing is primarily about having fun expressing yourself...perfections and faults and all....and to make it clear that imperfect people can still excell so long as their attitude is healthy about it all.

I also don't limit my content to stuff that's strictly salsa related. Again, I figure enough other people attempt to do that. I'd rather try to protray 'regular' life which includes salsa from a dancers point of view. That's why the description of my site says something about observations, opinions, and commentary on the salsa life in and around Houston (or something like that :-)

I definatley think dancers could and should use technology within their culture and community both to elevate their skill and also to facilitate social interactions.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Hi Everyone,

Though Turbulence's networked_performance blog is not entirely devoted to dance, we do have a category called "Networked Dance" which attempts to chronicle live, network-enabled dance performances. There's a lot of overlap between our categories because so much of the work that interests us in multi/interdisciplinary. For instance, the "Networked Narrative" category encompasses a range of disciplines and technologies; and "Distributed Performances" covers performances that are internet enabled or in which the internet is merely a distribution tool.

Doug has been kind enough to reblog some of our posts. I hope it will be of interest to you too. And, please feel free to send me information about your own projects.

Best,
Jo

i started my blog as a tool to promote my own music projects, connect with my audience, and as a way to give folks a peek inside of my process...

over the last few years, i've had the pleasure of collaborating with many outstanding choreographers and dancers in the Washington DC area.

hopefully the blog can serve as both a promotional tool and useful documentation about various music (and dance) projects - many of which don't get any other press...

if you have thoughts, comments, feedback, etc. about the content, i'm always happy to hear it.

This all started when I tried to get people to join their resources & time together so we could rent dance studio space. It started out as a group email list, which grew and grew. I set up an msn groups page, but the people clamored for my personal emails instead, because they liked how I included events and interesting news. From there I tried to set up a web page but had no time to maintain it.

My interests were evolving all during this process and I also set up a local casino-rueda Yahoo groups page, which was very sucessful. But still I was unsatisfied, as I wanted the graphics of the website, and I wanted easier access to archived material, and I wanted other people to participate and add content AND I wanted the events list too! So I switched to a blog format and away we go.

You never saw so many disgruntled people - they HATED it at first! Because most blogs are monologues w/ comments. But this blog is a community forum. We still only have a few participants, but a lot of readers from all over the world every day, and everyone has learned to visit often and now appreciate the graphic interface, permalinks, etc. I still have to hold their hand a lot but it's a small price to pay. Change isn't easy, but blogs are an awesome tool. I love how the world is a smaller, more sharing place....

I just started my dance diary blog yesterday. I am going to put dance videos on it. I am recording my life with dances. These are dances for myself, different from what I do for the theater. So it is more immediate, more direct, more personal, and I care much less for the "standard" asthetic. It can be shorter, and much less "polished". I just love how much freedom it leaves me.
I put it on the web, because I want to reach an unknown audience, and they all can comments if they'd like. It is so different from the theater route. Also this way I can share my work with folks at home in China. I have danced in Seattle for 4 years. The audience and the asthetic certainly influence me a lot. And now I want to get away from it.
Now I just uploaded my first diary entry. Please come back and check out more.

I actually have two blogs, Dance Thoughts (dancethoughts.blogspot.com) and Dance Auditions (danceauditions.blogspot.com)

Dance Thoughts began simply because I kept printing out lots and lots of articles about dance that were helpful to me as a student. It seemed far better (and environment friendly) just to save these articles in a blog. Its that simple. ;)

I've found that my Dance Auditions blog is the most useful for dancers. I have used technology as a tool to share my auditioning experiences on the East Coast (mainly NYC). This is an attempt to help other dancers not make the same mistakes I have. We all know that 'making it' in New York City is rough, so aspiring dancers need to help each other out. Luckily, I have a great backup career and my dancing is going pretty darn well.

Also, there are a lot of younger dancers who dream of auditioning in NYC but get all their ideas about professional dance from watching movies. I hope that those who cannot actually hop on a plane to NYC and experience the scene for themselves can get a bit of reality from my blog.

Its very fact based. Very much observations from the point of view of an aspiring pro. There is going to be a lull in posts because of the Holiday season (plus I don't much enjoy traveling to NYC during nasty New England weather), but I expect the blog to last for a long time.

I think that dancers are really learning to use the internet as a tool for their own personal and professional growth. This is evident everywhere - in the growing number of dance blogs, and the well being of forums for dancers (i.e. dance.net and dance-forums.com).

Happy Blogging!

Evie

Hello Doug and others!

I like to use the dance blog I run, Onward and Upward, to collect and present national dance news in one place. In continuing to develop my voice I’ve enjoy editorializing on the subjects that really interest me.

It started after some friends asked me why I knew so much about the current events in ballet and where I was finding all this information. I recognized their interest, created a blog, and directed them to it. The few of them that enjoyed it have passed the address to their friends and yall know how it goes from there.

I like this idea of creating more cohesion and a network between the dance bloggers. I see it as an important part of continuing to keep the dance world connected as it grows.

I came across this blog by way of the current discussion "group" going on at artsjournal.com. For anyone interested in the intellectual joys of reading and writing about dance, I highly recommend it.

Doug Fox has researched an interesting study of the relatively low number of dance blogs around, so I'm ready to join in and start one. My area of special interest is men in dance, the problem of male dancers, gender and homophobia.

Notice I said problem (in the singular)? What I mean is the problem that society has with us, especially when it comes to dancing in tights, and other marginally masculine concepts.

If anyone knows of other writers on this particular subject, let me know? I firmly believe that there is good ground to be tilled here.

I’m fascinated by the exploration, performance and development of physical, intellectual and creative limits and by the passion, dedication, talent and lifestyle of the people involved. My interest in perceptions, behaviours and motivations, in the risks involved and feelings evoked extends far beyond modern and traditional dance to all areas of cutting edge performance. This includes sports, business, personal and organisational behaviour, but they are all stories for another site.

Ballet.co has a huge international readership and is regularly top of the Google listings so when Bruce Marriott suggested I start a blog there I jumped at the chance for access to such a huge international audience. I don’t plan it and only write when I’ve something to say. I write for a living (dance, adventure, extreme sports and risk) and love what I do. Sometimes I find that I’m laughing at myself and hope this comes across too. I hope that this (and what I’m often being told is my ‘alternative perspective’) remains sufficiently interesting to readers that they keep coming back.

Anything relevant may turn up in my dance blog. As well as the journalism I’m editor of a flamenco magazine, of the world music and jazz sections for an e-zine and have other weblogs including a personal photographic one, one on adventure cycling and I plan to start podcasting soon. If you’re interested you’ll be able to get to them all from here as soon as I find the time to make the links.

I started my blog Ballroom Dancing In Dallas mainly because I wanted to keep some notes about what I've been learning as I study ballroom dancing. Most of the information on the blog is designed just to help me remember things, but I do also maintain a calendar of ballroom dance events in the Dallas area that I recommend.

I am the dance critic for WBUR Online Arts, a project of the Boston National Public Radio station WBUR. I write regular commentary (enhanced by web links)and a monthly listing of dance highlights throughout New England. The WBUR Online Arts blog, called "Attitude" includes more timely and/or brief stories. My current blog item,
on the illness of Fayard Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers, combines reportage and responses from a number of tap professionals, linked to a gallery of archival photos and explanatory websites. Check it out at http://blogs.wbur.org/arts/?p=208

Many (although not all) of my stories are archived under the Dance tabs of the main site and the blog archive.

If anyone wants to be added to my advisory list, which simply alerts readers to a new posting, send me an email at debracash@igc.org. You can be removed from the list at any time, and of course, I will not share your name.

Best wishes
Debra Cash

i've started writing about dance in Head on the Ground from a boston perspective with the hopes of generating more discussion about dance in boston.

I've resumed regular blogging at splines in space with the intention of getting back to explaining and illustrating my work with more clarity. it's great to see more dance bloggers on the net, regardless of how oftern they post. some of my fave blogs post 1 or 2 times a month, but it's great to hear their reflections.

I blog on high brow arts; many posts are on dance:

for example:

on Thai court dance-drama:
http://heaventree.blogspot.com/2006/02/1688-newsflash-courtier-of-louis-xiv.html

on Cambodian dance:
http://heaventree.blogspot.com/2006/01/in-cambodia-refinement-and-divine.html

on the ineffable grace in dance:
http://heaventree.blogspot.com/2006/01/ineffable-grace-of-great-dancers.html

and so forth