July 18, 2008

Four Indispensable Topics for the Dance and Movement Community

If I were conducting a conference, workshop or town hall meeting for the dance and movement community, these are the four topics I'd focus on:

- 1) How to write about, talk about and communicate information about dance and movement to the non-dance community.

- 4) New Revenue Streams to Support Dancers.

To me, these topics desperately need attention in the immediate future. These four areas of exploration all have to do with the health, viability and success of dance as a vital art form.

1) How to write about, talk about and communicate information about dance and movement to the non-dance community.

This may strike some as too basic and too insignificant, but there is a huge problem with the way information and ideas are communicated to the general public about dance. All forms of dance communications -- reviews, press releases, websites, blogs, email broadcasts, social networking sites, marketing collateral, fundraising solicitations, ads, videos and everything else - should be dissected and reevaluated.

This may sound like an extreme statement: I barely understand 70-90% of the communications I read about dance - seriously! The bottom-line is that a major overhaul of dance communications is needed.

To test whether or not you agree with my premise, visit ten websites for dance companies whose work you are not familiar with. Read the descriptions (if they exist) and watch the accompanying videos (if they exist), and decide to what extent you have been enlightened and informed. If you find something you like, please post comment.

2) The meaning of the Internet

I've been blogging about dance and the Internet for three years. So I'm sometimes startled by the lack of understanding among dance companies and presenters about what the Internet is all about and how it can be used by dancers. And when I do attend educational sessions about the Internet and the arts, I often find them very unenlightening.

I was stunned by the polling results from the Town Meeting at the recent National Performing Arts Convention in Denver. For the polling results for improving arts advocacy, only 5% of the voters thought the Internet was of any value and the item relating to the Internet was complete gibberish. I have no idea what this means - what is a "Google Arts - type resource"?

Explore interactive new media initiatives to increase access and relevance (e.g. create a "Google Arts"-type resource, blogs,YouTube) - 5%

3) Implementing a grassroots campaign to promote dance and the performing arts.

I've recently written two posts on this topic. My main point is that people involved in all forms of dance and movement - dancers, choreographers, dance companies, presenters, teachers, academics, librarians, researchers, notators, critics/writers, dance therapists, somatic instructors, certified movement analysts, publicists and anybody I left out - should get together and figure out how to leverage the online world on a large scale to build new and larger audiences. This is untapped territory that is just waiting to be exploited.

My two posts on this topic:

- "A Grassroots Internet Strategy Needed for the Performing Arts"

- "Implementing a Grassroots Strategy for the Performing Arts"

4) New Revenue Streams to Support Dancers

Dancers need new avenues for making money. Everybody is always complaining about cut-backs in grantmaking and other economic challenges -- all justifiable. But there is rarely fruitful discussion and action taken to actually figure out new approaches to making money for artists. I've written many times over the years about new possible avenues for generating revenue with a focus on online possibilities - the interest in these posts tends to be very low unfortunately.

That said, there are positive developments. The Field, based here in New York City, is launching the "Economic Revitalization for Performing Artists (ERPA)" project. They will be giving grants to dance and theater artists who are pursuing new business models to support their creative work. We need more programs like this!

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