Art & Digital Careers: Dance Is Not Part of the Conversation
I think that the performing arts dance community sometimes maintains too low of a public profile.
Here's an example:
Journalist and blogger Scott Kirsner has a new book that will soon be published: "Fans, Friends & Followers: Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age." This book consists primarily of interviews that Kirsner did with many different types of artists who share their stories about how they use the Internet to develop new business and creative opportunities.
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You can read a PDF excerpt of his book (2 MB).
You'll notice that there are no representative stories from dance, theater or opera. In a comment to a post that Kirsner wrote about his upcoming book, I asked:
I am curious if you did interviews with anyone from dance, theater, opera or others from performing arts world?
Kirsner responded:
...I didn't focus on people from dance, theater, or opera -- mostly because no one called any good examples to my attention over the year I was working on this.
We could blame Kirsner for not finding examples of performing artists pursuing innovative digital careers. But I don't think that's completely reasonable.
I think the dance community in particular does not do an especially good job of promoting itself outside of a relatively small circle. And, I believe, more ought to be done to increase the profile and relevance of dance within the larger arts world and the communities in which we live.
Kirsner's book represents just a single example of how dance is not part of the conversation when it comes to art and the digital age. But this is one conversation that I think is really important and it's too bad that dance is not at the table.
Posted by
Doug Fox on March 19, 2009 7:00 AM
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2 Comments
You're right. The dance community does not always do the best job promoting themselves. Digital media types are able to get the word out very quickly digitally because that is where they are comfortable. There is also that ongoing joke about dancers not being able to speak in public...maybe that has something to do with not being able to get the initial word out or develop partnerships necessary to take the company to the next level? :)
I believe dance will be taken to the next level very quickly by entrepreneurial dancer types. I've started to see a lot of dance companies pop up around Orlando, Fl that are being quickly promoted online and by WOM by their young, driven internet friendly founders. A few of them will really learn how to promote themselves on a more global level and many of the rest will probably follow. At least that's how it feels here in Orlando.
Jessica,
Thanks for your comment.
I'm always looking for examples of dance companies that are using the Internet and word-of-mouth marketing to promote themselves in interesting and new ways. If you know of examples, I'd be delighted to hear about them.
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