I don't like the introductory splash pages either! Sometimes I'll be quietly surfing the web at work, and all of a sudden, some cacophonous music starts blasting from my computer (after a long loading time, of course). I realize that there's pressure to make the sites look really "cool". I think availability of videos should be easy to find for users and an option, rather than being forced on every visitor. I've found ways to bypass this, for instance, by going to a subpage (casting page or their calendar) rather than the main page of company's websites. But it is rather inconvenient.

Those aren't good enough.

Something needs to be done to take dance out of the sorry state that its in.

There needs to be an national or international dance calendar which has a strong presence on the web. A universal website where people can go to to see schedules of dance performances for their particular city or any city they want.

A person would click on their city and see short videos of dance performances that are going that month, or upcoming months. Sort of like You Tube, but strictly for dance. Its basically a big advertising system to promote dance acts to any part of the country.

The way it would work is dance companies would pay a fee (say like $50) for each month they want to be on there, and have a slot to be able to upload the necessary video and description and tour dates of their performances. And the site would automatically funnel it to the appropriate area.

Those interested in seeing dance acts will go to the site and click on their area and preview performances by category such as; dates, type of act (contemporary, ballet, hip hop, ect), or just watch videos at random for what is going that week.

The website company will in turn advertise heavily to make their presence know on the web. Because no one will be willing to a pay a fee to advertise on a site that is obscure. So a good advertising campaign will have to be presented in order to get its presence known. Once it becomes a known web presence, it will be the go to place for dance performances.

Maybe for the first year or so the website company will only break even since it needs to advertise heavily to get its presence known, until it becomes the go to place for dance. The company can also charge extra for banner ads for those dance companies that want to promote their shows extra heavily.

It would be a win win situation for both the dance companies and the website company. A recognized national format for dance companies to promote their acts, and a steady source of income for the website company.

If this idea can be implemented the right way by the right people, I think magic can happen and we will step into a new area of getting more awareness for dance.

Jolene,

Audio that starts automatically is really annoying. I have all of these tabs open at the same time and I don't know where the audio is coming from. So I have to turn-off all audio or find the culprit page! :(

John,

Thanks for your suggestions about creating a national/international dance calendar.

Dance would definitely benefit from more exposure and marketing. And also, I think that dance would benefit simply by being better integrated into discussions that are had about other art forms in many different contexts. Along the lines of what I wrote last week in "Art & Digital Careers: Dance Is Not Part of the Conversation."

In the end, I think a combination of collective and entrepreneurial action will work best in terms of increasing exposure for dance and enhancing marketing efforts.

The examples given focus more on the UI and content. I think this question is more nuanced, from a strategy standpoint, and the questions asked depend on the audience. Basically, it's important to focus on the overall objective in order to determine what the site should support.

For instance:

Do I know what style of dance I'm looking for?
Have I been to a dance performance before?
Have I been to a dance performance by this company/venue/production group before?
Will I be going alone or with another person or group?
Am I bringing children?
Am I just looking at something to do this weekend, or am I specifically looking for a dance performance?
Am I just looking for information, or do I expect to purchase tickets?

Thanks, Allison.

Definitely a challenging and important set of questions to ask, which makes the process of creating dance performance directories difficult. How do you solve the specific information needs of each type of person without overwhelming others with unneeded/unwanted information? No simple answer. Just a lot of planning to find the right balance.