The Sustainability of Dance Writing: A report and a couple of opinions

Relevance and Sustainability

By Cory Nakasue

Dance/NYC’s Town Hall: Solutions for Sustainable Dance Writing

April 12th, 2010 at Joyce SoHo

This town hall was moderated by Marc Kirschner, General Manager, TenduTV. The panel included: Tonya Plank (Swan Lake Samba Girl), Robert Johnson (Newark Star-Ledger & Dance Critics Association), Jaki Levy (Arrow Root Media), Elizabeth Barry (Gendance, EB & Associates) and Brian McCormick (bmacmedia.net, The New School, Bessies Committee).


Few stones were left unturned in this discussion about the sustainability of dance writing, journalism, and criticism. Unfortunately that is because we have had this talk before, and a new discussion needs to be broached; instead of talking sustainability maybe we should be talking about relevance. Who cares about dance?

We have all heard the horrific figures cited again and again, such as the number of full-time dance writers in the country (1), how the inches and pages relating to dance are dwindling from arts news sections and other publications, and how the blogosphere has turned into a murky free-for-all in terms of dance content. The problem doesn’t reside in the world of publishing (although the future of publishing in general is uncertain), marketing, or quality control (though, once there is an audience for dance writing, this issue should be on table.) The problem resides in audience development, the huge cultural shift from live art, and demand—the problem resides in the dance “ecosystem” (a buzz-word of the evening, along with “branding”).

Robert Johnson provided one of the most compelling arguments of the evening stating that the increasing suburbanization of America has created a population that cannot relate to urban culture. And, right now, suburban America is the largest consumer of information on the web and print media; a population whose dance appetites are sated by TV shows like “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing with the Stars.” They are simply not interested in reading reviews of modern dance companies, much less an intellectual discourse of a post-modern aesthetic…for example. It has become irrelevant for most of the country. One writer in the audience who previously worked for a major publication claimed she was asked by editors to “dumb down” pieces of writing because a large part of their circulation wouldn’t understand it. It seems that dance has positioned itself in an elitist ghetto.

Another audience member commented on the insular nature of dance as a contributing factor and the short runs that most companies have in theaters, thus turning an already ephemeral art form into an art form that almost doesn’t even happen. Who will pay for writing about a non-event?

Moderator Mark Kirshner was teased throughout the evening for his capitalist take on the issue, but his pragmatism on the simple economics of supply and demand also put the responsibility back on the dance world to figure out how to grow its audience, or in this case consumers. Perhaps one of the funniest moments of the evening was when panelist Elizabeth Barry was trying to sell the legendary (and very vocal) Elizabeth Zimmer on branding herself, at one point exclaiming, “Old people are cool!” Herein lay the frisson of the evening; watching young marketers and web gurus try to consult with intellectuals and artists, especially those of another generation.

Bottom line: If there is no more dance writing, there will be no more dance. If we can turn this conversation into one about building audiences who are hungry for dance content, and making the art form more relevant to our culture, our writers will be compensated. I made not one peep during this town hall meeting, so, “peep.”

WE NEED YOU...

SPINE has been accepted into Triskellion's Dance Comedy Festival. We are looking for some performers for the event. The piece we are performing is four minutes. It will be performed three times throughout the festival. It should be a fun time.

We are looking for:

girl: a little dancing, and lots of laughing and flirtatious running
boy 1: have articulate long arm and hand
boy 2: a little acting and play with yo-yo
boy 3: a little acting, mostly sit and read newspaper

Rehearsals: two a week until the show

Performances (all at 8pm):

Thursday, May 13
Saturday, May 15
Wednesday, May 19

Tech:

Tuesday, May 11 at 9pm

Description of piece:
Convenience Girl, is a piece based on a video SPINE (http://spineart.com/) created last year (link to rough draft below). The premise: Girl is stuck in a hula hoop while being controlled/seduced by an arm that hands her things sometimes lovingly and sometimes violently (the arm's body is hidden by a white board), simultaneously being seduced by a boy that is dancing with a yo-yo in the background always out of reach, while a girl dances by freely, flirting and whispering in yo-yo boy's ear, and a man watches in chair in the far background. The piece exemplifies our enjoyments of and our struggles with the insidious nature of convenience.

Link to rough draft: click here

Let us know if you are interested (email: kristen.spine@gmail.com), or if know anyone who would be please pass information along to those people.