InfiniteBody: And just what are we trying to sustain?

Saturday, April 24, 2010

And just what are we trying to sustain?

Dance writing--whatever that is or we believe it to be--must change or die. And the dance world must turn its vast reserves of creativity towards effective public education, persuasion and marketing.

A recent town hall meeting, convened by Dance/NYC and drawing together some new- and old-media types, addressed these two issues and more. I would have been there, but I am still in Europe and currently in direct touch only with roiling issues of volcanic behavior, aviation policy and British politics.

That dance needs to step up its efforts to engage the strangely estranged American public is something I've been railing about for a long time. But the other matter--the survival of dance writing--seems unimaginable unless we start talking about what we mean when we talk about writing on dance, because different people mean and want quite different things. We also have to talk about values--what matters most in dance and in the way it is considered, assessed and reported.

Before I left for London and Paris, I heard that dance artists Christine Jowers and Cory Nakasue--both writers for Jowers's Dance-Enthusiast.com--would be attending and blogging about the town hall meeting. I'm happy to link back to their thoughtful reports in the hope that this will continue to stimulate fresh and energized discussion.

Please feel free to offer your own thoughts here and on Dance-Enthusiast.com, particularly if you attended this event.

Thanks!

Christine and Cory Comment--Solutions for Sustainable Dance Writing A Town Hall Meeting at the Joyce SoHo

8 comments:

Sharon Gary said...: Correct web address is www.dance-enthusiast.com (there's a hyphen btw/dance and enthusiast).; April 24, 2010 at 9:58 AM
Anonymous said...: I couldn't comment on the article for some reason so I'll put it here. It seems bizarre that they have a 200 character comment limit. That doesn't help much with interacting with the articles.

I like what Cory wrote about the suburban audiences. I grew up in a small town in Ohio and went to a small studio and competitions. I went on to appreciate the art within dance in college but when I talk to my home friends and dancers they are way more interested in SYTYCD and contemporary and have very very little knowledge about modern, post-modern, post-post-neo-classical-super-modern (just kidding) dance. On the one hand it's great to see so much interest but on the other, there is just so much magic in dance that people aren't getting simply because they don't know it's there or when they see it they 'don't understand' it and pass it over.

I think one really needs to have an appreciation for art to want to see modern dance or really any sort of art form and that certainly wasn't fostered very well in my town or probably quite a lot of small towns in Ohio and elsewhere. It wasn't until college that I had any sort of appreciation myself. How do you push for artistic appreciation in a culture that is happily willing to settle for entertainment (like the billions in dollars Avatar got for being aesthetically pleasing)? I almost feel like it's something one finds on their own but maybe it could be introduced?

As for 'branding,' I think that is a touchy subject. On the one hand it's a great way to have people become familiar with your work and allow people to expect good things from you but when it comes to attracting an audience the tendency is to present your self/brand the way the audience wants to consume it. So if the audience wants to be entertained... it can be difficult to keep the artistry alive. But maybe branding yourself as an alternative artistically compelling entity could be beneficial. I guess I'm wary now that branding has become such an overbearing part of our culture that has transcended products to people branding themselves, turning their actual selves into products for consumption. I don't think it's too difficult to see why that could be dangerous and wholly unattractive.; April 24, 2010 at 1:58 PM
Eva Yaa Asantewaa said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; April 24, 2010 at 4:47 PM
Eva Yaa Asantewaa said...: Here's a comment emailed to me by writer Debra Cash. She writes:

"I'm so glad people in New York are having this conversation.

"Here's a link to a discussion I had about my move from criticism (which I miss doing on a regular basis) to contextualization (preconcert talks, program notes, panels, miscellaneous forms of teaching) here in New England
http://hubreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/debra-cash-replies.html

"(You can also click through to this from the Scatterings page of my new website, www.debracash.com).

"I do think that there is reason, and room, for serious intellectual and historically-grounded assessment of dance beyond the 'brand' and entertainment value; it is not clear to me what that forum will be. But I very much like the hybrid media opportunities where, for instance, a descriptive comment could then be illustrated with a video clip of the critic's choosing. Those days are not yet here, but not so far away either."

--Debra Cash

**********

Thanks so much, Debra! I'm sorry that the Blogger site is not allowing you to post your comments. If others are having this problem, please let me know.

Eva; April 24, 2010 at 4:59 PM
Eva Yaa Asantewaa said...: Here's a comment emailed to me by writer Debra Cash. She writes:

"I'm so glad people in New York are having this conversation.

"Here's a link to a discussion I had about my move from criticism (which I miss doing on a regular basis) to contextualization (preconcert talks, program notes, panels, miscellaneous forms of teaching) here in New England
http://hubreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/debra-cash-replies.html

"(You can also click through to this from the Scatterings page of my new website, www.debracash.com).

"I do think that there is reason, and room, for serious intellectual and historically-grounded assessment of dance beyond the 'brand' and entertainment value; it is not clear to me what that forum will be. But I very much like the hybrid media opportunities where, for instance, a descriptive comment could then be illustrated with a video clip of the critic's choosing. Those days are not yet here, but not so far away either."

--Debra Cash

**********

Thanks so much, Debra! I'm sorry that the Blogger site is not allowing you to post your comments. If others are having this problem, please let me know.

Eva; April 24, 2010 at 4:59 PM
Unknown said...: It's imperative that this conversation be seriously considered. It has been started in the larger public forum and it must continue. Dance New Amsterdam is setting up to create the time and space to discuss dance writing by gathering artists, journalists, enthusiasts, academics, etc. to support the conversation of writing about dance. There are so many elements that are at play when a critic writes it takes time to address it. I hope people take the time.; April 24, 2010 at 6:11 PM
Eva Yaa Asantewaa said...: I'm heartened to hear of your participation, Kate. Thank you.; April 25, 2010 at 3:25 AM
Jen and Katherine said...: I also had to miss the Dance/NYC forum, and am really glad to hear DNA is picking up the ball. I'll be looking for that.; April 26, 2010 at 12:07 PM