From the Moving Body Website:

The 2012 Festival of the Moving Body will be held March 16 and 17, 2012 at Stony Brook Universityʼs Charles B. Wang Center.

Day 1: On Friday, March 16, we will host a Summit of invited-only experts, modeled after TED Talks. Our goal is to listen to one another in order to construct unknown territories for educating a new generation of healthy, creative, productive and imaginative citizens.

Day 2: On Saturday, March 17, the Festival of the Moving Body will be open to the public. Through the presentations of our Summit experts, the festival will examine the interdisciplinary nature of dance, movement and somatics.

About the film series here.

My very first love was, is, and always will be dance. With that in mind, I decided to pay homage to both the art form and a few of the types of relationships I’ve experienced over the years.

Dance, to me is the embodiment of emotion — it is an effective art and can translate the most subtle of sentiments. Love is nuanced. As a word, love is thrown hither and thither with abandon, but do we ever really know what is meant? The only thing that’s certain, it seems, is that like dance, love is different every time.

New love… the kind that creeps up on you.

“… It’s ballet plain and simple,” reflected Charles Askegard, as he relaxed in an open repose, wide and easy as if gazing across Lake Superior in his home state, Minnesota. We were seated around a table at Casa Nonna, near the theater district in Manhattan, and close to DANY Studios, where Michele Wiles was rehearsing later in the day. Askegard then smirked subtly, leaned forward and admitted, “of course there’s nothing plain or simple about what we do.”

When you are at the top of your field — like Wiles, former principal dancer at American Ballet Theater, and Askegard, former principal dancer at New York City Ballet — the natural question is, “what’s next?” For these two, who began a conversation several months ago while working together in the studio, it was not enough to voice their frustrations, pose this question, and do nothing. They quickly found that they were kindred spirits and that their answer was simple — envision something different that addressed their concerns.

Encouraged by Wiles’ husband James R. McCullough, the CEO of Exosome Diagnostics, a biotech company he created two and a half years ago, Askegard and Wiles began to shape what would become Ballet Next.

Ballet Next is a company built on a foundation of pragmatism, with one overarching mandate: the work must be of the highest balletic quality — nearly everything else is open for change. As Askegard commented during a seminar last summer, as reported in the New York Times, “We don’t want to waste anyone’s time or money… It’s good not to promise too much.”

“Audience members from our evening at the Joyce were excited,” shared Wiles. “Many people told me that they received quite an education that evening.” By experiencing classical work like The Sleeping Beauty Pas de Deux — which was choreographed by Marius Petipa and premiered in St. Petersburg in 1890 — on the same stage as works like Mauro Bigonzetti’s La Follia — a duet for Wiles and Drew Jacoby, which was created specifically for Ballet Next during the summer of 2011 — audience members were able to understand the differences and connections between classical and contemporary ballet.

Broadening audiences and exposing new people to high caliber ballet is also an emphasis of Ballet Next. Wiles described her desire to create a tour that pairs traditional theater venue performances with site-specific, charitable outreach performances. Wiles, seemingly reserved until this point, was nearly giddy as she described this idea. The energy around her shifted and made clear the impact an audience has on performers. Often we see this as a one-way relationship; the dancers give and the audience receives. But here, as Wiles spoke, I was reminded of the reciprocal nature of performance. New, fresh, and appreciative audiences energize performers and, in so doing, they nourish the art form.

And this type of rejuvenation is a part of their dancer-focused practice. On Saturdays they hold a Ballet Next Class with renowned ballet teacher, David Howard. They invite fellow dancers — from top companies in NYC and other companies on tour in New York — and just have fun. Across the board, Ballet Next concentrates on the joy of moving. Both Wiles and Askegard emphasize that “it’s important to remember why you do what you do.”

In speaking about their rehearsal process for the inaugural performance at the Joyce, Wiles and Askegard share their excitement about working closely with the small orchestra they assembled for the evening. None of the musicians had worked with dancers before and dancers, because they are from large companies, had never communicated directly with musicians. Generally, choreographers and directors confer with composers and conductors. But during this process dancers and musicians spoke and worked out tempi, finding nuance together.

The history buff in me had to ask one last question: is Ballet Next perhaps comparable to The Ballets Russes — the touring company that boasted the likes of Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Alicia Markova, George Balanchine and Michel Fokine. The Ballets Russes was recognized at least equally, if not more, for its dancers as it was the choreographers whose works they performed. Askegard was quick to politly decline such a comparison. “We’re trying something new,” he said, “I don’t want to compare us to other companies.”

Contrary to common sentiment, ‘next-gen’ does not refer to ‘looking to the youngest person in the room.’ From our perspective, ‘next-gen’ refers to a combination of skills that are effective in their approach to contemporary technology and strategic thinking—a fluid and plural intelligence that entails technologic savviness, an ability to delegate to trusted online presence experts, and a willingness to learn amidst increasingly volatile conditions. The practice of entrusting your intern to develop your digital media presence is dangerous, as is asking interns to create email campaigns. Your various outreach platforms are the performative portals for your work. Just as no one would hope to entice audience members with a performance put on by a class of new students, untrained office newbies should never be handed what will inevitably be the introduction to your work for a countless number of potential new fans and contributors. This principle applies even more so when focusing on digital content.

Recently, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg described a notion that is fast becoming known as “Zuckerberg’s Law.” Much like Moore’s Law (which states that the number of transistors on a microchip will roughly double every year), Zuckerberg’s law states that the amount of content shared on the Internet will double every year. This simple statement encapsulates a pressing technologic riddle for many organizations—namely, ‘how can one be seen in an ever more crowded space?’ It also distills a truism about our contemporary moment that will require a radical re-alignment for organizations interested in reaching an audience on the Internet—specifically, ‘once people have been reached, how does one hold their interest?’

This realignment is far from easy to accomplish of course, and many organizations have controls in place that prevent exactly the sorts of agile maneuvering required to make these critical adjustments. To address this we need next-generation strategic planning—but first we must explore what that means, where problems lie, and how we might re-tool our approach in order to, as Ben Cameron (paraphrasing Wayne Gretzky) often encourages, “skate to where the puck will be.” When exploring how we perform next-gen intervention in the field of dance, we must first take a hard look at where we are.

The dance world, with few exceptions, is working far behind the times. Little is being done to counteract this on any level: perhaps, least of all, at universities, conservatories, or professional companies. Even dancerly periodicals do little to combat the problems that hold the field back.

What we have:
1. Dance has a split personality disorder: Dance organizations have been known to expend more energy delineating between high-art professional companies and commercial dance, than they do developing outreach strategies, growing audiences, and conveying the relevance of dance in general. Most consumers know nothing, nor care, about the internal struggles that prevent the field from developing.

2. Conservatism is intrinsic to the form: In the field of dance, the most valued players systematically recreate classical works. Subject to its own particularly myopic form of founders’ syndrome, the dance community has the propensity to suffer from its own history. History is of course valuable, but when examining the future of a company, it is also useful to acknowledge that the audience for dance continues to change. Insistence on total ownership, infrastructural opacity, and baroque-era hierarchies has locked much of the field in stasis and makes it hard to navigate in this ever-evolving art world.

3. A lack of understanding that tech tools are only tools: In dance performance, good choreography is key. Anyone can string together sequences of steps, but transitions (the intention, exactness, and understanding with which those steps are executed) make a dance piece function at a high level. For dance organizations, everything from the mission statement, to email work flow, to social media marketing must be drawn together in choreographic harmony. These organizations need more than efficiency consultants, and upgrades to their hardware and websites. Companies need a plan and the training, understanding, and empowerment to implement that plan.

What We Need:
1. Brand Management: Most dance companies focus on projects and programs—not on building a marketing strategy for themselves. This hurts companies because they have not taken the time to establish a clear identity and, therefore, often find it hard to build new relationships with audiences in the quickly shifting landscape of our modern world. By building and marketing a clearly defined brand, dance companies can open a channel to their audience through which vastly different programs can flow—this can happen without having to reinvent the wheel for every new offering. MSNBC, PBS, and HBO don’t have to market their channel in order to launch a new show. Audiences have an understanding of what these brands represent because they broadcast the consistent message of who they are.

2. A Culture of Trust: Fear is rampant in the dance field, and fear leads to paralysis, which is not healthy for any organization—especially an art form that prides itself on virtuosic flexibility. This discrepancy is ironic, because down to is bones, the model for dance companies is stiff and sedentary. Perhaps managers need to spend more time in the studio—but that’s another subject altogether. It is imperative to learn to set boundaries, protocols, and structures necessary to build trust in co-workers, managers, and teams. The only way to move information through an organization and out to an audience—including funders, board members, and staff—is to trust employees to do their jobs well. In this undertaking, it is vital to build a workplace where people feel safe enough to ask for help when it’s needed and get the assistance they need—without judgement or criticism.

3. Vision-Keepers: Successful CEOs of major companies are often called visionaries. They are successful because they can dream big and inspire others by sharing that dream in such a way that it seems not only attainable but meaningful. Their work has a purpose that has been clearly defined. Fundamentally, the dance world appears to have a lack of vision as a whole.

In order to cultivate a vision for the field, we need people willing to nurture and share their dreams, and we need others to feed, hold, and share those visions.

Where We Can Start:
There are four core components to building a company that is sustainable: First is a clear and compelling vision. This is the dream of your ideal future. It is specific and grand. Your vision is the reason you and every other member of your organization will get up and come into work each morning. Second is your mission. The mission of your organization essentially outlines what you need to do in order to work toward that dream. Your mission and vision are two separate things. Your mission is doable in a definable amount of time, while your vision will take a lifetime (or several) to achieve. The third is your message, or the true story(ies) you craft about each step and out-growth of your mission as it supports your larger vision. Finally, make sure that the content you disseminate encompasses working examples of your message / mission / vision and brings them into the context people’s everyday lives.

Next-generation consultants must help complex organizations function with speed, agility, and transparency. A core theme persists: productive teams rely on flexible, focused infrastructure achieved through equal attention to human and technological capital. Dance organizations must understand the gravity of environmental shifts in the field and the need to engage expert trailblazers and guides for this new terrain. Organizations can prepare for the future best by coming to the table, with a strong vision in hand, a want to bring it to fruition, and an open approach to change.

Written by Jennifer Edwards with Sydney Skybetter.

The Walker Art Center’s ten-day celebration, “The Next Stage: Merce Cunningham at the Walker Art Center,” opens this coming Friday, October 28th, and runs through Sunday, November 6th. This celebration symbolizes the end of a collaboration between the Walker and Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) that spans almost 50 years. The event includes a new exhibition featuring visual art pieces from long-time MCDC collaborator, Robert Rauschenberg. The celebration also includes a number of performances by the company, as well as a talk and workshop led by dance icon and former Cunningham dancer, Valda Setterfield. In accordance with Merce Cunningham’s wishes as documented in MCDC’s Legacy Plan, the company is in the midst of touring for two years before disbanding permanently in December 2011. The company returns to the Walker November 4 – 6 as part of the last leg of this Legacy Tour.

Image Courtesy of The Walker Art Center

As MCDC wraps up the tour and the Walker kicks off its celebration of their formidable collaboration, we take a moment to ask: what are the proven ingredients for such a long-lasting relationship within the arts community?

1) Adequate funding is certainly key, and the Walker is fortunate to have a sizable endowment, which covers much of it’s operating cost, leaving a large amount of the money the Center raises for the development of new work, artists, and audience development. Additionally, a grant from the NEA allowed the Walker to make a landmark, multi-year, multi-work commitment to MCDC during the 1980s and 1990s. Funding, however, is not the only ingredient for healthy relationship building and artist support.

2) The Walker’s ingenuity and persistence in supporting multidisciplinary art making allowed them a unique relationship with MCDC, which has stood the test of time. Moving into the future, the Walker will continue to perpetuate the tradition of Merce Cunningham’s work at the intersection of many different art forms.

According to the Walker’s Senior Curator of Performing Arts, Philip Bither, Cunningham’s work was sometimes inaccessible or difficult for audiences to engage with; thus, the Walker developed ways for the surrounding community to learn about and forge its own relationship with the company. Over the years, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, and their ensemble traveled to the Walker to perform, lead workshops, teach classes, make site-specific work; and, sometimes, they came just to chat with community members about life and art-marking. This willingness to embrace and support the growth of an artist is often overlooked when arts centers are focused on their own survival, yet the Walker’s relationship with MCDC exemplifies a good case for the mutual benefits of working collaboratively to engage audiences. For instance, in 2008 the Walker presented MCDC’s Ocean in the granite Rainbow Quarry, which lies 150 below the surface of the earth. Audiences were bussed into the quarry for this sold-out event, and the total number of attendees at each performance was an impressive 1150.

This week’s program begins with a piece by Jerome Bel that gives the audience a rich and personal look into one dancer’s experience inside the Cunningham Company. On October 28th, the Walker’s ten-day celebration will commence with a work written and performed by Cédric Andrieux but shaped and directed by Bel. The piece provides a behind-the-scenes look at Andrieux’s career, from his training in France to his many years as a principal dancer with the MCDC. This work offers insights into Cunningham’s visionary concepts as well as the iconic image of the individual dancer. An unexpected and brilliant addition to the celebration, the inclusion of Bel’s work highlights not only the Walkers commitment to providing its audience with entry points into Cunningham’s work, but also to cultivating an audience for younger artists.

3) In its presentation of contemporary multidisciplinary art, the Walker has functioned as a model for numerous other institutions including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Wexner Center for the Arts, The Museum of Contemporary Art, REDCAT and Diverseworks Art Space. According to the Walker’s Mission Statement, “Focusing on the visual, performing, and media arts of our time, the Walker takes a global, multidisciplinary, and diverse approach to the creation, presentation, interpretation, collection, and preservation of art.” The Walker has demonstrated particular creativity and innovation in fostering the work of MCDC. For instance, in addition to supporting Cunningham through a total of nine residencies, the Walker has commissioned three works by Cunningham, all of which were site-specific. In fact, the forthcoming Legacy Tour performance marks the sole performance for the Cunningham Company on the Walker’s proscenium stage.

In November, the Walker’s curtains may close on MCDC, but the story will not end. It goes without saying that the current lack of funding and resources for the arts heightens a longing for secure relationships between artists and well-funded presenting organizations. Prosperous and long-standing relationships between such entities may offer a sense of fortitude and constancy during these tumultuous economic times; and, at this moment, we can look to Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s relationship with The Walker Arts Center as a model of such artistic symbiosis.

This piece was written in collaboration with Hannah Krafcik.

Congolese performing artist Faustin Linyekula has been touring the U.S. Fresh from Yerba Buena Performing Arts Center, Calif., and the Walker Art Center, Minn., he brings more, more, more… future to New York City for The Kitchen’s “Crossing the Line” festival this week, Oct 12-15.

When considering Linyekula’s work and its context regarding Congo, the Congolese people, and culture, I am simultaneously prompted to look at an overarching lesson applicable for the United States’ performing arts community at large. Both Linyekula’s own collaborations and the work of MAPP International Productions (the company responsible for Linyekula’s tour) embrace leadership and reflect the thinking of experts in the field. Harvard Business School professor, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, often writes about strong leaders who ignite individuals’ enthusiasm and create models for successes that others, internal and external to the organization, can make their own. In her piece entitled How Cosmopolitan Leaders Inspire Confidence, she writes:

“Top leaders in many countries will soon be more cosmopolitan — international, diverse in culture and gender, and values-oriented. … they still will carry out their essential, enduring task: building confidence to master challenges and turn threats or problems into positive results. Values and vision are a starting point, but leaders must develop the vehicles for high performance.”

Gaining on outside perspective is one important element in Kanter’s description of a cosmopolitan leader. Much like these leaders, Linyekula lived abroad as a choreographer and dancer and returned to Congo in 2001. In an interview for TimeOut New York, he shares,

“[it was] hard [to realize] that, somehow, nobody cares about the arts [in Congo]. But people do care about seeing someone who believes in something in a context where it’s so difficult to believe in anything… The fact that the work is recognized in Europe and in America means that I can be taken seriously back home and that what I’m saying means something.”

My exploration of Linyekula’s past works and continuing projects provide much food for thought. In the interview for TimeOut New York, Linyekula speaks of his process and inspiration. The lyrics that flow in tandem with movement in more more more were derived from poems written from prison by Antoine Vumilia Muhindo. Linyekula grew up with Muhindo in Congo. He visited him in prison in order to commission these words. Flamme Kapaya composed and performs the music, which drives the movement and words of this work. Linyekula choreographed the work not in a spacious studio, but in the living room of a rented house — where instruments and bodies met. The idea of life and art co-existing in such close proximity, seems a foundational tenant of Linyekula’s project, Studios Kabako. Located in the city of Kisangani, Studios Kabako, is a company and art center ‘dedicated to contemporary dance and visual theater. Studios Kabako aims to both address artistic and aesthetic issues and foster professional skills through research, creation and circulation. It provides training opportunities for artists, management and technical staff with a focus on nurturing artists to explore new ideas and collaborations both at home and abroad.’

Returning to the words of Rosabeth Ross Kanter,

“Leaders must deliver confidence at every level: self-confidence, confidence in each other, confidence in the system, and the confidence of external investors and the public so that their support is warranted.” “Leadership,” states Kanter, “involves motivating others to their finest efforts and channeling those efforts in a coherent direction.”

Leaders in the performing arts may come from distant shores or from your home town and must be versed in the languages of human experience. Programs like Studios Kabako (and the DeVos Institute of Arts Management here in the US) that combine creativity, development, and management are essential . Artists such as Linyekula are much like ‘cosmopolitan leaders.’ As they travel, they bring with them their creative work, but perhaps more importantly, they bring their memories, their perspectives, and provide opportunities for communities to learn. We need leaders to foster growth, and we need to celebrate the performance of leadership as a vital aspect of the field. Faustin Linyekula, as a man of action, has much to offer our collective choreography of the future.

more, more, more… future will continue to tour the U.S. through October. Next stops include: VSA New Mexico/North 4th Art Center in Albuquerque (October 18), and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (October 21-23). Visit the MAPP International Productions website for more information.

SEPTEMBER 14th, 2011 – 7PM
Free
Solar 1 Green Energy, Arts, and Education Center
Stuyvesant Cove Park, 23rd Street and FDR Drive

From the Dance Films Association website:
On September 14th, Dance Films Association will host an evening of live and cinematic works focused on “Dancing in Public”. As a part of the Solar One Dance Program, the evening will begin at 7:00 with a reception featuring live performance created by Rebecca Brooks, with dancers Ursula Eagly and Emily Wexler. The evening will feature a dynamic screening of several dance film shorts curated by Jennifer Edwards, Content Creator and Founder of JenEd Productions, and Christy Park, Executive Director of Dance Films Association. The focus was to find pieces that speak to various interpretations of dance and public space. Moving ‘bodies’ range from construction equipment to school children, and their dancing is carried out in spaces ranging from deserts to grocery stores to Grand Central Station. This is an event – with works by OK GO, JenEd Productions, David Hinton, and Anthony Atanasio – that holds something for everyone yet promises to carry viewers on a journey through shifting landscapes and genres effortlessly. A Q&A with the choreographer and filmmakers will follow the screening.

This week All Is Not Lost, a new interactive dance / music video performed by members of the band OK GO and dancers from Pilobolus was released on YouTube for use in Google Chrome. The work gives viewers license to leave a comment in[side] the media piece and share it with others. Though this innovative messaging tool is not geared toward theoretical analysis, the exploration of technological dimensions and interactivity are certainly thought provoking. This engaging tool may also serve as a good exercise in encouraging people to write and share after seeing dance – a habit too few of us possess.

Additionally, on Friday August 26th at the E. 86th St. Barnes and Noble NYC, dance writer Deborah Jowitt will moderate a discussion with artists Eiko Otake and Takashi Koma Otake, followed by a signing of the new comprehensive monograph Eiko & Koma: Time Is Not Even, Space Is Not Empty. The Walker Art Center has published this first book addressing Eiko & Koma’s oeuvre, a 320-page catalogue includes scholarly essays, an interview, and an illustrated and complete “catalogue of works” detailing each of their projects to date accompanied by reprints of primary materials; short essays on specific works; and a bibliography.

As evidenced by the publication of this monograph, dance writing is still a celebrated practice vital to the dance world. However, many anxieties surround the future of dance journalism, dance criticism, and, for that matter, the overarching practice of arts writing. As Rainey Knudson wrote on the NEA’s blog, Art Works,

the NEA’s Joan Shigekawa and the Knight Foundation’s Dennis Scholl cite a study that found that 50 percent of local arts journalism jobs have been lost in the past five to eight years. It’s a shocking number, but in addition to spurring us all to action, it should also politely beg the question of how vital those critics were if their jobs (and their papers) wilted so suddenly.

The Knight Foundation, in conjunction with the NEA, are facing the issue of arts writing head-on. The Knight/NEA Community Arts Journalism Challenge is now (through August 18th) taking proposals for funds designated for programs that encourage and promote arts journalism. With the launch of this initiative, and in the face of numerous defunct print publications, the questions (or problem) that comes to mind is: where will arts journalism subsist, and where is the active audience these new arts journalists are supposed to reach?

Many may point to the Internet. Yet, in cruising dance blogs and e-journals, presumably the proposed new territory for writers to inhabit, one may find the comment boxes empty. Though it may come as a surprise, this directly translates into the perceived value of these blogs to the editors of major media outlets. We can say that quality writing attracts readers. However, outward expression of an article’s popularity – meaning the number of ‘likes’, ‘shares’, comments, tweets, etc. – is what matters most to editors and to Google analytics. This translates to attracting more readers and advertisers, and ultimately to the survival of the media platform. It seems that simply creating more online writing opportunities and / or paying arts writers well will not solve the larger problem.
When considering this phenomenon, it is also important to recognize that reviews are still a major part of why people buy tickets to dance events. This was discussed in a presentation of the Engaging Dance Audiences study, conducted by WolfBrown, at the recent Dance USA Annual Conference, serves as a reminder that print reviews are not yet obsolete. Additionally, dance makers need to be written about to be on the radar for funders, supporters, and policy makers.

Perhaps then, teaching dance-lovers the importance of entering the conversation may be a better project to undertake. Dance writing, whether it appears online or in print, begs a response from the community. With the advent of new media, dancers, choreographers, and dance enthusiasts have more opportunities than ever to share thoughts and opinions and so sustain their field.

*This piece was written in collaboration with Hannah Krafcik.

Please comment on this piece (below the article) on the Huffington Post.

My business, and my fundamental role as a stress management teacher, has gone through several incarnations over the last 10 years. However, I experienced a huge shift and whole lot of clarity – which eventually led to an increase in clients – when I stopped marketing (talking at people) and started sharing (talking with and listening to people). This was the turning point for my business and it started on a rainy day in Ireland in May of 2008.

I stood with a friend, renown philanthropist, Derek O’Neill, on the coast near the Hook Lighthouse in New Ross, Wexford. Derek carries an off-handed air of wisdom – the kind that just hangs around even a friendly walk by the ocean. As Derek and I stood there watching the foamy waves roll in and crash against the rocks, he tossed out a seemly simple question.

“So,” he mused, “are you a bubble or the ocean?”

This question sent my mind reeling because I spent years studying eastern philosophy, which is rife with analogies linking the ocean and the mind. I was trying to make sense of this bubble curve ball because, more than wanting to understand his question, I wanted to tell him the right answer.

You see, I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder. I was living under the false pretense that I had done my work – it was good – and I was essentially waiting for the rest of the world to catch up and take notice.

I was a bubble.

Having grown up a dancer and theater artist, I was accustomed to sharing my work with an unseen audience. I didn’t realize that I was approaching my life and my business in a similar fashion. Traditional marketing reinforces this separation of the personal and professional; however, with the advent of social media + marketing there is potential for real-time and work-life integration.

Although I am a writer and have spent several years touring as a performance poet, I neglected to bring those skills to my work as a consultant. I slowly began to tell my stories and asked others to do the same. I learned to listen better and began valuing the power of communication more than my want to win clients with a pitch.

In the last three years I have built my reputation by writing for the Huffington Post, as well as various journals and blogs. I write on topics I am passionate about – most of which have little to do with my work but are reflective of who I am and how I think. I’ve even attracted the interest of major publications like the New York Times and Martha Stewart Whole Living.

This tip deeply resonates with me because if I hadn’t begun to share more of myself, I might still be alone on a proverbial stage – starting out into a darkened theater. Instead, I have built a multi-leveled, brightly lit platform, from which I am working and living more authentically. In the spirit of sharing and of In Good Company, I encourage you to bring yourself and your stories to your work – share your knowledge and grow in every way.

Read this piece on the In Good Company Blog.

Note: This piece was first published in In Dance, a publication of the San Fransisco-based organization, Dancers’ Group. Read this article on their website here.

Reluctance to embrace innovation holds the field of dance in stasis. This reluctance (or hesitation) limits outreach, spreading and feeding what many call “fear of change.” My interest lies in disrupting this dangerous pattern of institutionalized thinking in order to challenge each of us to see the possibilities and opportunities that technology, new media, and community engagement offer on a larger scale. Analogies abound relating change to the human experience, to the seasons, to life itself – we all know change is inevitable. Yet when I speak with arts organizations (and other non-profits) about the shifts technology has caused in creation and development of work, I often experience huge resistance to what they refer to as “change.”

I propose this is not actually a fear of change, but for arts organizations, it’s a fear of loosing control over the field and the channels of disseminating information. And for performing artists, it is a fear of loosing live audiences do to the performative nature of new media. The boon of new media is often misunderstood – connection is constant and fluid through social media. Infusing this type of practice into our creative habits will  sustain the field.

The biggest shift in audience engagement
Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus—Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age, speaks of the shift in audience engagement as a transition from passive consumer to engaged co-creator. He points to the fact that people are actively participating in developing and spreading ideas and products through social and new media projects. This pays off for for-profit corporations like Coca Cola, whose EVP and Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer, Joe Tripodi wrote in the Harvard Business Review blog:

“Our [Facebook] fanpage wasn’t started by an employee at our headquarters… it was launched by two consumers… as an authentic expression of how they felt about Coca-Cola. A decade ago, a company like ours would have sent a ‘cease and desist’ letter from our lawyer. Instead, we’ve partnered with them to create new content, and our Facebook page is growing by about 100,000 fans every week…. Consumers have become empowered to create their own content about our brands and share it throughout their networks and beyond.”

Later in the piece he urges, “Be a facilitator who manages communities, not a director who tries to control them.”

How this translates to the dance community: It is imperative that we start valuing our audiences; beyond the money they pay for a ticket or donate to our companies. Their feedback and input are important; yet, it has been common practice in the art world to direct a one-way flow of communication from lighted stage to darkened audience. Dance is a monologue in a world now driven by open conversation, and people are starting to tune us out. It is time we learn to listen and apply what we learn. Audiences want to see themselves reflected in our work. They see this everyday on Facebook, which is one of the biggest stages in the world. They see photos that reflect their lives and messages that matter to them. More than that, they have access to and impact on the flow of information as it circulates. By the same token, art that is “all about the artist” with no entry points for the audience, feels withheld, inaccessible, and outside of the scope of those we strive to reach.

Every Expression Counts
Much of Joe Tripodi’s piece in the Harvard Business Review centered on the idea that in marketing, the reach of a campaign has been calculated in terms of “‘impression”’ or how many people will see, hear, or read about you via Facebook postings, print materials, reviews, listings, etc.

“But,” writes Tripodi, “impressions only tell… the raw size of the audience. By definition, impressions are passive. They give us no real sense of engagement, and consumer engagement… is ultimately what we’re striving to achieve. Awareness is fine, but advocacy will take [you] to the next level…  So we are increasingly tracking ‘consumer expressions.’ To us, an expression is any level of engagement with our brand content by a consumer or constituent. It could be a comment, a ‘like,’ uploading a photo or video or passing content onto their networks.”

How this translates to the dance community: Social media is a creative medium. I implore you to stop approaching Facebook, blogs, and twitter as “marketing tools.” A common complaint from organizations is that they post events and calls to action on Facebook with little response. They promote shows and see little increase in audience attendance. This is because they are using social media the same way they use flyers and postcards. But social media is closer to an open studio showing than a marketing campaign. It is a big platform, open for you to share work. But it’s not an improv jam—you should ‘practice’ your social media voice—e.g. edit and stream line your message. It is also not a formal performance—so stark and in the spotlight that it lacks transparency. Instead, new media is a stage that welcomes continued conversation and process through dialogue.

Think about how you use Facebook with friends. When you log in and post pictures of your new puppy to your wall for friends to see—what are you selling? You’re not selling at all—you are sharing. You are inviting people you know into your life, and you are offering them a seat on your couch. You are also asking them to do the same. Dancers and dance-makers must approach social media projects (indeed all projects) like new virtual puppies—have fun—play—share and allow others to engage with you. This includes commenting, sharing, ‘liking’, and re-posting their content as well. Create work that you want to create, but with waves and winks at those who care about your work—your co-creators and audience members.

From the dance world, I like to use the example of Trey McIntyre Project and their employment of new media. Few companies are doing what they are in terms of bringing online and in-person communities to their work and maintaining honesty and transparency in every endeavor. TMP fluidly blends new media creation with their professional stage work to such an extent that they have blurred the lines between what would typically be the ‘creative work’ of a company and its ‘marketing materials.’ All their work is creative work, and, therefore, one clear message pervades all of their projects: online, in hospitals, during international tours, or a New York season. TMP does not need to talk about their mission – they live it.

Often, hesitating to engage in conversation with one’s audience stems from fear of criticism. In a recent interview on the Today Show, Monsignor Paul Tighe, Secretary of The Pontifical Council For Social Communications addressed this concern – one that the Catholic Church, arguably one of the oldest and most criticized non-profits, faces often. He said, “We’re not just interested in talking to people. We also wanted to listen and sometimes listening to your critics enables you to understand why they’re critical and maybe you can readdress them in a different way.”

A final radical notion: We will own legitimacy on the national stage when we transcend our respective niches. The only thing that needs to change is the distance we put between our organizations and the rest of the world. Though I am certainly not advising everyone to audition for So You Think You Can Dance, I am suggesting that we stop sequestering dance—walling it off from the general population through how we talk about our art form. Make yourself and your work relevant within the context of your community. This will aid in forging organic, strategic partnerships. You just have to ask what people (your audience, and your community – external and internal to your company) need and be willing to listen to and take action on what you learn.