Above photo by Erin Baiano from The Winger.
THE STATE OF CRITICISM, PART ONE
I’m sure I’ll have much more to say on this over time, so I labeled the post Part One.
Here are a couple of write-ups from The Dance Enthusiast on the panel discussion on dance criticism two weeks ago that I took part in.
I was going to wait for the video to go up online so I could embed that or link to it but it hasn’t gone up yet. I usually take notes at such things, but since I was on the panel didn’t — and I feel lost doing a write-up without my notes.
Anyway, these two write-ups are good. We talked about how there are virtually no paying jobs for dance writers now, in the internet age, how there’s only one full-time dance critic in the country (no one was allowed to speak his name — but it’s Alastair Macaulay of the NY Times of course), and the situation is only getting more dire as newspapers let go more and more of their arts critics and close down entire arts sections.
Robert Johnson, esteemed longtime dance critic, currently at the New Jersey Star Ledger but he’s written and / or edited for practically every dance publication in existence (Dance Magazine, Pointe, etc.) was on the panel as well, and he was probably the person most knowledgeable about dance history and the history of writing about dance of anyone in the room. He’s a very nice man as well and I was glad to finally meet him. As Jowers points out in her write-up, when Marc Kirshner of TenduTV (the moderator) asked how newspapers got into this situation, Johnson pointed to an intriguing-looking book by Dolores Hayden and said it likely has a great deal to do with the suburbanization of American culture. Newspapers are local and most of them serve their urban communities, and with people leaving those urban centers and spreading out, there’s just not as much interest in what goes on in the cities anymore — like dance and classical music performances, art openings, etc.
That definitely resonated with me since many of my readers here found my blog through my writing on the dance TV shows and aren’t located anywhere near New York. I’ve tried to write about the local dance performances I see in a way that makes those people interested in seeing a performance,
DREW JACOBY’S DANCE PULP LAUNCHES ON HULU VIA TENDUTV
Since following her on Twitter, I’ve been waiting for magnificent ballerina Drew Jacoby’s DancePulp to launch. (photo of her above taken from here) And I just received a press release that it has — on Hulu, via TenduTv. DancePulp is a series of interviews with movers and shakers in the world of dance — don’t know when it’ll air but remember her tweeting that she was interviewing David Hallberg — conducted with Jacoby herself. Click on the “continue” link below to read the full press release.
Continue reading “DREW JACOBY’S DANCE PULP LAUNCHES ON HULU VIA TENDUTV”
SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE DANCE WRITING
I am going to be part of a panel discussion (my first time being on a panel) next Monday evening, April 12th, at 6 p.m. at the Joyce SoHo. The event will be in a town hall format (so discussion, rather than lecture-oriented) and is organized by Marc Kirshner of TenduTV. We’re going to discuss how to brand yourself as a dance writer, how to make money writing about dance, how bloggers can attract and retain the largest audience possible, how new media writers can maintain journalistic standards of integrity, etc. — basically issues pertaining to dance writing and new media. It’s for anyone interested in or concerned about this new world of arts criticism that we find ourselves a part of. To learn more about the meeting and to rsvp, visit the event’s Facebook page.
VERONIKA PART AND MATTHEW RENKO IN AVI SCHER’S TOUCH
Here are some photos Jade Young and Avi Scher sent me of Monday afternoon’s performance at City Center’s studio 4.
All photos by the fabulous Jade Young, who I was able to finally meet (along with Marcelo and Veronika’s agent — and former ABT dancer — Scott Schlexer)! It was a great afternoon — SO many people were there: James Wolcott from Vanity Fair, Mark Kirshner from TenduTV, Reese Thompson from Ballet.co, and practically all the bloggers I know of — like Philip and Taylor — and many many blog readers. It was a small room but it was so overcrowded I know there are several people there that I missed (which was probably a good thing since my laryngitis was so bad I really sounded like a frog). Apart from Veronika’s fame, I think Avi is just such a nice and talented guy that people turn up to support him and check out what he’s doing, even if the program is really short. Which this was … it was a couple of excerpts he showed (for APAP) from his larger work, Touch, which will premiere at the Alvin Ailey theater later this spring. I will definitely post when I have more details!