The threat is not that people do not care about dance. The cancer is that the dance community does not care about themselves. There is not one major local, regional or national organization that teaches dancers to take care of themselves in every sense of the word. Artistically , mentally spiritually and bottom line financially. The dancer and it's so called community is a one way street to nowhere. We do not produce our own work, we do not take the risk for our own work we stand by and "pretend" that we are doing something great and that the public has a moral obligation to praise us. It's like a sheep telling a wolf 'please start biting me here instead of there' we are in no position to call the shots. Which is precisely why dance has stagnated. It is now time to take pages from the playbooks of Spike Lee, Section8 films, Sundance Film Festival, from anyone in any industry who learned through trial and error to lay it on the line and succeed. Dancers seem only concerned with trial and no error to ourselves.

Does dance performances have to be at 8?
If there is greater demand for dance (bigger audience or an audience which wants to see dance more frequently) we would all be happier. And certainly a lot of us do not aim to compete with entertainment. If that's indeed the case why do dance performances compete with entertainment and restaurants for the 8 PM slot?? Have theaters tried presenting dance Wednesday afternoons at 2, or weekdays at 4, 5, or 6? Or at lunch time?

I am glad to see that someone has brought up "the other article" by Anna Kisselgoff - "Thoughts on the Once and Future Dance Boom,” NY Times, Jan. 6, 2005 - appreciated for its more historical perspective on the sign of our times. It conjures up that we ARE at a turn of the century, just as almost 100 years ago that the DADA movement was born in the midst of the first world war and history repeats itself waiting for the next BOOM - in art and dance, that is, not more war - we can only hope. In this interconnected world -- economically - where the balance of power tips the bowl of rice (somehow Eastern countries were not even mentioned in these dance "articles"); physically - where cultures ARE mixing it up; and technologically - the leveler of the playing field and the very reason we are even having this blog -- it's hard to say if there can be any one center. It is interesting though about "centers" - in the height of the real-estate boom in NY, major centers dedicated to contemporary dance have sprung up all over the New York City - from Dance Theater Workshop, Mark Morris Dance Center, Alvin Ailey Studios, Baryshnikov Arts Center, to the multitude of artist-run studios from Brooklyn, Bronx to Queens. How are these organizations and artists doing this without the luxuries that our European allies have? I wonder this everyday as I maintain TOPAZ ARTS and create dance -- creating out of necessity and the necessity to create.

Earlier this year I was a panelist for DTW's forum called "Making Your Own Model", a discussion on supporting yourself as an artist. In the Q&A session, it was disheartening to hear that some artists are trying to follow "the corporate model" and no wonder there doesn't seem to be any risk-taking going on. We should heed these discussions and all go back to taking risks - for artists, funders, presenters and non-artists alike-- take risks in our work, in who gets funded, who is presented, who is elected - I'm all for a revolution!