Times have changed significantly since George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein joined forces in the 1940s to create the New York City Ballet. Yet the model those two men established for the administration of the American dance company remains: an artistic director reigning over the creative wing of the organization, an executive director administering the business side of things, and a board of directors to ensure fiscal responsibility, remains. Too often an imbalance between those arms of a company develops especially when the push-pull dynamic between the innately challenging AD and ED positions becomes overwrought. But like a strong marriage or a grand pas de deux, many such partnerships do thrive. They take hard work, skillful communication, and an evolving collegial relationship.

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Selecting new choreographers for a program or a season seems a straightforward enough process at first glance. Read on to find out how artistic directors seek out new works for their companies sifting the choreographic gold from the dross. 

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With extraordinarily wide-spread destruction in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, grantmakers across the country will be looking to help with the cleanup and rebuilding. Here are some resources to remember

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The artist residency is a venue that offers artists creative, generative time away from their normal place of work; a space in which the creation can follow inspiration, rather than an imposed schedule. The opportunity to change one’s environment, have dedicated creative time, and invest in process is, in my view, becoming increasingly critical in our field of multitasking artist/administrators.

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Join Dance/USA and From the Green Room in an online discussion on the state of the field. Here is where the discussion to implement change and share new ideas, models, methods or practices that can help us acclimate to this shift in the field. What do we want: stability, job opportunities, long-term contracts, insurance? We look forward to your fruitful and productive contributions to this conversation.

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The unfortunate effect was the discussion had been silenced by a dance.... It was clear that everyone in the room wanted more space and time for the discussion....
And so I was left wondering again: How and when do we listen to each other as a dance field? How can we create spaces that make room both for dancing and for discussing?

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Copyright protection has been both a boon and curse: A boon, if you are able to protect your work and receive income through license agreements; a curse when it becomes an obstacle to getting your work seen and studied when it needs to be. Read Elizabeth Jackson's clear and concise explanation.

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It’s been said that the university ranks as one of the chief supporters of the arts in the United States. With the migration of more and more working choreographers into university environments, it’s clear that artists are able to continue to create both inside and outside of these institutions. While the halls of academia offer some distinct advantages, most particularly to oft-itinerant and nearly always-struggling dance artists, other challenges and demands can sap their time and energy in their new environment.

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It’s been said that the university ranks as one of the chief supporters of the arts in the United States. With the migration of more and more working choreographers into university environments, it’s clear that artists are able to continue to create both inside and outside of these institutions. While the halls of academia offer some distinct advantages, most particularly to oft-itinerant and nearly always-struggling dance artists, other challenges and demands can sap their time and energy in their new environment.

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It has often been remarked that “Europe breeds artistry,” and that, to a certain extent, European dancers have an edge compared to their American counterparts. In defense of the American dancers, it is noted that they possess grit, tenacity, and a hunger that exceeds that of some of their European equivalents, yet the elusive artistic core lags or appears untapped in our culture. Certainly the environment of Europe provides a cultural banquet to nourish artistic growth, but does the European approach to training dancers incorporate more diversity, which in turn can contribute to greater creative growth? If so, can American dance schools fashion strategies based on this assumption?

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