Navigating Change: Succession in the Ballet World, Part 2
Making a transition from one artistic director to another can be both daunting and exhilarating for ballet and dance company leadership. See how some major U.S. companies have navigated the rough waters to new artistic leadership.
Serious Selling: How To Turn Souvenir Sales into Merchandising That Makes Money
Many dance companies find that merchandise sales rarely amount to much in the way of profits.
But with creativity, resourcefulness, and commitment, performing-arts
organizations can turn merchandising into serious money. See how San Francisco Ballet turned its Ballet Shop into a profitable and distinctive representative of its company brand.
Calamity or Comedy: Critic/Scholar v. New York State — The Nite Moves Dance Tax Case, Part 1
Rooted in Middle Eastern belly dance and an American tradition of
parody, namely American burlesque, striptease and exotic dance are a
form of dance and theater art. While somewhat “risqué” or “naughty” with
its adult play and fanciful sexualized teasing that transgresses social
decorum and dress codes, exotic dance is, like all dance, communication
and a learned skill with its own aesthetic. So the question
arises: how far removed is exotic dance from the world of artistic and
concert dance? For a discussion of the recent Night Moves exotic dance court case read on here.
Post-Sandy Report: Resilience and Resolve
While the damage from Sandy is unprecedented and a complete picture
of the losses the dance community in New York and New Jersey have
suffered won’t be fully evident for weeks to come, Dance/USA’s From the Green Room
has reached out to its colleagues and constituents in the affected
region via social networking, email blasts, and personal messages to put
together an anecdotal report of some of the damage.
Critic/Scholar v. New York State — The Nite Moves Case Reaches the Highest Court, Part 2
On September 5, 2012, the seven-member New York Court of Appeals heard
Nite Moves’ legal challenge to the Tribunal’s decision that exotic dance
was not a live choreographed performance and consequently exempt from taxation as stated in law. Read Judith Lynne Hanna’s account of this intriguing case and the ramifications it could have on the dance community.
Can ‘Breaking Pointe’ Fix Ballet?
Can “Breaking Pointe” do for ballet what ballet companies have been struggling to accomplish for decades now? That is, lure newer, younger audiences to theaters for live classical ballet?
Copyright and Choreography: The Good, The Bad, and The Fair
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.
Making a Mark: Dance and Social Justice
Increasingly, community outreach is just the tip of the iceberg for some dance companies, and artists and social justice organizations are finding mutual benefits to deeper and more prolonged partnerships. That deliberate choice of engagement, as opposed to outreach, seeks to erase some of the traditional hierarchies between dancers and community members.
Safe House: Dancing in the Ivory Tower, Part 2
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.
After Sandy the Show Must Go On
It’s been a week since Hurricane Sandy left its mark on many dance companies and
theaters in the New York and New Jersey area. We hear accounts of lost rehearsal time, cancelled shows, destroyed offices, lives altered. While
the New Jersey and New York areas bore the brunt of the storm, we in the dance field will be experiencing the after-effects of this natural disaster for months and years to come. What have we learned from other events, like Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav?