day 2 recap
Yesterday was non-stop dance– conversations about dance, panels about dance issues, dance on stage, dance on camera, dance in print, on the web, in the morning, at night, you name it, we experienced it!
The day started with an inspiring keynote by Representative Louise Slaughter, who works in Rochester NY, but hails from a small town in Kentucky. (We had a live stream of this session with VNPAC too!) She spoke about her experiences with the arts growing up, and with the ways she works now as an advocate for the arts because of the way music, dance, and theater impacted her personally. It was especially fun to watch the twitter feed for #DUSA fill with quotes from her (check it out, and continued conference tweets, here).
Next up on the schedule was an assortment of Council and Forum meetings as well as 1-on-1′s with dance field experts in the smART bar. A group of participants headed to Capitol Hill and I’m eager to hear the results of their afternoon adventure!
The afternoon was filled with break-out sessions in four main categories: Artistry, Management, International Exchange, and Audience Engagement. I sat in on a panel of dance critics talking about Writing About Dance-Past Relic or Persistent Craft. It was moderated by DC dance writers George Jackson and Carmel Morgan and the panelists included Christopher Blank, Michael Crabb, Nancy Wozny, Alastair Macaulay and Alexandra Tomalonis. These experienced and varied writers talked about issues of print vs. web coverage; paying for your own travel as a writer; the writing/dance climates in the US, Canada, and England; and the relevance of dance criticism for the future of companies. Nancy Wozny, who writes for CultureMap in Houston, TX, challenged the audience and said “If you want to be an advocate for dance writing, be a dance writing reader.”
Later in the afternoon, I attended a panel on Thriving Outside America’s Cultural Hotspots, with Lois Welk, Ruby Lockhart of Garth Fagan Dance, John Malashock of Malashock Dance, Jon Michael Schert of Trey McIntyre Project and James Sewell of James Sewell Ballet. San Diego, Minneapolis, Boise, and Rochester never seemed to appealing and ideal for dance havens! These companies have built their homes in places off the dance map– and with great success. Trey McIntyre’s dancers have cocktails named after them in a Boise bar! The dancers of all of these companies have celebrity status in these towns because the market is not as saturated as New York. My brain was brimming with ideas of how to help the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange (a company I work for) build up our own local presence here in the DC Metro area after this panel discussion!
Speaking of local DC dance, last night was the Dance: Yes We Can showcase at the Lansburgh Theater. 10 local companies presented work, including: CityDance Ensemble, Karen Reedy Dance, Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance, Bowen McCauley Dance, Coyaba Dance Theater, Gesel Mason Performance Projects, Janaki Rangarajan, StepAfrika, The Washington Ballet, an Urban Artistry. Stand out performances of the night for me was the laugh-out-loud physical humor, athleticism in heels, and sassy attitude in Gesel Mason‘s 1 Thing, 1 Thing, and Oh…1 More Thing! as well as the insanely contagious energy of Step Afrika who wrapped the evening up bringing the crowd to their feet clapping and stomping along.
After all that– people still had the energy to go salsa dancing at a near-by bar. But not me! Hope you all had fun and show me your moves!
Today is already in full swing with more sessions, plenaries, and parties…
opening night
Last night we kicked off the conference in style at The House of Sweden, which lived up to its reputation– the sleek, contemporary, and stunning. The building, which sits along the Potomac, and was the host of Dance/USA opening reception. The site-specific dancing of Maida Withers and Jane Franklin’s dancers on the stairs and walkways surrounding the building immediately set the stage for dance conversations. And inside the Embassy, Daniel Burkholder and dancers approached conference participants asking them to shape their bodies into statuesque poses. Between the mingling with old and new friends, and the sampling of Swedish eats (like risotto with assorted toppings, smoked salmon spread, and candied ginger) the Ambassador of Sweden gave remarks on the event, followed by Paul King and Andrea Snyder of Dance/USA.
While the party was still in full swing, a group strolled down to the Kennedy Center for an evening of ballet. Three companies from across the U.S. perfomed as part of the week-long Ballet Across America. First on the lineup was Houston Ballet– a company that danced with ease and control, grace and strength, humor and romanticism. Stanton Welch’s Falling was full of playful head tilts, sustained lifts, and gorgeous extensions that made each of the dancers look 10-foot-tall. They revealed the thing that makes ballet magical to an audience– the ability to make dance look so simple and effortless while performing feats of incredible strength and flexibility. A stand-out moment was a sensual solo performed in silence by Kelly Myernick.
Next was Suzanne Farrell Ballet, a staple of the Washington DC ballet scene. They gave us two very different Balanchine works: first, Monumentum pro Gesualdo, with a classic, clean, and pristine look; then Movements of Piano and Orchestra which was performed to music by Stravinsky. This piece brought in some flexed feet and quirky angular shapes that showed the breadth of Balanchine’s choreography, and the depth of the company’s movement qualities.
Finally, the evening closed with a clap-along performance of Shindig by Jean Pierre Bonnefoux. North Carolina Dance Theatre showed that ballet doesn’t have to be serious, and that you can wear pointe shoes to a hoedown. Greasy Beans performed live with fiddles and banjos and the dancers lit up the stage with leaps, spins, and smiles.
we’re live!
it’s day 1 of the conference and participants will be registering at the Ritz Carlton at Pentagon City all day long and waiting eagerly for tonight’s festivities. Didn’t make it here for the conference this year? Don’t fret! the National Performing Arts Convention has a solution! They’ll be live-streaming portions of the conference, including tomorrow morning’s opening keynote by Congresswoman Louise Slaughter and the plenary sessions.
So check out: http://vnpac.performingartsconvention.org for ongoing coverage of the Dance/USA conference…but that’s not all! Do some conference hopping online as well. With this new website, Virtual NPAC “brings together highlights from conferences held by Chorus America, Dance/USA, the League of American Orchestras, Theatre Communications Group and Opera America along with input from the American Music Center, other NPAC partners – and you!”
only a day away
Dance USA conference participants have already started arriving in town and are gearing up for tomorrow’s first day of activities! I’ll be blogging, tweeting, and facebooking about all things Dance/USA conference related so make sure you’re following us on twitter, @connectdanceusa.
In an effort to be as green as possible, we’re not going to be handing out paper schedules but rather have it all available online (if you don’t know where you’re going and when you’re going there, check out the online schedule and jot it down!)
Just to get you salivating for dance, take a gander at the first evening’s line-up! Our opening ceremonies will be at the gorgeous House of Sweden, overlooking the Potomac River. The event– along with eats, drinks, and networking– will be studded with site specific performances from DC artists Daniel Burkholder, Maida Withers, and Jane Franklin Dance.
Then later that evening, we’ll head down to the Kennedy Center for Ballet Across America II, to see a smattering of some of the countries finest ballet companies, including Houston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Ballet Arizona, Tulsa Ballet, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, and North Carolina Dance Theatre.
What better way to dive into the Dance/USA conference than by seeing local and national talent share the spotlight in on the same night?
Welcome to Dance/USA’s blog!
Welcome to the Dance/USA 2010 Annual Conference blog! Next week when nearly 400 dancers, dance enthusiasts, dance critics, dance professionals, and dance lovers come together in DC, we’ll be blogging about the events, discussions, and more!
