Page 29 - APAP Inside Arts - Spring 2020

isolated from larger networks of presenters. They also develop new audiences through a popular series
of no-barrier-to-entry community dance classes under the brand Dance Church. Buglisi Dance Theater takes a distinctively different approach, becoming widely recognized in the press and social media for their Table of Silence, a striking, highly visible annual memorial to the victims of 9/11. Through social media and word-of-mouth, they have been invited to adapt Table of Silence to other locations around the country, where it is frequently performed in collaboration with local dancers as a memorial to victims of gun violence or other communal tragedies.
Despite these efforts to
innovate, engage meaningfully
with communities and work more collaboratively, the financial risk of presenting dance perpetually weighs on presenters. In financially risky times, presenters can feel pressured
to book companies or works they already know are financially viable,
or at least can reliably deliver a high- quality performance. Some mitigate this risk by programming a mix of highly commercial or well-known dance companies likely to produce robust box office sales with more experimental or unknown artists. Others rely on income from other types of live performances to subsidize the predicted losses of presenting dance works. Makishi feels that the festival structure of Fall for Dance gives him more freedom to take
risks as a presenter, which he uses to create “opportunities for discovery” by pairing well-known dance companies with emerging choreographers, newer dance styles, traditional cultural dance forms or dancers with disabilities.
Dominic D’Andrea, director of community engagement at Queens Theatre in Queens, New York, sees
works toward this goal through school matinees and community events geared towards nondancers and believes that partnering with schools is one of the quickest ways to have a broad impact on the potential dance enthusiasts of tomorrow. She also notes that livestreaming performances to schools, while not an equitable replacement for attending a live performance, can be a valuable tool
in bringing dance to geographically isolated rural communities.
While both artists and presenters are increasingly interested in community engagement, both for audience development and a broader social impact, Ingram also notes that “what we think of as participation
is changing.” She cites community engagement activities between artists she has presented and inmates at a local women’s correctional facility,
as well as community master classes designed for nondancers. Indira Goodwine, program director for Dance at NEFA, says grants to dance presenters have been responsive to
“HOW DO WE CENTER MORE ARTISTS AT THE MARGINS? AND HOWDOWEDO THAT WITHOUT PUTTING THE BURDEN ON ARTISTS?”
— PAMELA TATGE
many levels of financial risk inherent in presenting various genres of work involving dance. He finds it easier to engage audiences in new works based in cultural dance forms or spectacles involving contemporary circus arts than in modern or contemporary dance companies, even with comparable efforts toward audience development and community engagement with the artists.
Hope Muir, artistic director of Charlotte Ballet in North Carolina, feels a deep responsibility to expose both her company’s dancers and
her community audience to a mix of traditional genres and cutting-edge dance works: “I don’t feel it’s risky,” she says, “I feel it’s necessary.” As a result, she thinks strategically about how and when to introduce new dance works instead of contemplating the risks of introducing them entirely. Her sense of urgency in educating and cultivating dance audiences is echoed by Kendra Whitlock Ingram, executive director of the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. She
Renegade Performance Group
SPRING 2020 INSIDE ARTS 27
ADAM AND CHRISTY KISSICK/APAP