Page 30 - APAP Inside Arts - Spring 2020

the changing landscape of community engagement by broadening the definition of who is considered a dance presenter. This enables NEFA to provide support to dance artists and community partners who work outside the bounds of a traditional proscenium venue, improving equitable access to resources for
both presenters and artists who may have the greatest impact through presenting dance performances and participatory events in nontraditional spaces such as community centers.
At the Pillow, Tatge is tackling the question of how community engagement activities will have a lasting impact on the communities she serves after the artists leave. This question of how to cultivate
a sustained impact and how to measure it emerged throughout many conversations and panel discussions at the conference.
The topics ranged from:
increased visibility and mutual understanding, capacity-building for local artists and changing the culture to foster a wider embrace of dance artists of diverse genres and identities.
And what is the role of technology in all of this? Many presenters mention using Instagram and other internet video platforms to familiarize themselves with newer dance works and choreographers as a tool to identify potential programming for their venues. Renae Williams Niles, chief operating officer at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, frequently asks artists to use their own social media following to fuel ticket sales at her venue.
But perhaps the biggest trend is urging audiences to let go of technology and embrace the analog nature of live performance. Margaret Selby advocates for a new
national campaign to “see it live,” encouraging audiences to have a “human experience” instead of a digital one. Ellen Chenoweth, director of the Dance Presenting Series at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, centers this charge in the larger, conflict- ridden social context: “We need to be able to breathe together in a theater now more than ever.” And clearly the dance field is modeling that communal spirit, one behind- the-scenes step at a time.
Marin Orlosky Randow is a choreographer, dancer, aerialist and administrator based in Boston. She coordinates Harvard University's annual ARTS FIRST festival, and has managed performing arts events in various roles for more than a decade. She teaches aerial dance at Boston University and has previously choreographed at Harvard University, the American Repertory Theater Institute and Berklee College of Music. Since 2011, she has also been the Assistant Artistic Director of DanceVisions, Inc., a Boston-based contemporary ballet company. This is her first story for Inside Arts.
A View from the Underside:
The Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
A PERFORMANCE WITH STUNNING RELEVANCE FOR OUR TIME
“You accomplish...an astonishing fullness of Dietrich, the personality and the message.” ~Eberhard Bethge, Bonhoeffer’s biographer
“When I watch Al Staggs as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I am confronted by the deepest moral questions of what it means to be a witness and how I am using my life.”
~Bill Moyers
“Al is a consummate actor, a knowing interpreter who manages to grasp and share the depth and dread of Bonhoeffer, at the same time hinting at the ways in which Bonhoeffer continues among us with contemporary relevance..” ~Walter Brueggemann
www.peacewithjustice.com
Al Staggs • al@alstaggs.com • (505) 603-8982
28 INSIDE ARTS SPRING 2020