Page 33 - APAP Inside Arts - Spring 2020

|For the latest information on the National Dance Presenters’ Forum,| visit NDPF.apap365.org.
message from most of the sessions related to representation, presenting and agencies that this writer attended: We are in the “relationship business.” After all, dances are built collaboratively, from working with the community partners enlisted into cosponsorship of a new commission, to host residency spaces that can lengthen and deepen a creative process, to collaborators for sound or set design, to the person who turns on the lights and heat in the space you have rented for rehearsal.
The Pillow, NEFA and APAP have taken the viewpoint that the presentation of dance can and should be strengthened
by collaboration as well, and
the National Dance Presenters’ Forum is intended to harness the residency experience to build a solid foundation between presenters who will shape what we see in venues across the country. Presenters open their doors for dance artists to grow and evolve in their spaces – giving dance the visibility it deserves but oftentimes lacks is a collaborative process, too. As Bradley put it, “It’s about the opportunity to forge those relationships” and to engage with a community of your peers.
When discussing the most beneficial aspects of the forum,
one past participant noted that the opportunity to see dance live at the Pillow and integrate the questions and ideas from their daily think tanks into the discussions her cohort had immediately after was an invaluable resource.
In effect, the NDPF has become a presenter of dance presenters. Together with NEFA and APAP, the Pillow is rediscovering every year how to be a meaningful curator of a new cohort’s experience. What is the role of a curator? I would argue that
it is, in part, to continue cultivating emerging artistic voices. Bradley suggested that a curator’s role is
“to open up both the audience’s
and a presenter’s own world view.” That is surely behind the Pillow’s announcement of the upcoming year with a focus on a broader, international perspective. While the companies presented during the NDPF may be a challenge regarding dance presenters’ price range, they will, at least in theory, do just what Bradley suggested: Open up the selected presenters’ world view. That could then open up the doors of the venues behind this year’s cohort for artists of all movement and personal backgrounds within their own communities.
The former cohort members who offered insight into their experiences ranged from owners of small (“scrappy”, as the participant described it) studio spaces to those who had just taken the reins of a large institution from a veteran in the field. In my mind, the Pillow has had a long tradition of cultivating spaces where the scrappy are given space and equal voice to the established (see the Pillow’s new program for choreo- graphers, similar in intention to the NDPF). Forging new relationships is taking a risk, after all, and the forum seems ready to do that, in the hope that it encourages its cohorts to continue doing so as well.
Cameron McKinney is a New York City- based choreographer and educator, and he is the artistic director of Kizuna Dance. He was selected as a 2019-20 U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission Creative Artist Fellow to present work in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games showcases. McKinney has received fellowships from the Alvin Ailey Foundation and the Asian Cultural Council, and has presented work and taught in 15 states and four countries. His commissions include prestigious institutions such as Princeton University, the Joffrey Ballet School, the LDIF Festival, The Dance Gallery Festival and SUNY Brockport.
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