dno dances

The New York Times ran this article about Dance on the Web yesterday. I’m glad to hear that institutions like DTW are thinking in terms of online networking. The idea of making the membership directory interactive is exciting. Yay for new infrastructure! The primary role that DTW has played in my artistic life so far has been that of a real-life social hub… but that is generally limited to performance nights or occasional workshops, this is much broader.

Further, I like the idea of an online network tied to a physical place… maybe my mind just isn’t expanded sufficiently, but something about the disembodied vastness of myspace or facebook makes it harder for me to translate virtual “contact” into real-life physical activity. That transition is essential if these tools are going to be used to facilitate the creation of live performance.

Ideally, though, I’m not sure that a tightly curated theater space, is the ideal location for a network to be tied to. The theater itself provides extremely limited opportunities to present work… the essential end point of this dancemaking dialogue. I’m wondering if an expanded Studio Showing program is in order… perhaps choreographers could be blogging and posting videos of their process, and other members can vote to request a showing of the work? Half-baked idea at this point…. I’ll think about it some more and get back to you.