DCDanceBlog

i can’t believe how many comments i’ve gotten from various dc dancers and dance supporters re: the letter i wrote to the washington post in response to rebecca ritzel’s article about the maryland dance showcase. daniel burkholder also wrote a blog entry about that article, and generated a conversation that went beyond dc.

it’s obvious, though, there’s been a lot of animosity brewing in this city for a long time. the “meet the critics” panel that dance/metro dc held a few months ago (rob bettmann transcribed some of the comments here) did nothing to dispel it–which isn’t surprising. it certainly felt like sarah kaufman, the biggest wig there, came into that event prepared to be defensive, and never gave an inch.

anonymous dancer recently commented on that panel and its outcome:

i guess it all comes down to opinions and we the dance community just sit and read and accept these reviews. we show up at roundtables with the reviewers that are Walt Disney World / Leave It to Beaver rehearsed stints so we can understand better “where they are coming from”. but all we want is for them to understand dance. there needs to be more two way communication allowances for the artists with the reviewers. and there really needs to be more education of the reviewer.

i actually wrote sarah kaufman on that topic last week after submitting the letter to the editor (which she was also cc’d on). i went into a little more detail about my frustrations regarding ms. ritzel’s review. i wrote:

You’re probably tired of dancers complaining about the Post’s coverage of local dance, and it’s probably easy to write us off as being disgruntled about poor reviews. But frankly, I’m willing to bet that we read the dance reviews closer than anyone else in DC, and I think our comments are worth taking seriously. Please, let us hold you accountable from time to time.

she wrote me back right away (which impressed me), but simply repeated the line that “disagreeing with critics is built in to the system of publishing criticism.” that comment said to me that she’s determined not to listen to criticism.

boris brought my attention to a recent article by ms. kaufman on a performane by aeros, where she managed to not only diss the group itself, but also the washington performing arts society’s recent programming efforts (which have been focused on local dance groups).

boris said he was frustrated:

Not because she disses WPAS but because she reveals her hostility towards local dance. The problem is that for anyone reading the review it seems that the season the WPAS is producing is going progressively downhill and that local dance, while not as bad as Aeros, is worse than Cunningham…It does anger me when these kinds of comparisons are made and the group of people I dance with are looked down upon.

he’s right. it’s lame. ultimately it shows a lack of interest or faith in local dance, and certainly a lack of support.

oh well. why am i devoting all this space and energy to this issue? suddenly it seems ridiculous.

and yet, my friend was pointing out today how crazy it is that we all devote so much time and energy to something that rewards us with almost no money. we do it simply because we love it–there is no other reason. so of course we want to be noticed. it’s natural.