DCDanceBlog

i saw today that shen wei was awarded one of the macarthur prizes yesterday. i’ve always thought that prize seemed so cool; it’s given to people who’ve done really interesting, creative things that do good for humans. but it’s funny that it’s shen wei b/c i’m not aware that he’s done new work in a while. perhaps i’m wrong. i have a feeling that the nomination committee makes an effort to keep modern dance in the mix of folks given prizes, which is cool, but it’d be sort of a bummer if the prize winds up going to someone who isn’t all that impressive, simply for symbolic reasons.

maybe i’m sounding pessimistic b/c i’m still thinking of marcel marceau, who died this weekend. apparently he was worried that the art of mime would die with him (mentioned in this op-ed from the international herald tribune), and apparently he had good reason to worry. it’s not a popular art form. of course dance is much more popular–in fact, very few people seem to be fans of mime–but somehow it seemed a bit scary nonetheless.

Do artistic directors feel threatened when their dancers work with other choreographers? Once we are accepted into a dance company, should we as dancers be completely loyal to that company by not pursuing any outside projects? Many dancers in DC work with multiple companies. Is that a conflict of interest?

In a city with not many of us to go around, and where there is such a range of rigor, how do you decide, as dancers, who to work with … How many companies to work with or projects to work on? What decisions to make that might boost your resume or give you more recognition or the opportunity to perform in a space you’ve dreamed about, or with other artists that you admire and want to learn from?

And as artistic directors, how do you deal with this reality? That it is a transient city. That sometimes dancers’ interests change. That, unless you run a professional company, how do you work around the dancer’s need to be involved in other things to fund and fuel the passion?