Dear Life as a Modern Dancer Blog readers,

Hello and Happy New Year! I am excited for the months ahead and the information that will be shared on the blog. This project has greatly expanded in content, scope, and readership over the past year. 2015 will offer readers – college students as well as dancers of all ages – inspiring stories from working artists and useful resources about teaching, arts administration, and building a dance company. I am also just finalizing the new Virtual Writers' Workshop for Dancers on the blog as well! Each post offers ideas and inspiration as we pursue careers in modern dance in the coming year.

This spring, I will reach a milestone with my 100th artist profile. Katie Faulkner helped me launch the first artist profile in August 2012, and here we are 2.5 years later! Artists writing for the project for Winter 2015 include:

• Kate Weare
• Gina Gibney
• Jennifer Monson
• Eddie Martinez
• Alice Sheppard
• Onye Ozuzu
• James Graham
• Alli Ross
• Ellie Goudie-Averell
• Abigail Hosein
• Sarah Skaggs
• Mary Harding

A generosity of spirit from these amazing artists allows us windows into their work. Their honest and heartfelt stories support all of us as we continue on this meandering journey in modern dance in the United States. 

This is also the right moment to thank my "advisory council" of amazing artists who continue to review my blog posts, bounce around ideas, and offer suggestions. Those artists include Rebecca Johnson, Marlena Oden, Nina Haft, Randee Paufve, Sima Belmar, Mo Miner, Valerie Gutwirth, Katie Kruger, Tanya Chianese, Katie Faulkner, and Rachael Leonard. A big thank you to this group of artists!

Ultimately, I see a need in the dance community, find a resource to share, or hear a question in the community. My goal is to support and share. A virtual network like this blog can easily reach thousands of dancers each year. This is how to leverage technology to positively support our live art form! The blog content remains free and easily accessible. Leaping over the typical publishing timeline for books (which can be several years), a blog can offer new and current content any day of the year.

Please join me each week! You can subscribe to the RSS feed of the blog to receive the blog posts in your inbox. The website Bloglovin is a great resource to streamline blog posts, if you are like me and like to read a variety of blogs each week. (I have Bloglovin on my bookmarks bar.)

If you teach in a college dance department, the blog content is perfect reading material for a variety of courses: Freshman Seminar, Senior Seminar, Composition, Performing Ensemble, Teaching Methods, and Dance Administration. Please contact me directly if I can help you use the blog as reading material and a "living textbook" in one of your courses. I am also available to speak in college courses in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as Skype with college students around the United States. 

I created this blog to support modern dancers here in the United States, and I am excited for the year ahead. Here's to more inspiration, more reflection, and more dancing in 2015!

Sincerely,

Jill Randall

Blog Creator and Director

Berkeley, California

 

P.S. If you enjoy reading the blog and value its content, the easiest way to show your support for the project is to share the blog with friends, colleagues, and students through an email, Facebook post, link on your website, or tweet. Thank you!

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