Each month in 2018, we are highlighting one dance writing site. In January, we took a weekly read of Dance Tabs; February focused on loveDANCEmore. For March, we explored dance-enthusiast.com.

Initial impressions:

I actually know nothing about this site and have never looked at it until this month. A colleague recommended it for this year of reading and assessing 12 dance writing sites.

Initial questions:

• What is the size of the readership?
• Who created the project, and who maintains it today?
• How has it grown and changed over the past 10 years? 
• How many audience reviews are submitted each month? 

Reading The Dance Enthusiast throughout March 2018:

March 10 = whoa. About 8 posts since I last looked! About Gibney Dance, The Shed, Dance Heginbotham, and more. I want to check these all out….

I read Erin Bomboy's "review" of the recent Dance Heginbotham show. Dance Enthusiast calls this column Impressions , and even notes on the site that Impressions is "our brand of review."

Bomboy's succinct piece reads to me like many a review (fine by me).

March 27 = enjoyed browsing the site. Lots of fresh content – a mix of reviews, news bits, etc. Question: is this entirely NYC focused? 

Loved reading Theo Boguszewski 's Impressions piece about the recent Bebe Miller/Susan Rethorst performance. 

I also checked out some of the audience reviews on the site. I value and appreciate that Dance Enthusiast offers a space for this as well….didn't voiceofdance.com do this back in the day?

March 30 = I searched further into the site to read about the founder/creator of the site and to browse through the list of contributors. Again, it feels primarily NYC based. 

To quote Christine Jowers, who is the founder of The Dance Enthusiast:

I started the The Dance Enthusiast project with the dream of connecting others to the stories of this important, ephemeral art – the stories beyond reviews and critiques – the stories of artists who continue to inspire me today just as they did when I was a child.

I would like The Dance Enthusiast to inspire and welcome conversation, a conversation between writers, dancers, and audiences. It is no fun to be talked at. 

Appreciations:

Lots to appreciate here about The Dance Enthusiast, including:

• New content getting published on a regular basis
• A balance between reviews, interviews, and news bits
• Engaging homepage with vibrant photos and clear headlines
• Jobs, internships, and auditions are shared on the site as well

Thank you to Christine Jowers and company for maintaining this site and for actively contributing to dialogue, reflection, and documentation of dance in the United States.

https://www.dance-enthusiast.com/

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