Life as a Modern Dancer

Category: Blog Series: Building a Dance Company

  • Second Meeting of the Virtual Book Club

     The Cycle: A Practical Approach to Managing Arts Organizations by Michael M. Kaiser   From Blog Director Jill Randall: Welcome back! This week, let's discuss chapters 3, 4, and 5. These chapters talk about institutional marketing, building your "family" of stakeholders and participants, and a strong board of directors. What ideas resonated for you? How do…

  • Building a Dance Company: Angle/Niche/Aesthetic

    This post is based on a conversation I had the other day with a Bay Area choreographer. These are valuable questions to ask of yourself – and about other artists – at least once a year.  What’s your unique angle, viewpoint, and voice?  What are your strengths (choreographically, production elements, community connections, funding, etc)? Who…

  • The 2015 Virtual Writers’ Workshop for Dancers (Exercise #8)

    By Jill Randall     Writing Exercise #8: Synonyms   I tried this exercise out this week with the word "performing." How many different words/synonyms come to mind related to the action of performing? Share, offer, provoke, open, respond….My list included 20 ideas.   Creating these word lists sparks ideas and offers you a generous list…

  • Reading Assignment #2 for the Virtual Book Club – Please Join In on July 22

    From Blog Director Jill Randall: Responding to several conversations recently with arts administrators from around the United States, it seemed like a great time to read and discuss a book together. We are exploring The Cycle: A Practical Approach to Managing Arts Organizations by Michael M. Kaiser. Would you like to join us? Whether you run a…

  • Building a Dance Company: Resourcefulness

    Joanna Kotze    Photo by Ted Roeder (Joanna in her work titled FIND YOURSELF HERE: Duet – Industry City) Resourcefulness…..a topic I constantly think about as a dancer myself, and as a mentor. How can we apply our creative skills in new ways to support making work? Yesterday I was reading an article on teaching…

  • Blog Series: Building a Dance Company

    Kate Weare; photo by Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang Over the past 3 years, choreographers have shared on the blog about their weekly schedules, balancing artistic and administrative work, and paying for projects. Below are thoughts from New York based choreographers Kate Weare, Ivy Baldwin, and Rebecca Lazier as well as Los Angeles based choreographer Stephan Koplowitz. Click…

  • The Virtual Book Club for Arts Administrators – Our First Meeting

    I am thrilled to begin our Virtual Book Club, exploring The Cycle: A Practical Approach to Managing Arts Organizations by Michael M. Kaiser. Some people have officially told me that they are joining in. Anyone is welcome to dive in at any time this month and next! First of all, I hope that the Book Club has…

  • Building a Dance Company: Fiscal Sponsorship

    For-profit, non-profit, or fiscally sponsored? How will you run your company at this point in time?  While this Wall Street Journal article is a few years old, it still captures the essence of why a choreographer might choose fiscal sponsorship at this moment, versus the daunting task of earning 501(c)3 status and building a board of directors.…

  • Building a Dance Company: Financial Ties to Another Dancer

    You have found someone else who holds a similar mission, vision, aesthetic, and passion for dance. You are doing this together, whether it is a company, collective, festival, or workshop. Partnership. Collaboration. Teamwork. Here are some crucial ideas and questions to consider, discuss, and put down in writing. Grey areas around money most likely will…

  • “Success in 10 Minutes or Less: Reflections on Life and Work as a Contemporary Artist” by Wally Cardona

    Ten years ago, Dance/USA published Dance from the Campus to the Real World (and Back Again), edited by Suzanne Callahan. Over the years, I have shared it with colleagues and occasionally paused to read an essay or two. Finding it on the bookshelf again today, I was drawn back into Wally Cardona's 4-page essay about being an…