American Dance Abroad

It’s been a few weeks since American Dance Abroad wrapped up its first American Dance Recon event in the Bay Area.  After two symposia in New York City, we wanted to make sure artists on the West Coast had the same opportunity to meet international presenters.  Due to generous funding from the Hewlett and Rainin Foundations, ADR/SF’s launch was a great success.

The group with Shinichi Iova-Koga in the Tenderloin

Just as with ADR/NY, nine international presenters arrived throughout the day on November 7th, then were shown around for four and a half very full days.  Thanks to the expert skills of Jane Forde, ADR’s Project Coordinator, American Dance Abroad managed to fit in seeing over 20 companies in studio showings and performances.   The sites included some unlikely spaces such as the Tenderloin National Forest, the Tamalpa Institute, and the Great Wall of Oakland.

As in New York, the Town Hall was an important part of the program.  We’re learning that it’s important for the attending artists to have plenty of time to mingle and talk with our guests.  There was a short panel discussion and Q&A session, but everybody wanted more time.  After decades in which American touring has dwindled for most artists, there’s a lot to catch up on.

Some of the highlights included a serendipitous trip to see Anna Halprin perform (the group ran into the her during an open rehearsal showing, and switched around the schedule to make a visit happen); all of the wonderful studio showings and performances at the ODC Theater, CounterPULSE, and the Joe Goode Annex; and, as in New York, the chance for arts presenters from many different countries to form great connections with the participating artists and each other.

American Dance Abroad’s second edition of American Dance Recon/New York (ADR/NY) just wrapped up last week.  Each of the four and a half days of the symposium was incredibly full.  Each day started with a roundtable discussion and featured studio showings or full performances from American dance companies (we saw 17 in total!)

Almost the whole group at DANY studios on the second-to-last day

A common question we get is “how do you choose which artists to feature during ADR/NY?”  Much of the time it depended on who was rehearsing where.  The goal was to highlight a half-week slice of dance in New York City; any other week, we would have seen just as much dance of equal quality, but completely different artists.  A context session with Deborah Jowitt, a lunch with American presenters, and the town hall co-hosted with Dance/NYC were some other highlights.

We consistently received feedback that forums like ADR are essential to “building the story” through which American artists’ work can be presented.  Seeing dance in live performance, making a personal connection with the artist, and being able to contextualize the artist’s work through the lens of dance history are all necessary for presenters to overcome obstacles to presenting American dance.

TAY Tong (Singapore) and Risima Risimkin (Macedonia)

It was amazing, also, to see the ways in which the international guests connected with each other.  Over such a short amount of time, the presenters – from Croatia, Singapore, Lebanon, Australia, Macedonia, Brazil, and Korea – formed strong bonds with each other, through discussing artists and enduring the whirlwind of showings.  The biggest problem was jet lag – as Carolelinda and Andrea know, having come straight from Performing Arts Market Seoul in Korea.

But no time for a break – we’re holding another American Dance Recon in San Francisco November 7-11!

American Dance Abroad was recently awarded two full years of funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.  To read more about it, go to our press release.

Much of the dance work we are seeing falls into “dance theatre” – conceptual, inclusive of text, using pedestrian movements; there is a notable European influence.    One exception was Christian Duarte’s “Hot 100 – The Hot One Hundred Choreographers.”  Duarte embodies movements from 100 choreographers who have influenced his work as a dancer (he is an exceptional performer).  We could most easily pick out bits of reference to Graham, Brown, Cunningham, Fosse, and Michael Jackson (among a few others), but less so to choreographers from other countries, and left the performance wondering who and what movements we would include in our own list of 100!  The performance spaces used for the Festival are all over the city and range from a traditional theatre to a gym (reminiscent of a Cunningham “Event”) to the inside of an old, abandoned building.

Wim Vandekeybus’ company performing on the first night:

An informal gathering of choreographers, producers, and international participants provided us with time to meet Latin American colleagues, share information about touring and presenting dance, discuss similar challenges to building audiences for contemporary dance, and gain a better understanding of the opportunities for American choreographers in Latin America, including choreographic exchange possibilities and touring to larger festivals as well as smaller community centers.  Each day the festival has included dance programming for young audiences, an area of the U.S. dance field that is less visible than we see abroad.  Much can be learned about dance for young audiences here as well as shared by those U.S. artists who engage with these very special audiences.

From an introduction to SESC representatives at the recent ISPA Congress in Wroclaw, Poland, we were invited to attend the BIENAL SESC DE DANCA 2013 IN Santos, Brazil.  Overnight flights to Sao Paulo followed by a four-hour car ride that should have taken at most one hour.  Traffic and fog literally froze traffic to a standstill on the highway!

There is nothing like this organization in the U.S.  It’s a multi-dimensional state and national social and cultural system.  The SESC Santos headquarters includes a large, fully equipped theatre, restaurant, fitness center, swimming pool, tennis courts, and visual arts gallery, all serving the public.  It’s supported by a 1% state-wide business tax.

Our goal is to identify and begin building dialogues with Latin American programmers and artists attending the Bienal.  Our SESC hosts are graciously and generously introducing us to colleagues, including members of the South American Dance Network, which we are excited to know exists.

Despite an unusual heat wave (96 today), we are making the most of the ISPA Congress.  Our goal is to connect with international programmers who may be interested in learning about American dance firsthand. Colleagues are interested or recommending their colleagues back in their home countries.  We are building a great list for ADR/NY and ADR/SF as well as ADR/GLOBAL.  Snapshots forthcoming.

American Dance Abroad is off to Wroclaw, Poland to participate in the International Society for the Performing Arts conference.  We hope to connect with programmers from across the globe who are interested in building relationships with American dance artists and companies.  We’ll report back.