Here are ten things dance companies should (and should not) be discussing in 2010:

1.) Globalization
We believe there are four major barriers to audience engagement:

Does the audience member have an opening in their schedule to attend a desired performance?

Is the audience member in the city where the performance is taking place

Are there tickets available?

How much will this attendance cost? Is it appropriate to the experience?

In a few days, these barriers will be all but destroyed. The theme of this year’s Dance/USA conference is “Dance Beyond Borders”, and there couldn’t be a better-timed topic. How will American companies compete in a global dance marketplace? How will foreign companies be able to penetrate the US market? Is New York’s reputation as the epicenter a thing of the past? These aren’t questions for the future, these are questions for now.

2. Real Video, Real HD

According to some, arts organizations have two sources of revenue: fundraising and ticket sales. In our world, arts organizations have a third: digital video. Want some numbers? According to the latest numbers from ComScore, 170 million people (in the US) watched 31 billion videos online in November 2009, up from 146 million and 12.7 billion in November 2008. With this kind of growth, is it really surprising that online engagement was the one positive highlight in the NEA report? Video budgets need to rise – significantly, because there is no larger paying audience for the arts than the digital audience, and this audience demands HD. Formats such as NTSC (standard definition), DV and it pains me to have to say this, VHS (seriously – if you’re still forcing people to submit VHS tapes to you, step aside and retire) are hereby declared dead. Any resources allocated towards producing new video in these formats is wasted. There are some really great technologies on the horizon, and it’s time to get ready.

3.) Contracts with Collaborators

It always amazes us how many companies don’t have contracts with their collaborators. The fact is, no artist’s work should be used for a filmed performance without a contract in advance that grants the company the rights to use that video for all purposes, in exchange for the dancer receiving a set fee or a royalty payment for revenue earned. Similarly, if you’re collaborating with another artist on a work whose involvement essentially ends at the premiere (eg. a costume designer), media rights, especially digital media rights need to be included in those agreements as well.

Trying to back clear permissions is ten times as difficult and resource consuming as clearing them at the point of contract.

4.) Music Rights

If there is one universal certainty, it is that the door to new opportunities will not be open to companies without proper music permissions. In some cases, this will result in choreographers not being able to use the music they had wanted, even if they conceivably get away with that use without repercussions in the live environment. Granted, new licensing structures for music are still being put into place but the fact is, the last thing any artist wants is for a reputation as an infringer to precede them in a music rights negotiation.

5.) Legacy Planning

The losses of Merce Cunningham and Pina Bausch in 2009 reminded us of an important truth: all choreographers die, and we can’t always predict when. There is an entire generation of choreographers who first made their mark in the 60’s and 70’s that, if the unfortunate event were to happen tomorrow, would have very little to pass down to show for their lifetime of creative genius.

See item #2 above.

6.) Alternative Performance Spaces

We’re not just talking about the proscenium stage versus site-specific works. We’re talking about every potential space imaginable. Case in point: The Tiny Dance FilmSeries that will be showing at the Dance on Camera Festival in late January is a group of works created specifically for a 2 inch screen. Live performance on stage will remain a very important venue, but we’re far beyond the point where it needs to be the only venue.

7.) Branding Matters

In a world built on subscription series, small theaters and narrow audience reach, there hasn’t been much need for most dance companies to spend time focusing on branding. In fact, counting the number of companies with brand recognition outside of the core dance audience wouldn’t require more than a hand or two. Who is better known? Jakob Carr or Martha Graham? In the digital dance world, companies need to be aware of how they are representing themselves to how their brand is delivered. Does their website reflect a modern aesthetic and is it kept up to date? Does it effectively communicate their work? Does it have (and meet) stated goals for the organization, or does it simply serve as a platform for future fundraising. By the way, nothing looks more pathetic than to have a website that explicitly asks for donations on the landing page.

The best branding move we’ve seen in the past year: Larry Keigwin. Could anyone have watched that promo and not wanted to go to that party?

8.)The Real Dance Audience isn’t Really Declining.

We know what the surveys and studies say, and we don’t believe a word of it. Sure, it’s fair to say that attendance at dance performances is declining. However, to leap from attendance declines to an overall audience decline is a huge and counter-productive stretch. Millions of people are watching dance on television every week. 10 year old children can accurately compare dancers’ attributes. If anything, the dance audience has grown faster in the last few years than in any other period in dance’s history.

The problem is that dance companies aren’t effectively reaching those audiences, if they’re reaching them at all. The source of this problem isn’t the dance companies themselves - there’s been a major chicken and egg issue with distribution - a company can’t support high budget video without distribution, and can’t get distribution without high budget video? However, this distribution has finally arrived, and we’ll be spending a lot of time discussing it over the next few weeks.

We recommend you reread #1 to #4 above. Twice.

9.) The Do It Yourself Mentality

Over the next few years, dance organizations are going to begin to evolve as individual tasks rise in complexity. The rise of the digital stage is going to require increasing specialization and expertise that few dance organizations are going to be able to bring “in house”. Dance companies are going to need to look outside for this expertise to be successful, because if they try to do it themselves, they simply won’t be able to do so. As the saying goes, “jack of all trades, master of none”, and the next decade will require nothing short of mastery.

10.) “Dance is ephemeral”

The ephemeral nature of dance is no longer a stated truth, to be recounted over and over again as if it were the gospel. In the new decade, ephemerality is a crutch, a relic, and in most cases, simply a consequence of poor planning.

Fifty years ago, Doris Humphrey famously wrote “The one inescapable condition surrounding the choreographer in his chosen art is the hard realism of “now.” All other arts can wait for the verdict of history if they are rebuffed by the contemporary world–the choreographer not so.”

Dance has escaped the inescapable, and the ephemerality of dance has completed its journey, like so many concepts before it, down the path of obsolescence.

We are only seeking companies who can deliver HD product to broadcast specification (for example, PBS or BBC spec).

Please submit your contact information, as well as links to your website, reels/samples and any other information you consider relevant to content@tendu.tv. If possible, please include the camera types on which the material was filmed.

EVENT LINK

Synopsis:

Video is one of the most powerful communication tools we have at the moment–both online and off. Did you know YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world right now? That’s crazy.

In this meetup session we’ll take a look at how cultural organizations can utilize video to connect with audiences, as well as some of the tools and best practices to help them do so.

Where: 3LD, 80 Greenwich Street, New York

When: Thursday, September 17th at 7:00 PM

The speakers are as follows:

Art21 — Jonathan Munar is the Web Manager at Art21—a non-profit arts organization and producer of a Peabody Award-winning PBS series on contemporary art—where he manages the Art21 Web sites, edits a column on the Art21 blog, and oversees the organization’s social media initiatives. Before joining Art21 in 2008, Jonathan was the Website Technology Manager at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Tendu.tv — Marc Kirschner is the founder and General Manager of TenduTV, a broadband network delivering dance and dance-related programming to home users on their computers, mobile devices and reaches over 30 million televisions in the US. Kirschner created the concept of digital licensing for choreography and executed the first such licensing deals in the dance industry. Kirschner was recently invited to sit on the advisory board of Dance/NYC, where he will serve as chair of the technology committee.

Arin Crumley — Putting real life into film, podcasting to extend the narrative, captivating social network audiences, Google mapping the audience demand for a theatrical release and digitally distributing to millions of internet viewers around the world. The pioneering efforts of Arin Crumley haven’t gone unnoticed as Indiewire, MovieMaker, The Wall Street Journal, The Spirit Awards, The Sundance Channel, IFC TV, & many others have jumped into the echo chamber further demonstrating all that new media has to offer.

Blip.tv — Eric Mortensen joined blip.tv in 2006 as the Director of Content Development, where he oversees discovery of and interaction with new media content creators. As a founder of the pioneering social bookmarking site, linkfilter.net, a prolific blogger and the co-founder of Digital Dissonance — a digital music collaboration created in 1994 and pre-dating the commercial Internet — Mortensen has spent more than fourteen years as a social media innovator and expert.

The 3 Legged Dog theater will also feature a video exhibition: “Why Aren’t You Naked?” is a multimedia exhibition presenting an array of provocative still and moving imagery generated from 3-Legged Dog’s prolific experimental productions over the last 13 years.

“For twelve years, the American Lindy Hop Championship has set the standard for Lindy Hop, bringing the best of the best dancers, teachers, and judges together to celebrate a terrific social dance style,” says General Manager of TenduTV, Marc Kirschner. “We are thrilled at TenduTV to be able to present such a unique format of social dance to the masses, and to be a part of the ALHC’s continued prominence in the Lindy Hop community.”

“We are extremely excited about making TenduTV the home for American Lindy Hop Championships,” says Paulette Brockington, Event Director of the ALHC.  ”The ability to reach a nationwide audience with our
competition will enable more people to engage and share with the very strong Lindy Hop community, as well as extend the American Lindy Hop Championships brand.” In addition to the branded channels, the
partnership between TenduTV and ALHC also extends to digital downloads and pay per view streaming.

ABOUT TENDUTV

TenduTV (www.tendu.tv)is a broadband network focused exclusively on dance. Its content can be viewed online and on over 30 million televisions,through partners including Sling.com, Amazon.com and TidalTV.com. TenduTV works closely with creators of dance content to navigate the confusing waters of today’s fast-changing media landscape, working to ensure that choreographers are able to enjoy the same protections and revenue opportunities as artists in other fields.  In addition to
TenduTV’s website at http://www.tendu.tv, TenduTV also maintains a presence on Facebook and Twitter

ABOUT THE AMERICAN LINDY HOP CHAMPIONSHIPS

The American Lindy Hop Championships is the largest Lindy Hop event in the world. It is a dance convention,
dance camp, series of dance contests, teachers’ training workshop and networking opportunity which runs for four days each year. Its first year was featured in Life Magazine’s 1998 “The Year In Pictures”
issue. With its inception it became the father of subsequent Lindy events and promoter of Lindy Hop and all forms of dance.

CONTACT:
Lily Sloan

TenduTV

Phone: (646)657-9341

lsloan [at] tendu [dot] tv
###

Our deepest sympathies to her friends, family and loved ones.

Our standard operating procedure is to immediately file an infringement claim whenever and wherever this infringing video is found. If we believe that the person responsible for uploading the video is affiliated with the content owner, we may contact the copyright owner directly, but only after we have filed the takedown notice.

In cases where the licensor/copyright owner is the person responsible for uploading the video and is recognizeable as such, we will reserve taking action whenever possible.

This title is available for paid download to rent and own only. Viewers with broadband-enabled televisions and select portable devices have the option watch Light and Dark on their home computer or from the comfort of their living room couch. A current list of supported devices can be found here.

The Red One Camera System, http://www.red.com

Videographers and dance film makers should be quite pleased to read the above, especially because they were not spoken by me, but by Alistair Spaulding of Sadler’s Wells as part of his plenary speech on Saturday. The importance of video was a theme that permeated the conference, from Sydney Skybetter’s “Less Overhead, Better Marketing” presentation Thursday morning (one whose impact will be greatly felt throughout), to the fair use and piracy plenary and breakout sessions to the Engaging Dance Audiences and marketing sessions.

The theme of the conference was sustainability, and without a doubt, video was seen as an important key in reaching that goal.

So, what is “good video”? First and foremost, good video needs to be usable - not only for documentation and copyright protection, but for marketing and of course, commercial use. It was repeated throughout the conference that conversion rates for video to ticket sales are much higher than standard text links, so consumers are paying close attention to what they see. If you were a department store, you wouldn’t publish blurry photos of your merchandise, so why think the same would be acceptable for video? If you view the Jacob’s Pillow trailer, you’ll experience a fairly wide swath of video quality. The best videos in that reel will serve their owner for years to come. Everything else will experience a steady, if not rapid decline in their utility.

From the technical perspective, standard definition (SD) is dead and gone. If you’re shooting in SD, you’re wasting money and an opportunity (disclaimer - there are a scant few shops in NY that have yet to upgrade to HD who are doing a phenomenal job shooting in SD, but they still face obsolescence). Audiences and presenters have increasingly come to expect high quality video, so if you’re thinking of submitting any video that once resided on a VHS tape for a grant, space, promotional reel, be willing to accept that you will be at a significant disadvantage from the beginning. In fact, we have already made an internal decision to stop accepting submissions of performance captures that are filmed in SD after September 30th. Not only does SD video limit the opportunities we can leverage on behalf of our partners, but when we have people telling us that they just got 10 hours of raw material in HD, and are getting it edited, SD becomes increasingly “not worth the effort”. Just as important, single camera set-ups are also on the decline. We are a getting reports of multiple camera shoots from the field from theaters where previously only one camera was allowed.

If a theater prevented you from using more than one camera last time, don’t expect the case to hold true the next time around. Don’t be afraid to ask about or fight for a multi-camera setup.

Given the economic environment, money is certainly going to be an issue. We have met with many companies who have previously limited their spending on video to $1,500 or below, and board members are accustomed to viewing video documentation as an expense that should remain consistent from year to year. High definition video is not an expense. Rather, it is a capital asset from which the company will benefit years into the future. Recently, we were discussing a licensing deal with a company that had spent over $250,000 producing an amazing New York season with exceptional dancers. Unfortunately, their videographer was only equipped for SD, and to be frank, is a poor shooter on his best day. All that time, energy, expense and artistic success, and the company has nothing to show for it but a few spreadsheets and some grainy video.

For better or worse, this is one area where industry spending is simply going to have to increase. In some cases, it can increase to $3,000. In others, it can increase to $25,000. There is no silver bullet for low cost, cheap filming - low end consumer cameras that claim HD recording capabilities might be suitable for home movies or posting ad-hoc rehearsal clips, but under no circumstances should these cameras be considered for performance documentation, even if just for promotional use. Unfortunately for consumers, the electronics field has done a poor job of standardizing what is, and what isn’t HD. We previously discussed this topic in the context of the Met Opera’s “HD” streaming.

We’ve spoken to plenty of boards, many of whom were uniformly reluctant to spend more or reallocate resources to video. However, all of them were also open to providing necessary support should the proper case be made. We have brought quite a few boards onto the right side of the fence, and if you would like our assistance, you can email us at inquiries [at] tendu [dot] tv.

Presenters, agents and other stakeholders have to watch tons of video. What is going to be their first reaction when they get to yours?

To follow our updates, you can either follow @tendutv, or follow the hashtag #dusa.

We’ll be twittering almost the entire time, with the exception of council meetings, due to the fact that people need to be able to speak openly when consulting with their peers.

The theme of the conference is “Sustainable Future: Reality Check!”

We are especially curious to see how this theme is addressed. Change comes neither quickly nor easily to this sphere of the arts, and we would certainly be disappointed to see a mandate or a focus put forward that continues to dilute or destroy the underlying value of the field. Is sustainability, and the changes required to reach this goal, going to be truly emphasized, or are we just going to be served a lukewarm meal of the same pie cut into different shapes and smaller pieces?

We’ll see.

The reviews are fairly mixed. Without getting into too much detail, since I’m not a critic, the consensus was that the film had good moments, not-so-good moments, and room for improvement. From what I’ve read, there’s nothing with which I disagree, and nothing which has a sniff of being “unfair”. Still, a bit of background and context may be warranted.

Taylor nailed it on the head with this comment -  “From the first glance it appeared the film was made in iMovie with maybe a handheld digital camera. It had a very homemade feel, which was charming at points and something like nails on a chalkboard at others (performance footage was jarred and unfocused, interviews had noisy party clatter in the background).”

Two factors at play here. First, Mr. Eckstein was a first-time filmmaker with no experience. When the project began, it was intended as Taylor described: a home movie, and all of the filmmaking technique and skill was acquired on the fly. No excuses either, as Eckstein says on the film’s website: “It’s pretty much just one man with a Camcorder”. But to give credit where credit is due: Eckstein gets a big tip-of-the-hat for taking this single-camera amateur project as far as he did and getting it seen.

Second, Philip commented on the disorganization of the theater, and I believe this disorganization was also a contributing factor to the video clarity issues that impacted the film. The theater was clearly playing the film on a computer that was attached to the projector and unfortunately, they failed to properly set the deinterlace setting. Thus the entire film was projected with interlacing errors intact, and whomever is at fault deserves a good flogging (I previously posted about the visual impact of interlacing errors in October).

Bottom line: the film, and the attention its received, represents a fairly significant coup for Take and his young company. Although most people won’t see it, they’ll still talk about it, and hopefully (and deservedly) this will lead to brisk ticket sales for Take’s upcoming DTW season July 30th to August 2nd.