Curtain up.

Why were the dancers of Urban Bush Women wearing T-shirts that said "November 2"? It may be obvious now, but at the end of the summer, when the all-woman group performed Are We Democracy? at Joe's Pub in New York City, as part of the Imagine Festival, I was mystified. Before I figured it out, I was swept up in the performance of this ensemble of UBW dancers and students from their summer institute. A spoken text quoted Fannie Lou Hamer, a black civil rights worker who was arrested in 1962 when she tried to register to vote and was beaten for protesting the rules that kept blacks out of the polls. The women danced with fervor, defiance, and a cumulative power that spoke of personal and social struggle. Reaching, stomping, and chest-pumping to live drumming, they worked themselves into a frenzied pitch of determination that had the audience hooting, hollering, laughing, and weeping. Finally, just before the blackout, I got it. "Vote on November 2!" they yelled.

I relay the same message to you. With all your classes and rehearsals, it's easy to lose sight of the polls. But it's important that dancers participate in this country, this community, this democracy. And if you'll be on tour November 2 (and are registered to vote) then get yourself an absentee ballot (see www.justvote.org or www.firstgov.gov and go to Voting and Elections).

In terms of the presidential candidates, the issue of funding for the arts, for better or for worse, has landed in the domain of their wives. First Lady Laura Bush has announced an $18 million initiative called American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Genius. The project, conceived by National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia, could give more work to repertory dance companies (though it won't do a thing for new work). And the Democrats' potential first lady, Teresa Heinz Kerry, has helped revitalize the cultural life of Pittsburgh through the Heinz Endowments. Recipients of their largesse include Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (see how the historic Heinz family figures into PBT's Nutcracker on page 44) and other local companies like Pittsburgh Dance Alloy.

So whoever is or becomes our first lady will probably be supportive of the arts. But can she fight the conservatives in Congress who are dead set against spending money on the arts? That remains to be seen, but at least the dangerous idea of eliminating the NEA altogether has lost its currency.

Whether or not the company you dance with--or would like to dance with--receives NEA funding, I urge you to heed the call of UBW's Are We Democracy? Don't let November 2 slip by without your vote.