STUDY EXPOSES DANCE GENDER GAP.Know that boy in your dance class who always stands up front? Well, guess what? Chances are he will have an easier time earning a living in the dance field than the girls who surround him. According to a new report by the Gender Project, a New York-based group looking at women's careers in dance, men are much more likely to get dance jobs, including such plum roles as artistic directors, teachers and choreographers. This is despite the fact that women make up the vast majority of the dance community. The informal study was conducted by choreographer Janis Brenner, who collected class schedules, programs from various theaters, and interviewed members of the dance community. She found that during the fall 2000 season at the Joyce Theater, New York's primary modern dance venue, only one of the twelve companies presented was run by a woman--Ballet Hispanico. Likewise, at the American Dance Festival The American Dance Festival is a six-week summer festival of modern dance performances, and a school for dance currently held at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. last summer, only two of the eleven classes offered were of women's repertoire. In last season's performances by top African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. companies, including Philadanco, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Harlem Dance Theatre of Harlem, the first black classical ballet company. The group was founded in Harlem, New York City, by Arthur Mitchell, then of the New York City Ballet, the first black principal dancer of a classical company of international standing. , Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is a modern dance company based in New York, New York. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey. It is made up of 30 dancers as well as artistic director Judith Jamison and associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya. and Dallas Black Theater, just nine of the forty-six choreographers were women. And the list goes on. Why is this the case? Multiple reasons, explains choreographer JoAnna Mendl Shaw, co-founder of the Gender Project. The dearth of men in the dance world means less competition for openings for male dancers; women often take time off mid-career to have children or care for aging parents; and a lifelong socialization socialization /so·cial·iza·tion/ (so?shal-i-za´shun) the process by which society integrates the individual and the individual learns to behave in socially acceptable ways. so·cial·i·za·tion n. process teaches men to be aggressive self-promoters and women to be self-sacrificing and apologetic. Speaking of apologetic, both Brenner and Mendl Shaw insisted that this study was not intended to blame presenters or male dancers. "I don't want to be negative about anybody personally," said Brenner. "It's more about being conscious that this is going on. That's my big crusade." The Gender Project's research updates a study conceived in 1976 by Stephanie Woodard and Wendy Perron Per´ron n. 1. (Arch.) An out-of-door flight of steps, as in a garden, leading to a terrace or to an upper story; - usually applied to mediævel or later structures of some architectural pretensions. (now Dance Magazine's New York editor). Though a quarter-century separates the two studies, the results are barely distinguishable. The results of the study will be the focus of a one-night-only performance in New York this month. In addition, transcripts from one-on-one interviews conducted with dancers around this issue are filed with the Oral Histories Project of the New York Public Library New York Public Library, free library supported by private endowments and gifts and by the city and state of New York. It is the one of largest libraries in the world. of the Performing Arts's Dance Division. In an effort to remedy the situation, the Gender Project sponsors presentations in college dance departments to develop awareness of gender issues in the dance field. March, being International Women's Month, is a busy time for the Project. It will sponsor a panel on gender issues at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Early years: 1867-1880 The Morrill Act of 1862 granted each state in the United States a portion of land on which to establish a major public state university, one which could teach agriculture, mechanic arts, and military training, "without excluding other scientific on March 12, and an evening titled "Women Hitting the Wall: Stories from the Dance World" on March 19 at the Construction Company in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . (For more information, email JoAnna Mendl Shaw at jmsnyc@aol.com.) |
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