Taking dance to the next stage.

IS THERE A secret code to understanding dance? How can female dance artists break through the glass ceiling? Is outreach succeeding? These questions figured prominently in Dance/USA's eleventh biennial roundtable, Taking Dance to the Next Stage held at Pittsburgh's Omni William Penn Hotel, June 8 to 12, as a component of the First National Performing Arts Convention, Taking the Arts to the Next Stage.

Four thousand dance and arts professionals from the United States, Europe, and Australia converged for the umbrella event, which provided an opportunity for Dance/USA, OPERA America, Chorus America, and the American Symphony Orchestra League to host independent conventions in city hotels simultaneously and to unite at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center for air opening plenary/performance and cross-disciplinary discussions.

Besides the usual suspects--funding issues, arts advocacy and the desirability of artistic collaborations--roundtable closed-door councils grappled with exploring new models for organizational structures, establishing noncompetitive partnerships, and dealing with artistic isolation in regional America.

Lively sessions drew capacity crowds to discuss education, critical thinking, and administrative concerns. Is Gender Inequality an Issue in Dance? provided insight and statistics from Dance/USA's John Munger, who cited figures gleaned from 2002 census data and tax forms revealing that among 59 major ballet and modern dance companies, 45 were led by men; ten by women and four by mixed partnerships. JoAnna Mendl Shaw of The Gender Project, an information gathering initiative, noted that for women, "dancing is their passion, but not a job. They have not been raised to be self-promoters."

What to Say? Talking with Audiences addressed audience interaction, including the value of pre- and post-performance discussions. According to Suzanne Carbonneau, director of the Institute of Dance Criticism, "audiences think the movements have deep hidden meaning." They need to understand "that looking at dance is really developing an appetite for seeing."

During Friday's plenary, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia shared his ten-point wish list for dance [see Page 20] and announced three new arts journalism institutes. Gioia returned on Saturday to address the convention, advocating more conversation, collaboration, and partnerships. He noted that the NEA does not exist to serve arts organizations and artists. "We exist to serve the American people," he said.

Among the most heated of the succeeding cross-disciplinary sessions was High Art vs. Low Art: How False Dichotomies Are Affecting Art in America, which offered animated debate on subjects ranging from Britney Spears to The Three Tenors to the Orlando Ballet's Nutcracker vs. dancing school productions. Artists and Communities: Expectations, Conflicts, and Outcomes in Residency Programs joined Dance/USA's outreach session, as arts producer David White emphasized establishing ongoing community relationships over quick term sales.

Responses to the Dance/USA roundtable were varied. Said Dutch journalist Constant Meijers, "I could not help getting the impression that dance in the U.S. is in a state of crisis on the one hand--and with this I refer to the financial situation--and in a state of shock on the other, by being subjected to a government that's trot widely accepting of it, let alone appreciative of it."

DANA GIOIA'S WISH LIST FOR DANCE

I want to live in a country in which:

All children could see at least one ballet and one modern dance performance in their school years.

All middle school and high school students received training in movement as part of their physical education curriculum.

All major cities supported at least one professional dance company.

Local politicians considered a dance company a necessary part of a vital civic community.

Dancers and choreographers could make a living wage by their art.

Local newspapers and media covered dance with knowledgeable enthusiasm.

Public patronage and enthusiasm for ballet did not begin and end with the works of Tchaikovsky.

All styles and traditions of dance are celebrated and supported as vital parts of America's vast culture.

Ballet companies, modern dance companies, and their audiences contained people of every age, race, class, and culture.

Martha Graham, George Balanchine, Doris Humphrey, Jose Limon, Alvin Ailey, Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp, Jerome Robbins, Paul Taylor, and other dancemakers are acknowledged to be great American heroes.