Designing a 21st Century Dance Ecology: Questioning Current Practices and Embracing Curatorial Interventions

By studying a cohort of promising interventions in the American dance field over the past two decades, I will examine current practices and innovative initiatives rooted in curatorial practice that address the challenges of making and distributing dance. This research, straddling the artistic and the administrative, mines the ecological roles of artists, presenters, and funders across dance. Upon collecting anecdotal data and observations through personal interviews and research, I will cross-reference it against the New England Foundation for the Arts’ field-wide survey on the twentieth anniversary of the National Dance Project. This work explores the current condition of how dance is made and distributed in this country; highlights how and where its players interact; and inquires if we understand and truly see the goals we are trying to achieve, the problems we are trying to resolve.