The New Year is upon us, and I’m hoping all dance lovers continue to help support the art form in 2014. Whether you’re an amateur or a pro, a dance fan, a student, a parent or someone who just loves to dance, your actions count! There are many things we as a community can do. Here is my wish list for 2014:
- Support your local dance companies.
- Spread the word and encourage family and friends to see a performance.
- Voice the need for governmental support of the arts.
- Support arts education programs in the schools.
- Enroll your child in dance classes.
- Bring a child to see dance – and live theater – open their world!
- Realize that dance in all forms, whether modern, contemporary, classical, dance/theater, Broadway, tap, jazz, ballroom, tango, flamenco, hoofing, classical Indian dance and beyond – count and need your support.
- Be vocal – demand dance coverage in newspapers and magazines. Space is being cut – critics are disappearing. Raise awareness or we will disappear.
- Fill a seat. Please, fill a seat.
- Do what you can to participate in, and encourage, private and corporate giving.
Let’s do what we can to support dance in 2014!
Dance is the hidden language of the soul – Martha Graham
I don’t want people who want to dance, I want people who have to dance – George Balanchine
I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself – Mikhail Baryshnikov
You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive – Merce Cunningham
We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once – Frederich Nietzsche
adriaballetbeat 
You have to hook ’em young! Just read this depressing report http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/nea-report-arts-audiences-grow-more-diverse/ that shows that ballet attendance in America has been on the decline since 2002, along with opera and classical music. Seems that “dance other than ballet” took a nosedive from 2002 to 2008 but has since perked up a bit. (Might have something to do with the popularity of dance competitions?)
Really interesting, and v sad, article. I think television dance competitions do help to stir interest, and social media plus television shows (like Bunheads and Breaking Pointe) can only help. NYC Ballet’s series on AOLon is a good thing; the important thing is they help to cultivate interest in ballet and dance in general. I’d like to see more special ticket price offers; increasing arts related programs in schools will help too. Attendance is on the decline, yes, but always trying to stay positive and hoping for new ideas that help reverse, or at least stabilize the trend. And yes, hook ’em young!