CONFERENCE EXPLORES TRENDS, ISSUES OF DANCE

Often perceived as passive and politically naive, California dancers are changing that traditional image in realistic and practical ways. To that end, 80 leading members of the state’s dance community gathered at UCLA on Wednesday and Thursday for the 1986 Dance California Conference, an annual forum for the exploration of key dance issues, activities and trends.

After hours of comprehensive talks, panels and group discussions, the activist tone of this year’s conference was succinctly voiced by San Francisco choreographer John LeFan who said, “We voted to grow up.”

Christine Elbel, former director of the San Francisco Bay Area Dance Coalition, said, “Dance is no longer a fledgling art form. While dancers are generally more isolated than other artists because we’re usually working or in class, we know we must be more politically oriented as a constituency.”

“In addition, the economics of dance require professional, stable marketing, sales and fund-raising help. We know what we need and we’re going for it.”

One way to go for it, according to conference-goers, is by forming coalitions of dance companies to pool such management services as promotion, booking, touring and grant writing.

Quantum Arts in Los Angeles is one such new group, while in San Francisco the Circuit Network has evolved into what executive director Scott Brynd calls a “service bank” of administrative and management resources.

Artistic mergers are also a trend and, according to Elbel, dance/theater/music collaborations in San Francisco make for larger, more lucrative crossover audiences.

As Eric Peterson, program director for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation said, “Dance company maintenance is unwieldy. Mounting a joint season, even with other art forms, can be more economically efficient.”

Economics was a major conference concern, with chairman Michael Alexander pointing out that the proposed 1986-87 California budget provides much less money for touring, a major source of dance company revenue, than allocations in previous years.

After discussion, the conference passed a resolution to write letters to Gov. George Deukmejian, urging him to approve a $985,000 arts budget augmentation now being proposed in the Legislature.

Conference members also agreed on the importance of taking a more assertive stance with the California Arts Council about adjusting its allocation of funds to the arts.

Ronn Guidi, Oakland Ballet artistic director, noted that “We’re all competing for the same grant money, and it’s hard. We need to build strong, influential boards to go after corporate and community funding for our companies.”

Other common concerns were the scarcity of rehearsal and performance space for growing dance companies, the need for more visibility to build community support and the importance of educating the public about dance in order to build future audiences and attract potential dancers.

Joffrey Ballet founder Robert Joffrey observed that “Schools teach music appreciation, but little about dance. There’s so little known about our needs.”

Media relations were discussed at length, with Joffrey noting that only recently has dance been reviewed by critics with dance backgrounds. Dance writer Martin David said, “Critics educate both artists and audiences, and dancers should demand perceptive, honest, constructive criticism.”

Lewitzky Dance Company executive director Darlene Neel spoke for many when she said, “Rather than just worrying about the critics, we also need to take an active position with radio and TV editors. All of the media are important to us.”

The tendency for California producers to book out-of-town dance companies troubled conference members, who agreed that closer ties between California dance organizations would permit a stronger, more unified and effective statewide voice.

“Dance depends on booking and touring for survival,” said Elbel, “and we need to be more intense about it. Touring provides new audience exposure, which allows us in our work to grow and develop.”

Joffrey also spoke of survival. “When I first started in dance,” he said, “dancers were more involved with creativity--we thought only of survival. Now that we have more background and knowledge as directors, we think of surviving in the best possible way. While we once worked independently, now we realize the strength in numbers--it’s a newer way.”