DA MISSION

Lewis Segal’s trend piece on concert dance Sept. 22 accurately describes the commercialization of the art form--”da beat and da biceps.” Declining funding and audiences for modern dance and ballet are but a symptom of the general disconnect between concert dance and the culture at large. It’s ironic that the nation that in this century both spawned modern dance and resuscitated the art form of ballet can no longer sustain them.

But art is supposed to communicate with an audience. Dance artists have to meet the audience where they are. Dealing with the mass media, commercial forces, youth culture and global awareness--these are some of the challenges of the ‘90s for dance that aspires to be art. The Twyla Tharp cover story in the same issue shows one approach: Her celebrity yields her the money and tour bookings to do traditional modern dance. But it may be a holding action. As I see it, choreographers in this decade have to refigure where the audience is and bring the audience along in something akin to a choreographic literacy project.

The prospect of replacing the extraordinary inventiveness of U.S. concert dance with “Stomp” and “Tap Dogs,” entertaining as they are, certainly seems like a cultural step backward. I can only trust that this very spirit of American inventiveness will lead us to new answers for dance.

DAVID PLETTNER

Board chairman, Dance

Resource Center of Greater L.A.