Life as a Modern Dancer

Building a Dance Company: Dreams and Goals for 2017

Dear artists with companies, and artists embarking on companies this year -

I thank you for your work, commitment, and bravery this coming year! I hope that the posts on the blog continue to inspire new ideas and reflection. Today, as I was thinking about you, I wondered about the following 8 ideas:

• 5 Words or Phrases to Describe Your Year Ahead
• Skeleton of Your Calendar
• "Reach Goal" for 2017
• Process
• The Business Side of Things
• Some Good Photos
• A Few Choreographic Questions
• Expanding Your Audience

In what ways are you making a world you want to live in? In what ways might you not be? Does your art serve a purpose beyond being satisfying to you? What is it?

-Cynthia Oliver (9/1/15 blog post)

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5 Words or Phrases to Describe Your Year Ahead

How would you describe your priorities and projects for 2017? What remains constant, or is new for this year?

Skeleton of Your Calendar

What's on the books already - studio time, rehearsals, performances, residencies? How about scheduling in downtime and vacation now before the time gets eaten up?

"Reach Goal" for 2017

When students apply to college, they refer to the "reach school" as the more challenging school to get into, whether due to their application or the number of students accepted. Applying this term to our work, what is your "reach goal" for your company this year?

Process

This is an ideal time to think about process in your work. Will you have the ability for weekly studio time, alone or with company members, to simply explore and tinker? Thinking of process, do you have a mentor who is stopping in along the way as a project builds and shapes? What and when are your feedback opportunities?

The Business Side of Things

This week's LA Times article about choreographer Jacob Jonas sparked some dance/business thoughts for me today. As Jonas remarked for this piece, "Artists fail when they aren’t able to make their art a brand."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-jacob-jonas-dance-20170112-story.html

What do you think about branding? Of conceiving of your company like a business? This article does bring up some timely considerations.

Some Good Photos

Speaking very practically here, when was the last time you had a photoshoot? Could you budget for it in 2017? My experience interacting with hundreds of artists through this blog project is that so many artists do not have fresh, updated images. In this digital age, some good high-res images are a must.

A Few Choreographic Questions

What is driving your work and your process these days? If in need of some fresh ideas, check out some questions that artists have put out there on the blog:

Blog Series: Choreographic Inspiration

Blog Series: Quotes

Expanding Your Audience

Last, this is a great question for the start of each new year. Who has joined your circle in the past year, who might be likely to attend a performance for the first time in 2017? What I mean is.....who is new in your life? Do you now teach part-time at a middle school, and you have 12 curious and supportive colleagues who would like to see your professional work outside of the school setting? Do you have a new partner/spouse, and their family would like to attend an upcoming performance? Have you moved and gotten to befriend some of your neighbors?

Check out this prior blog post on the topic here.

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Here's to inspiration, studio time, artistry, craft, and audience engagement in 2017!

Sincerely,

Jill Randall

Blog Director, Life as a Modern Dancer

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5 Words or Phrases to Describe Your Year Ahead

How would you describe your priorities and projects for 2017? What remains constant, or is new for this year?

Skeleton of Your Calendar

What's on the books already - studio time, rehearsals, performances, residencies? How about scheduling in downtime and vacation now before the time gets eaten up?

"Reach Goal" for 2017

When students apply to college, they refer to the "reach school" as the more challenging school to get into, whether due to their application or the number of students accepted. Applying this term to our work, what is your "reach goal" for your company this year?

Process

This is an ideal time to think about process in your work. Will you have the ability for weekly studio time, alone or with company members, to simply explore and tinker? Thinking of process, do you have a mentor who is stopping in along the way as a project builds and shapes? What and when are your feedback opportunities?

The Business Side of Things

This week's LA Times article about choreographer Jacob Jonas sparked some dance/business thoughts for me today. As Jonas remarked for this piece, "Artists fail when they aren’t able to make their art a brand."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-jacob-jonas-dance-20170112-story.html

What do you think about branding? Of conceiving of your company like a business? This article does bring up some timely considerations.

Some Good Photos

Speaking very practically here, when was the last time you had a photoshoot? Could you budget for it in 2017? My experience interacting with hundreds of artists through this blog project is that so many artists do not have fresh, updated images. In this digital age, some good high-res images are a must.

A Few Choreographic Questions

What is driving your work and your process these days? If in need of some fresh ideas, check out some questions that artists have put out there on the blog:

Blog Series: Choreographic Inspiration

Blog Series: Quotes

Expanding Your Audience

Last, this is a great question for the start of each new year. Who has joined your circle in the past year, who might be likely to attend a performance for the first time in 2017? What I mean is.....who is new in your life? Do you now teach part-time at a middle school, and you have 12 curious and supportive colleagues who would like to see your professional work outside of the school setting? Do you have a new partner/spouse, and their family would like to attend an upcoming performance? Have you moved and gotten to befriend some of your neighbors?

Check out this prior blog post on the topic here.

------

Here's to inspiration, studio time, artistry, craft, and audience engagement in 2017!

Sincerely,

Jill Randall

Blog Director, Life as a Modern Dancer

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5 Words or Phrases to Describe Your Year Ahead

How would you describe your priorities and projects for 2017? What remains constant, or is new for this year?

Skeleton of Your Calendar

What's on the books already - studio time, rehearsals, performances, residencies? How about scheduling in downtime and vacation now before the time gets eaten up?

"Reach Goal" for 2017

When students apply to college, they refer to the "reach school" as the more challenging school to get into, whether due to their application or the number of students accepted. Applying this term to our work, what is your "reach goal" for your company this year?

Process

This is an ideal time to think about process in your work. Will you have the ability for weekly studio time, alone or with company members, to simply explore and tinker? Thinking of process, do you have a mentor who is stopping in along the way as a project builds and shapes? What and when are your feedback opportunities?

The Business Side of Things

This week's LA Times article about choreographer Jacob Jonas sparked some dance/business thoughts for me today. As Jonas remarked for this piece, "Artists fail when they aren’t able to make their art a brand."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-jacob-jonas-dance-20170112-story.html

What do you think about branding? Of conceiving of your company like a business? This article does bring up some timely considerations.

Some Good Photos

Speaking very practically here, when was the last time you had a photoshoot? Could you budget for it in 2017? My experience interacting with hundreds of artists through this blog project is that so many artists do not have fresh, updated images. In this digital age, some good high-res images are a must.

A Few Choreographic Questions

What is driving your work and your process these days? If in need of some fresh ideas, check out some questions that artists have put out there on the blog:

Blog Series: Choreographic Inspiration

Blog Series: Quotes

Expanding Your Audience

Last, this is a great question for the start of each new year. Who has joined your circle in the past year, who might be likely to attend a performance for the first time in 2017? What I mean is.....who is new in your life? Do you now teach part-time at a middle school, and you have 12 curious and supportive colleagues who would like to see your professional work outside of the school setting? Do you have a new partner/spouse, and their family would like to attend an upcoming performance? Have you moved and gotten to befriend some of your neighbors?

Check out this prior blog post on the topic here.

------

Here's to inspiration, studio time, artistry, craft, and audience engagement in 2017!

Sincerely,

Jill Randall

Blog Director, Life as a Modern Dancer

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