From my personal archives - the paper program from Bebe Miller Company: A History (Friday, January 25, 2013 at the YBCA Forum)
Inviting Us In: Four Ideas Around Marketing and Communication For Your Next Performance
By Jill Randall, Director of Life as a Modern Dancer
When I think about the many effects of technology on dance performances over the past two decades, and specifically on producing your own work, it truly is amazing. I love the subtle and clever ways that technology can actually support and boost modern dance. So many marketing and PR aspects are for the better – and many components are basically “free of charge” for the field (Facebook posts, sharing articles, etc).
Today I wanted to tease out a few thoughts. Yes, sometimes we want to streamline our production processes and tasks for productions, but sometimes we need to step back and remember the value of each discreet component of a project.
Let's hone in on four components. I am coming from the viewpoint here as a website/blog director and editor for dance reviews (ie supporting professional level artmaking). I want to know about your project and support your project!
A landing place, a starting place. Your website/ticket link.
Interested audience members and dance writers alike want to find out more about YOU, the project, and your collaborating artists. Your site doesn’t have to be fancy. But having a site for someone to Google and find easily is really important. Presenters and theaters both large and small want to link to your site too. Here are two examples of sites I appreciate for their content and clarity - Kayla Farrish’s site and Nicole Wolcott’s site.
Press release. Please write a press release. Please share the press release.
Yes, this is an ounce old school, but I just encountered a writing dilemma where referring to a press release might have answered some questions and wonderings for the dance reviewer. When in doubt, write a short press release. If you think writers are coming to your show, email them the press release. Keep press releases easily available on your website. For example, I like that I can find Jo Kreiter’s press releases on her site. Check out the Press section here.
A preview is a beautiful thing, and can take many forms.
Yeah yeah, we still crave and need a review for a variety of practical and artistic reasons.
But, more than ever, a preview can serve multiple roles before AND after a project ends. Previews can hold equal weight if you are needing documentation and writing about your work, especially for grant proposals and residency applications.
If you can get a local writer to interview you for a publication, great. If this is feeling not possible for your project, consider a few other options. Can a colleague do a Q and A with you? Can you publish it on your own site? (You can also pitch this piece for my site Life as a Modern Dancer. Write to me!)
Another strong option is that you craft a short first-person essay/musing for your website. Then, share it widely through social media, friends and colleagues, with the theater you are renting, etc. Make the most out of this piece. If you have dance reviewers coming to your show, share this piece with them! Context. Inviting them in. Sharing details, questions, and curiosities.
Here is an interview I did with Lauren Simpson in Spring 2019 in preparation for the premiere of DANCE EXHIBIT.
Dance as Event: An Interview with Lauren Simpson about DANCE EXHIBIT
And, here is a preview I worked on with Amy Foley before her April 2019 show Let Slip the Witches. I provided a handful of prompts, and Amy shared her responses. We crafted them into 4 different short preview posts to share on my site and to share via social media. Here is one of them.
A paper program at your performance.
Last idea here is around paper programs, and this is just a personal note about old school paper programs at performances. I understand and respect aesthetic and environmental choices to eliminate paper programs, to invite audience members in without a ton of preface, and to test out other tech-savvy options like QR codes linking to programs, or simply making your paper program available “online only.”
Again, based on a recent writing dilemma with a performance and the review afterwards, I did stop and wonder if a paper program and a small window into the work (context, intention, curiosities) might have changed the shape and tone of the review? Something I am putting out there to choreographers about paper programs – think about it.
For dance reviewers and general audience members alike, many people still enjoy taking home a program and reading it during the days that follow the performance. Let’s encourage each project to linger as much as we can.
If you have a press section on your website for press releases and past writing about your work, consider adding a program PDF here too. That way – if a paper program gets lost in the shuffle – someone can still access the content.
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Life as a Modern Dancer is a site committed to dance performances throughout the United States. This takes the form of publishing writing before a performance – such as interviews and first-person essays by artists - as well as post-performance with the One Good Quote project and dance reviews/reflections. To pitch an idea, write to me directly at randalldanceprojects.com.
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