In a post-media, post-fact, all-buzz world, dance writers are the bees and frogs of our small ecosystem: we’re part of the balance, but our place only becomes truly apparent when we become endangered.
The mission of dancelog.nyc is the preservation and development of a form that’s as in danger of irrelevance as the dactylic hexameter: the dance review. The job everyone thinks dance critics do (bloviate our personal taste loudly) can be done now better and more effectively by bloggers: they have become essential to the dance ecosystem. Their energy and excitement drive the audience to the box office. We have a different (and I’d argue harder) job ahead of us: to see beyond our personal taste, create a record of viewing and chronicle New York’s dance artists – where they’ve been, where they are, where they might head: the calculus of the community.
Our target audience is the educated viewer. If it’s good dance, no matter the genre, dancelog.nyc will cover it. The intention is to cover as much under-served dance as we can, including when possible getting artists a review early on in their careers. That will take time and be a function of the size of the writing pool; another mission of the site will be to do something I cherished at dvt: train new writers.
We’ll be starting simply and developing our identity as we go. Critical analysis is more than an opinion said loudly and often – you need only look at where that’s gotten us. dancelog.nyc’s mission is to be a proponent for a new definition of the critic, that’s really just a very old one: an engaged, generous and passionate observer who, in his or her reportage, provides analysis and context.