The Dance Critics Association will turn its attention to Storytelling and
Narrative in Dance and Dance Criticism at this year's annual conference,
to be held at Pacific Northwest Ballet's Phelps Center in Seattle,
Thursday, May 29th through Saturday, May 31st.
Mindy Aloff, dance critic for _The New Republic_ and widely respected for
her thoughtful essays on dancing as well as literary arts, will give the
keynote address. She will also give a writing workshop based on the art
of criticism and centered on performances of Pacific Northwest Ballet's
new production of Balanchine's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
Currently the program includes sessions on traditional narrative forms in
dance around the world, new solutions to the challenges of storytelling,
the influence of technology on arts writing, dance history and biography
as narrative, and the special dynamic of sharing stories
cross-culturally. As well as Aloff, other panelists include Pat Graney
(choreographer), Jean Lenihan (former critic _The Seattle Times_, currently
writing for Microsoft's Sidewalk project), Francia Russell (Artistic
Director, Pacific Northwest Ballet), Scott Sutherland (computer
programmer and developer of LabanWriter), Christian Swenson (solo
movement artist), Tom Truss (choreographer), and Arne Zaslov (Artistic
Director, Bathhouse Theater).
Seattle is home to many choreographers and dance companies whose work
will be shown during the conference weekend. For conferees planning an
extended stay, the prestigious Northwest Folklife Festival takes place in
Seattle the preceeding weekend, and the World Dance Alliance will be
meeting to the north in Vancouver, British Columbia the following
weekend.
For more information on the conference, including housing and
transportation, contact local coordinator Sandra Kurtz at 206-522-6451.
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