Meagan Bruskewicz Highlights DanceUSA 2010 Conference

Once a year the dance industry meets at the DanceUSA annual conference. This year — last week — the conference was held in Washington, D.C. Meagan Bruskewicz updated her blog with some personal highlights from the event. An excerpt:

“…. I’d like to take some time to share the major highlights from my experience at the conference.

Louise Slaughter’s keynote address: New York Congresswoman Louise Slaughter gave a wonderful keynote address to kick off the conference. (The full transcript can be found here on Slaughter’s blog.) It was so encouraging to hear someone working so hard for government support fror the arts. When someone asked her what she needs from artists to help her cause, she told us to simply keep creating the art, and she will keep fighting for it. Her efforts and conviction certainly inspire me to continue doing my part.

Break-out sessions: Each of the 5 break-out sessions I attended was a unique learning experience. I particularly enjoyed one entitled “Thriving Outside of America’s Cultural Hotspots,” which explored how dance can decentralize away from the few main cities and succeed across the country. I think this is such an important idea for the field to embrace, so that dance can be brought to more and more people. And the panel of representatives from companies around the country really helped shed some light on how this is being done and what needs to happen to make it easier. I was almost convinced by the end to pack up my bags and move out of NYC (almost).

2 evenings of great performances: One night we attended a mixed bill of ballet at the Kennedy Center, and the following night was a mixed performance of local DC artists and companies at the Lansburgh Theatre. Standouts included the best Bharata Natyam performer I have ever seen, Dr. Janaki Rangarajan, and an exciting and impressive stepping piece from Step Afrika!.

Live streaming video!: That’s right. Two tech-crazy busy-bodies of the dance world, Tim Cynova and Sydney Skybetter, have started a video streaming channel online for various discussions about dance. Though I had little to contribute when I joined one of the live sessions during the conference, it was certainly a fun and interesting experience. I recommend checking out all the videos on their channel as they include some great people having sometimes poignant and often ludicrous conversations….”

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