The trouble with being a dance agency director is that you are frequently stuck in the middle of a fairly contentious debate within the dance industry ? between those who produce, those who present, and those much-put-upon marketing staff who have to sell the stuff, laments Antony Waller.
I?m not griping here (it is great fun after all), but there are always bricks being thrown by someone, so it?s best to avoid glasshouses.
The big challenge is better communication and mutual understanding between these three groups of people. If we could achieve that, their jobs would be much easier. So what are these groups trying to achieve? Let?s look at it from their point of view.
The producers ? the artists, the choreographers, dance directors, dance artists. Broadly speaking, they are trying to create work of integrity - trying to put on stage material that is of special significance to them. They are not motivated by money. If they were, they wouldn?t be working in live dance.
The presenters ? the venues and the tour organisers. These people are trying to achieve the unlikely: to pick work of integrity that appeals to a wide cross-section of the attending public; that contributes to a diverse programme which builds audiences for the future; and that takes at least a shot at hitting the daily income targets for their venue.
The marketers ? the poor loves who try to convert images and copy offered by artists into transparent simple messages which bring in the punters, in an attempt to help the presenters meet their income targets.
And this is where it frequently starts to go a little pear-shaped.
The artists are describing and representing their work as they see it, according to their own artistic criteria. They probably don?t have much idea why anybody should want to come and see what they make. They tend to see their ideal punters as people who hold their own values and priorities. Or more seriously, they don?t actually think about their punters at all. Their job after all is to make dance.
Which brings us to the sex bit (and the bit where bricks may be thrown). I was recently talking to a primary school headteacher after a performance. He said that he hadn?t really got a clue what he?d just seen was all about, but he really liked looking at the bodies. This brought me up short a bit. Not because I thought he might be a bit perverted, but because it was essentially a truism. My father, who?s a bit of a dance connoisseur, says the same thing. Watching bodies is very pleasant, if they are physically skilled and are doing wonderful things. And the music is good and the lighting and set are well presented. My ?Number One dance attender? (a female doctor from Penzance) agrees. She likes watching bodies too. These people are not weird. They are our audiences.
We all know that sex sells. But this isn?t simply sex. It?s related to sex. Perhaps it is about the appreciation of the human form, and there is clearly something very special and compelling about live presentations involving muscle, sweat, sinew, touch and physical relationships between live humans on stage. I know very well how dance artists would react to the concept of trying to capitalise on the fact that these aspects of their craft have the capacity to bring in audiences! Dance artists are focused on what they do and say with those bodies, on what they can reflect about the world or their dance language itself during their time on stage. This is their art, their means of expression. My idol is Wim Vanderkeybus and his company is Ultima Vez. They are very sexy.
And they make great art. And they really do throw bricks. They are a marketer?s dream!
Antony Waller is Director of Dance Agency Cornwall.
t: 01872 222622; e: antony.waller@danceagencycornwall.com