Manpower - Starting Here - Dance Magazine - Editorial

Dance Magazine, Feb, 2003 by K.C. Patrick

A letter arrived a few weeks ago that accused me of being a "human-elitist." I filed it with other letters I had received in the past, some calling me racist, ageist, sexist, biased-for-ballet, biased-against-ballet, and so forth. I'm none of those labels, nor is DANCE MAGAZINE. But I must admit to being pro-human even though I have enjoyed many years of loyal companionship from some four-footed creatures. What I mean is, I would go back to save a dog or cat off a burning deck (but not goldfish or pet pythons)--but only after the humans had been rescued. And I never shed a tear when I pull a screaming carrot from the garden and pop it into a hungry stew pot. Life is a continuum, and everybody draws the line somewhere. Mine favors humans and, among those, dancers.

This issue I anticipate being criticized for being "male-dancer-elitist." While current conventional wisdom emphasizes dance as woman's work, give it a reality check. One-half of most pas de deux is male, as are many or most of the top artistic directors and administrators in professional dance companies, most name choreographers and master teachers, etcetera, etcetera. Now look at the manpower in these pages! There's the athletic starburst of John Selya, dancing at his peak in Twyla Tharp's highly touted Movin' Out on Broadway (see page 47). Many opportunities to emulate his success are listed in our 2003 Guide to Auditions (see pages 77-119). The PBS series Great Performances: Dance in America celebrates a crowning thirtieth-anniversary season (see page 30) with the magnificent broadcast of Lar Lubovitch's Othello, by San Francisco Ballet, and you readers get a sneak peek at the personality and profile of Desmond Richardson, who created the title role at American Ballet Theatre and dances it in SFB's filmed production.

In an embarrassment of riches, we also get a preview of Dance in America's "Born to Be Wild: The Leading Men of American Ballet Theatre," featuring four of today's most prominent male ballet dancers, which is scheduled to air first on February 3, 2003--but call your local PBS station because their dates may vary slightly (see story on page 28). This up-close-and-personal look at how Jose Manuel Carreno, Angel Corella, Vladimir Malakhov, and Ethan Stiefel came to be dancers--from their very different surroundings and circumstances--is fascinating and inspiring. The program is a significant bow by Dance in America--not just to a single performance or season but to examples of lifetimes spent building and achieving great performances by these men. And, not incidentally, to the thirty years of television programming in dance, led by Executive Producer Jac Venza, for millions of American home viewers.

The first Dance Magazine Awards, presented in 1954, were for pioneer programming of dance on TV--Adventure (CBS), Tony Charmoli (NBC), Max Liebman (NBC), and Omnibus (CBS)--because they showed dance and dancers to a broader audience than the concert hall. And in those early years, Ann Barzel wrote a column, "Looking at Television," that reported and reviewed dance in this new medium. But it really wasn't until the PBS Great Performances series began that viewers could rely on a regular season of superior performances of dance in America in all its guises. A toast to GP:DIA and a wish for many more anniversaries.

If you are a regular reader, this is your second look at our newly designed DANCE MAGAZINE--logo, concept, and content--which takes into account time-constrained multitaskers as well as patient, focused readers but still stands for our chosen time-honored values. If you are one of those single-copy impulse buyers, this may be your reintroduction to DANCE MAGAZINE--and surprise, it's new now. Look carefully. I'd like to know how you feel about it--what engages you for a moment, what holds your interest, what gives pleasure, what you find missing that would give you inspiration. We're still in the refining process, so now it's up to you to vote with your pens or keyboards. Tell me, please.

K.C. Patrick, Editor in Chief