What is "dance outreach"?

Quite simply, dance outreach increases exposure to dance within your community.

Raising the profile of dance in your community can be done very simply or quite elaborately. You decide what is best for your community, and the best use of your talents. The most important thing is to share your excitement and passion for dance with individuals in your community.

A diverse range of dance outreach activities have been tailored and targeted to local communities by Made in BC's Dance Outreach Co-ordinators living in network communities.  Awareness and appreciation of contemporary dance is increased by increasing exposure and access to dance in BC’s regions:

Venues - streets, libraries, theatres, dance studios, outdoor festivals

Events - summer festivals, music festival, International Dance Day, dance performances

Activities - talkback sessions, community discussions, workshops & classes, information displays, community dance collaborations

Partners - community organizations, dance schools 

A couple tips for creating successful events in your community:

1) Share your passion
You are passionate about contemporary dance, so create events that share your passion with your community.  Use your charisma, and show individuals and your community the value and relevance of contemporary dance in their lives.

2) Be realistic
It’s best to blend strong passion with a good dose of logic.  Big plans can get out of hand quickly, and have a tendency to bloom beyond what is manageable given the resources and time.  Start with planning two events, plus a pre-show reception and post-show party or artist chat.

3) Be a great host
You are the grand host for your community and for the dance company.  Make people feel welcome, cared for, comfortable, confident, heard, engaged, and educated!  A great host introduces people, finds connections between individuals, and has a lot of fun.

4) Talk around
People in your community are your helpers.  They can provide a listening ear, insightful guidance, personal connections, and resources.  If you’re unsure of something you’re planning, talk around.  Someone may have a contributing idea, may volunteer their services, or be able to put you in touch with just the right person.

You can make a difference just by increasing peoples’ exposure to dance.

Dance Outreach Ideas

There are many ways of successfully stimulating awareness of dance in your community – these are only a few options, to get you kickstarted!

 

a) Use community resources to stimulate increased awareness of dance.

A "community resource" can be anywhere you find people in your community -- from city hall, to schools, and even the local coffee shop. Here are a few examples:

• Offer to help the local library to create a showcase of dance-related resources

• With the help of private dance schools, borrow performance photographs to display (perhaps alongside professional dance photographs) in locations around town.

• Show contemporary dance films on TV/VCRs in public buildings in the community.

• Work with the Arts Council to organise a fair where arts groups promote their activity in the community. Ensure that dance is well-represented.

b) Use your networks to get the word out.

Use your connections! Use imagination and logic to create your own events:

• Tap into established events

Know what’s happening in your town. Figure out ways of incorporating dance presence into these events. Stimulate awareness of dance at established concerts, fairs, or festivals.

• Introduce yourself to the local paper (and radio and television stations)

Tell them (and keep telling them!) about any/all activity that exposes the community to dance, and send special invitations for them to see what you are doing. Consider offering to write a column in the paper about any dance events happening locally.

• Stimulate local artists

Organise a get-together for local amateur and/or professional artists (visual artists, musicians, composers, writers, actors, sculptors) in your community for social gatherings. Stimulate a talk about how their artistic work may be related to dance, or how their body/physicality plays a role in their creative process.

• Nominate local “Arts all-stars”

Work with local politicians, residents, the local newspaper/radio station, and your presenter to set up nominations for your community’s “arts all-stars”. Be proud of your local artists! Organise a public forum to hear about art success stories in the community – who have been the community arts all-stars for dance, music, theatre, visual arts? Ensure dance is represented.

• Work with local schools

Team up with keen and creative teachers to bring dance into the classroom. Dance can reveal aspects of culture, history, math and science at the elementary school level. Or, work with a high school career counsellor to look at the broad range of jobs in the performing arts (including dance).

 

c) Celebrate the dance company’s visit to stimulate awareness of dance

You decide what will work best for you and for your community. Here are some options:

• Organise a welcome party

Organise a welcome party for the dance company, involving introductions, demonstrations and even short performances to share and celebrate the attractions of your community. Invite your mayor, MLA, MP and other civic and political stakeholders to participate.

• Arrange private dance schools

Arrange with dance schools for the dance company to take a local dance class side-by-side with the dance students. Have the students and company members teach each other some movement phrases that they have been working on. Schedule social time afterwards.

• Organise school visits

Working with teachers and the school district, organise the dance company to visit classes in elementary/secondary schools and/or community colleges, where they will drop in to a class or a lunch break and exchange all kinds of ideas about art, learning, and creativity.

• Suggest innovative local ‘master classes’ to community groups

Liaise with the dance company and community members to suggest movement classes for:
- theatre or toastmaster groups (movement skills for actors or speakers)
- choir groups (looking at the effect of posture and gesture on the voice)
- community and school bands (building skills in breath work for performance)

• Work with the Toastmasters

Ask your local Toastmasters group to interview the choreographer and dancers prior to the show, and publicly introduce the performance to the community.

• Organise an art exhibition relating to dance

Team up with the art council or local art clubs to exhibit artists’ works relating to movement and motion. Invite artists to exhibit their work in a public building (or even better, in the lobby of the theatre). You could offer a prize for the “audience choice award” of the exhibit. Keep the focus on to stimulating awareness of dance.