I've never used my blog for this kind of thing, but you know what, this has been driving me crazy.

The Stranger, my favorite weekly rag ever, and according to them 'The Only Newspaper in Seattle', does not have a dance section. Or a dance critic. They bother to send their theater critic or their visual arts critic - both of whom don't know a lick about dance - to one dance concert every 3 months or so. And then they stick it in a tiny spot in the theater or visual art section, because - did I mention? they don't HAVE a dance section.

But about half the pages of The Stranger is devoted to music; there are, I believe, at least 5 different music writers with their own columns, plus several pages of listings for the week's music events. Their aforementioned arts writer, Jen Graves, is apparently one of the only fulltime arts writers in Seattle. So it's not that they don't value the arts. They just don't value dance.

Why? I really don't know. I could make some vague statements about how most people these days don't care about dance, or about how Seattle's dance scene is weak. But I don't think that's true. PNB packs the house. I attended a sold-out performance of Alvin Ailey (one of 4) a few weeks ago. On the Boards, Velocity, Spectrum, Exit Space, Fremont Abbey - they're all putting up tons of shows, filling audiences, sponsoring the young up-and-comers, and generally nurturing the huge and varied Seattle dance scene.

And as someone who's dipped a toe into the modern dance scene, improvisational dance scene, flamenco scene, butoh scene, traditional, tribal style and experimental belly dance scenes, not to mention catching glimpses of the aerial scene, cabaret scene, burlesque scene, breakdancing scene, hip hop scene and contemporary ballet scene - they're ALL lively, wild, exciting, and growing. Fast.

So as far as The Stranger goes, I'd have to guess that 1. they have budget problems (but don't you dare complain about budget problems to a dancer - we practically invented the idea) and moreover 2. They just don't have anyone on staff who personally cares about dance.

But those aren't good enough reasons to leave an entire medium out of the conversation.

It makes dance in our beautiful emerald city less visible to the public, including to folks who might never know they wanted to go see a dance concert unless there was a great writeup in the most influential, youth-oriented, arts-focused paper in town.

It makes dance less visible to artists in other genres who could potentially collaborate with dancers or enrich their own art practice by seeing a different medium.

It makes dance less visible to the dance community itself, which is so disparate that most dancers aren't even aware that they're one of the biggest and most active communities -in- this city.

And it makes individual dancers and companies feel that they're shouting into the void without any critical response to enrich and enliven and challenge their work.


So if that bothers you as much as it bothers me, shoot 'em an email. Give 'em what-for. Feel free to copy and paste any part of this you want.

mailto: theater@thestranger.com
[yes, to the theater critic, because: see line 1.]


And look, Stranger folks? I LOVE what you do. I love the alternative writing style, the slant that admits its a slant, the sense of humor. I love the openness about sexuality, the fearless intelligence, the dedication to the arts. It's partly because I think that what you're doing is great that I want dance to be included in the conversation.
Because when you leave an entire community out, it weakens the whole discussion.