Ever since summer rolled around I have been waiting to find out more about what is going on at the many summer dance festivals and workshops going on around the world. I have been slightly disappointed to find out that only a few of the more famous festivals have been updating their online audience about the current happenings in dance-land.
Being a dancer that didn’t get the chance to attend any festivals or workshops this summer, I am eager to find out what I’m missing out on. I’m also interested to know about what my friends are experiencing at the festivals that they are at.
Some of the festivals that I’m interested in have done a good job of communicating with their online audience and fan base. Others don’t seem to be posting anything at all or are not posting information directly to the most popular social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Dance workshops, festivals and intensives please read this list!
- Blogging: The American Dance Festival (ADF) has a great video blog called May We Have This Cyberdance? that is updated daily and includes content relating directly to what is going on at the festival. Each post familiarizes their online audience with the ADF faculty, guests, students, and facilities. It is an awesome example of what a dance festival blog can and should look like; lot’s of rich information, community input and multimedia.
- E-mail Blasts: Yep, in this world of RSS feeds and social networking, some people still open up e-mail blasts.
The San Francisco Conservatory of Dance makes sure that their subscribers never miss a performance. They have sent out several informative (and visually appealing! See: Photograph to the right) e-mail updates throughout the duration of their summer intensive program. E-mail blasts are a good way to get in touch with those who are fans of your company but do not participate in some of the popular social networks. - Behind-the-scenes Twitter Updates: The U.K. based Cloud Dance Festival does a great job at being completely transparent on their Twitter feed. Their tweets remind us that large scale dance festivals don’t just appear overnight. There is a lot of planning and behind the scenes chaos that goes on months and months before the show starts.
- Youtube Channel and Facebook video: The San Diego based dance company, Malashock Dance updates their Youtube and Facebook videos on a regular basis. For former students such as myself, these frequent updates just get me excited for the next chance I get to go back into the studio with the awesome people at Malashock!
- Posting photos to Flickr: The always incredible Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival has been posting a new high-quality photo to their Flickr account for every day of the festival. These photos do a great job of capturing the beauty held by The Pillow and the performers. A great next step for Jacob’s Pillow and other dance festivals would be to create a Flickr group where fans and photographers can post their shots from the festival.
Susan Davis Cushing
July 7, 2011
As always Jordon, great work! I tend to go to Facebook (oddly, as I live on twitter and tumblr) for festivals and upcoming events. It’s just the most efficient way to find my favs, and to weed though the barrage of information elsewhere. Jacob’s Pillow also does a great job of covering who’s covering them, completing the circle of information on their interactive page! Agreed: Cloud Dance Festival and the American Dance Festival also have web pages that are so sticky with wonders they’re hard to leave. Thanks for laying out the field for the players!
jordoncloud
July 8, 2011
Facebook is very efficient when it comes to multimedia because you usually see a photo attached to a link. On Twitter, you must read the tweet before clicking the link. Sounds silly, but it really does make a difference to some.
Thanks for your feedback!
Ballet Fantastique
July 8, 2011
Ballet Fantastique is going to make more of an effort to post about our Intensive this summer, and we just posted a backstage look at exactly what goes into our children’s ballet camps (a little bit of a different spin)! http://balletfantastique.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/its-time-for-ballet-camp/
p.s. Also thought you might like to take a look at this article, an interesting analysis of the pros and cons of trying to make ballet more “accessible” through social media/advertising: http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/cover-story/A-Delicate-Balance-Classical-Ballet-Takes-a-Sexy-Turn.html#ixzz1JQL399C4
We’re looking forward to your guest blog post, Jordon!
jordoncloud
July 12, 2011
I like the new post!
And that article is so interesting! In this day and age, it is so important to set yourself apart from some of the expectations that many potential audiences have. The tattoo advertisements are great.