A quiet community?

Written in October - Updated today:

I've had many contradictory experiences lately relating to the state of San Diego dance. Or maybe they are pointing to a transitional time for the San Diego dance community. Or maybe they are pointing to a gap between what IS happening, what WAS happening, and what COULD BE happening. Or maybe they just point toward what I want to see happening...

Situation #1

My meditation teacher introduced me to a man in our meditation group who used to dance with Martha Graham. I told him that I am a choreographer in the community and he expressed his thoughts about San Diego's community. He suggested we are a "quiet community". He went on to talk about his time with Martha (pronounced by him - "Maww-thaww") and we left with the thought that we might have coffee sometime, but I'm still not sure if he's actually interested.

This idea of "quiet community" stayed with me throughout the day. I think he said this to me during a week when I'd arranged three or four performances to see that week.

Situation #2

Dance Community Meeting - last summer San Diego Dance Connect invited the entire dance community to gather to start a discussion about our needs as a whole. There is not enough time for everything, but something that stood out was the response of the president of DanceUSA saying that she was very impressed with this community after being in San Diego for several days. I don't think she expected to be so impressed.

Situation #3

Gabe Masson, a nationally (if not internationally) known choreographer told me last June that he would be moving back to NYC.  He said he'd been making work and touring it all over the states, but not in San Diego for at least the last 5 or 6 years. He said there just isn't a place for him here.

Situation #4

SD Dance Conversation - Once a month for the last eight months or so, A grouping of self-proclaimed 'dance geeks' (myself included when I can make it) gather to share videos and have discussions. The group is a diverse cut of the (under 40) contemporary/modern dance community with varying aesthetics and opinions. We've had some great conversations and I'm interested in understanding why each individual loves what they love. I feel this discussion is opening me up to new/old ideas, reminding me of my own values and priorities in dance and dance making, and allowing me push against some concepts in a safe and accepting place.

So…

What's the deal? We do seem to be a quiet community, but how do we make our voices louder? There are many of us here who are making and watching and challenging and growing. Do we value our work? Do we value each other for making work (even outside our aesthetic?) How do we encourage non-dancers of San Diego to also value the community of dance artists here. I'm not entirely sure - except I do know that we could all speak up. We could push ourselves more and be willing to completely fail. We could support risk-taking by supporting 'failure'! We could talk about our work more. We could talk about each other's work more. We could market our work more. We could take our work outside of San Diego. We could see more work outside of San Diego. We could share our own work more often in San Diego. We can continue to be willing to grow and evolve and see ourselves as artists instead of entertainment with the understanding that the more voices and opinions we honor within the conversation, the louder we become as a whole. This is my great wish for my/our future as a community.