FAQ

Q: Who are the teachers?  

Some of the finest writers, teachers and thinkers around: 

-Suzanne Carbonneau, PhD, longtime scholar-in-residence at Jacob’s Pillow and the Bates Dance Festival as well as director of the American Dance Festival’s NEA Dance Critic’s Institute.
-Thomas DeFrantz of the Theater Arts Faculty at MIT, author of “Dancing Many Drums.”
-Deborah Jowitt, a pre-eminent dance writer and former Village Voice critic.
-Wendy Perron, editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine, curator and commentator on dance.
-Elizabeth Zimmer, long-time former editor of the Village Voice and former guest writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Q: Who is directing the project? 

Lisa Kraus (Project Director & Editor) and Anna Drozdowski (Associate Project Director) share backgrounds that include extensive work in the dance field.  They were inspired to initiate this project through their experience as Fellows in the NEA Arts Journalism program at the American Dance Festival.

Q: Who are the writers?

Megan Bridge, Lynn Brooks, Julie Diana, Meg Foley, Ellen Gerdes, Christina Gesualdi , Nathaniel B. Hancock, Kirsten Kaschock, Kilian Kröll , Amelia Longo, Carolyn Merritt, Peter Price, James Rutter, Debbie Shapiro, Jonathan Stein,  R. Eric Thomas, Laura Vriend,  Kariamu Welsh and Anne Wilson

Q: Who are the partners?

ThinkingDance is building relationships with other area publications, and with  area presenters and companies in the interest of working effectively and synergistically. Our meetings are hosted by the Live Arts Brewery.

Q: How does writing end up on the website?

The idea is to give everyone an opportunity to try their hand at varied kinds of writing.  Writers pitch ideas and the Project Directors assign pieces and editors.  Have a story idea to share? 

Q: Who built your snazzy site?

It’s been developed by Design Brooklyn, a team of designers and programmers who focus on the arts. They designed the project’s logo and an architecture with an easy-to-work-with content management system that allows for continually changing content.

Q: What’s the reach?

We’re limiting coverage of live events to those within Philadelphia’s 5-county area but we will connect with organizations beyond our area like Americans for the Arts, Movement Research’s Critical Correspondence, and Dance Magazine, giving our writers and Philadelphia dance wider exposure.

Q: What is the future of the project? 

For now, we aim to have a great year helping energize audiences and cultivating excellence in dance writing. We hope many people will come to enjoy and rely on thINKingDANCE.net and we'll gather resource to continue the project beyond 2012.