{"id":896,"date":"2014-09-28T13:34:56","date_gmt":"2014-09-28T17:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/?p=896"},"modified":"2014-09-28T13:34:56","modified_gmt":"2014-09-28T17:34:56","slug":"telling-the-world-what-dance-means-21st-century-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/2014\/09\/telling-the-world-what-dance-means-21st-century-style.html","title":{"rendered":"Telling the World What Dance Means, 21st Century Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want an example of how social interpretation (audience-produced meaning making that occurs in\/through public settings and mechanisms) operates in the contemporary arts world? Check out the Audience Review<\/a> portal at The Dance Enthusiast.com<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

The brainchild of former dancer and producer Christine Jowers, The Dance Enthusiast<\/em> is a self-described \u201cdigital news site and arts service organization\u201d that operates as both a nerve center for distributing information for and about NYC dance activity and<\/em> as a digital home for audience-centered meaning making. As Jowers\u2019 writes, the site is \u201ccommitted to communication about our art form.\u201d Notice the thoughtful use of the word \u201cour.\u201d Jowers and her team of contributing dance writers, all experts in the field, don\u2019t present themselves as gatekeepers but rather as professionals \u201cdevoted to creating and nurturing dance enthusiasts – people passionate about dance, its artists, and the world we share.\u201d<\/p>\n

My enthusiasm for The Dance Enthusiast<\/em> is focused on the Audience Reviews section, where anyone with an interest and a computer is invited to \u201cjoin the conversation and shape a dance world worth talking about.\u201d I particularly love the tag line: \u201cHelp Artists. Express Yourself. Argue. Agree. Be Honest. Be Constructive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why audience reviews? Jowers posits that they build interest in dance by encouraging new voices and empowering new perspectives. She notes that audience members \u201cfeel important and necessary\u201d when they are invited into the conversation. And, importantly, she argues that by the act of writing audiences are compelled to find a vocabulary to describe what they see and experience. And that pushes the discourse forward.<\/p>\n

In other words, when audiences are encouraged to participate in social interpretation, everyone wins.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>\n

*Today\u2019s post is part of a series of ideas, quotes and short provocations collected under the \u201cWhat is this Thing Called Meaning?\u201d banner. Please check backward for related and contextualizing entries.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Want an example of how social interpretation (audience-produced meaning making that occurs in\/through public settings and mechanisms) operates in the contemporary arts world? Check out the Audience Review portal at The Dance Enthusiast.com. The brainchild of former dancer and producer Christine Jowers, The Dance Enthusiast is a self-described \u201cdigital news site and arts service organization\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=896"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":900,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896\/revisions\/900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/wetheaudience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}