Good dance critic helps artists to improve. # 1- mapping past and future of the Writing Movement Network

During Lab 4 of The Writing Movement Network taking place in Riga from June 9-12, 2016 during International contemporary dance festival Time to Dance the participants tried to figure out priorities in their shared interests. On the first day of the lab participants chose 8 topics out of long list of different keywords, issues discussed, phrases said etc.that has been recorded over the whole year of activities. Then out of all the marked themes, 8 most popular where put into next stage – writing about them. Each participants had 8 minutes to write on each of the topics and then the notebooks got passed to next one in the group. At the end all 8 participants in the room wrote something about all 8 topics. After that each participant got one of the notebooks with 8 quick writings on one of the topics. The task was to somehow bring it all together, conceptualize, summarize and create a text (or some other form) bringing together all 8 voices. The themes dealt with during the writing experiment and also the long list of other ones recorded as part of the Writing Movement Network activities provide both insight into past and vision of the future of The Writing Movement Network.

 

Good dance critic helps artists to improve

Conceptualized by Madli Pesti, written collectively by the members of the Writing Movement Network

Find your own questions and answers!

What are the qualities of a good dance critic?

 

A critic can mirror what he/she sees on the stage.

 

What does it mean to improve one’s art?

 

A good dance critic makes it possible for the artist to see what the critic saw on stage.

 

How much can a dance critic influence the artist?

 

A good critic is an outside eye and gives new perspectives.

 

How about the power position of a critic?

 

A good critic opens up a dialogue with the artist; a dialogue is good in itself.

 

Should a critic be involved behind the scenes in order to further the dialogue?

 

Positive feedback leads into improvement of an artwork.

 

Whom are the critics writing for?

 

A good critic thinks first of all about the artist, then about the subject of the performance.

 

Who needs help through art?

 

A good critic is writing for the audience and lending them a helping hand.

 

A good critic must know a bit more than the artist who made the performance.

 

A good dance critic is interested and curious about dance.

 

A good dance critic is ready to go out of his/her comfort zone.

 

A good dance critic is open minded, enthusiastic and brave.