(R) Institute for Dance Criticism, American Dance Festival 2005

Dear Break-a-Leg,

Congratulations! You have been accepted as a Fellow for the American Dance Festival's 2005 (ADF) Institute for Dance Criticism (IDC) funded by the National Endowment of the Arts.

As a participant in the IDC, you will be among a group of passionate but poverty-stricken journalists who are willing to immerse themselves in dance and writing about dance.

The Institute will be held from Saturday, June 25th through Friday, July 15th. Though you will only be at ADF for a portion of the season, the Institute's schedule is designed to maximize the number of performances you will see. These will include the Festival of the Feet (II), Brenda Angiel Aerial Dance Company (Argentina), Emanuel Gat Dance (Israel), Compagnie Kafig (France), Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and Battleworks Dance Company. Among the numerous other activities at ADF, you will also attend screenings of the 10th Anniversary of Dancing for the Camera Festival.

There is of course, no such thing as free lunch. After watching, you are expected to write a review of each performance. Be prepared to strip bare and deflate your ego for your work will be thoroughly scrutinised. Bring compact powder to cover-up red face.

In addition, we will also look at videos, attend lectures from a wide range of professionals working in the dance field, work with guest critics, hold discussions with choreographers in residence at ADF, attend rehearsals, and observe classes.

You'll get to experience (serve you right) movement and (serve you right again!) choreography classes. Beware - whenever you feel like a bad review, you may experience flashes of these appreciation classes.

A constant theme running through the fellowship applications was the desire to find a repriece from the isolation (which dulls the mind) in which most dance critics find themselves working, and to do this in an environment in which we are walking, talking, eating, sleeping, and dreaming dance. Note that your schedule will be quite full.

The workshop is a demanding experience so come rested and prepared to work your butts off.

Sincerely,

The Facilitator

(Break-a-Leg is Malaysia's first dance critic and blogger awarded the IDC Fellowship by ADF. But damn it, a Singaporean journalist beat her to it 2 years ago! **A few changed were made to the acceptance letter.)