Bums on seats

So where are they? The audiences I mean.

It is a commonly held belief that dance isnt appealing to the masses. Is this more a self imposed image crisis (does this dress make my....) or is it based on fact?

The evidence seems to suggest that art in general holds great appeal (see the satchi and satchi report created for the australia council a couple of years ago), but the language is a bit of a barrier. Without the language people can find it hard to access the arts.

I think people love dance, but we have a bit of an image crisis. We mis interprit the need to better communicate the language/ettiquette around contemporary dance with a dumbing down of what we do. Its not about changing the form, its about changing the way the form is communicated to the general public.

My observations are subjective of course but let me highlight a couple of tangible events that confirm Australia's love of contemporary dance.

Melbourne Festivals focus on Dance in 2003 (bal Moderne, dancing in the streets)
Dancing with the stars

These two events highlight how easily the general public find it to engage with dance, we just have to be smart enough to take ownership of this and make contemporary dance the hotest ticket.