How to Tour Internationally?

Contemplating a change of strategy. We have focused lately on dances for the stage. The brilliant part of dancing onstage is that we have so much space, sprung floors, and cool lighting! The not so brilliant part is that it costs so much to rent a theater that we become dependent on ticket revenue to make our money back. This is fine in some respects: it's a fun challenge to get folks interested in our performance. I am faced with my fundamental inability to raise audience in foreign countries, however. Unable to travel there beforehand, to join the dance community and learn the lay of the land, I am largely unable to create buzz. Newspapers and blogs are fine, but they don't get butts into theaters: you need word of mouth to do that, and I can't generate that remotely, particularly if I don't speak the language. I need an alternative to theaters in order to show my work in a different country.

Two alternatives recommend themselves to me. 1. Join with another dance group, a local one who has the community connections to bring an audience to a theater. The drawback to this is that, though costs are reduced, audience is still a major problem, it just wouldn’t be my problem.

2. Rent a gallery space and create a salon with artwork, our dance, and musicians, as we did in London. The drawback to this last strategy is that it is still difficult to raise audience. But the cost is dramatically lower. Besides, I love the intimate feel of a gallery, the closeness of audience, the simple pleasure of making work for a small group--even for just ourselves.

A gallery show is a model with which I am not familiar from performing with other dance groups. We all strove for the big show, the big venue, even if the generous seating made the audience feel even more remote and tiny. I am drawn to this model, however. For one, I feel that our work is artistic, not entertainment. In many ways, I feel a gallery is our appropriate environment. I also love a show with more than just dance. Great music makes a lovely complement to our dance and provides a change of energy for audiences.  

Photo by Bill Hebert.