The Economics of Dance

To paraphrase Lewis Segal’s June 18 review of Pacific Dance Ensemble, it seems to me he has a lot to answer for.

The tenor of all of Segal’s coverage of Generator Eight has indicated a serious misunderstanding of the economics of producing dance in Los Angeles.

If dance companies didn’t self-produce or create cooperative ventures like Generator Eight, there would be very little new and risky dance in Los Angeles for him to criticize. Moreover, his continual focus on the “controversy” around Generator Eight implies that he would rather people such as Danielle Shapiro didn’t try to produce dance if their efforts generate anything less than a supportive reaction within the dance community.

What he doesn’t seem to realize is that his perpetually negative slant on issues like this is far more divisive and damaging to the dance community than taking the risks and producing a festival that brings 2,500 people to downtown Los Angeles to see and enjoy eight stimulating evenings of dance.

BILL BUSHNELL

Artistic Director

Los Angeles Theatre Center