This is my “platform” for the future of the International Guild of Musicians in Dance, the professional membership organization for dance musicians and those interested in music and dance.
THE BIG IDEA Our unique point of view and what’s at stake
Dance musicians should be global leaders ensuring the future of dance/music collaboration because dancing and playing music together is fundamental to our humanity.
VISION What we hope to achieve
We envision a world with vibrant dance/music collaboration and abundant, high quality, sustained employment opportunities for dance musicians.
MISSION Actions we’ll take to get there
We will serve dance musicians through community building and mutual support.
We will work to ensure a robust employment future for dance musicians through outreach, education, and stakeholder partnerships.
We will support the advancement of the art of dance musicianship through research, mentorship, and standards.
PURPOSE & PHILOSOPHY Our motivations for doing this
Dance musicians bring richness and depth to dance experiences for students, teachers, performers, and audiences. Dancing and making music together is an essential part of what makes us human, like speaking, reading, and writing. Seeing, hearing, and responding to one another dancing and making music maintains and strengthens our humanity.
Dance musicians are invested in dance as a unique art formartform and are committed to developing their musical practice as collaborative partners. Making music with dance is a specialized art form. While it shares much with other types of music making, it requires unique approaches and mindsets to craft tailor-made music and sound to serve the pedagogical or artistic aims of dance.
Because dance musicians often work isolated from one another, the work can feel lonely and unsupported, and we can lose sight of the value and importance of what we do. The current trend is fewer dance musicians in classes and the loss of high-quality jobs (tenure track faculty, full-time dance musicians, music directors, etc.).
However, dance musicians are interdependent, and together we have the power to ensure the employment future and continued artistic growth for dance musicians.
We will be proactive, we will work towards our shared values and purposes, and we will realize our vision.