Walking the Talk is a new day-and-a-half format event for dialogue discussion created in response to feedback from our communities. This event will bring dancers, choreographers, presenters, audience members, and funders together to engage in open dialogue and reflection.

Cost: This event is offered on a pay-what-you-can basis with a suggested donation of $30, in line with our mission to make dance as accessible as possible.

 

REGISTER HERE

Why Should I Be There?:  

  • Having members of the full “ecology” of those in the dance community will deepen the conversation and offer dimension to our subsequent thoughts and actions. Your presence offers the opportunity to clarify your own intentions regarding dance and have your voice heard by others in the field.

Guiding Questions:  

  • What is the dance I want to be engaged with?
  • How best can I do that? 
  • What is stopping me from doing so?

Objectives:

  • Clarify your dance mission, creative process, and goals.
  • Explore existing opportunities and barriers within the dance community.
  • Build alliances and find kindred spirits.
  • Rebuild connections and advance equitable practices.

Event Highlights (Subject to Change):

  • Keynote Address: Christal Brown will frame the gathering.
  • Open Space Discussion Time: Participants will offer topics of interest for facilitated discussion.
  • Learning Circles: Focused discussions on aligning vision with action, artist-presenter-funder dynamics, and applying universal design principles to promote access and agency.
  • Roving Observers: They will summarize key takeaways and propose next steps in the workshop’s closing session.

 

The Dance Complex staff, along with our pilot cohort of Curatorial Advisors, Priya Bangal, Supna Govindan, Aaron Myers, Mariana Paes, and Jessica Roseman, will help coordinate and facilitate the sessions with support from board and staff members. 

Friday Schedule (Jan 31) *subject to change*:

  • 6:00 PM Reception & Meet and Greet
  • 6:30 PM Keynote by Christal Brown followed by Q&A
  • 7:30 PM Mingling and Music

Saturday Schedule (Feb 1) *subject to change*:

  • 1:00 – 1:50 PM Session: Presenter/Artist Relations and Service
  • 2:00 – 2:50 Session: Artistic Voice and Mission Alignment
  • 2:50 – 3:15 Break
  • 3:15 – 4:00 / 4:00-4:45 Conversation Breakouts in two studios (topics TBD from participant suggestions)
  • 4:45 – 5:00 Break
  • 5:00 – 6:00 Group Report Back on Breakouts, observations and key takeaways. Closing poem. Ending Circle.

About Christal Brown (Keynote Speaker):

CHRISTAL BROWN (Mother|Artist|Educator|Disciple|Coach|Author) is the Founder of INSPIRIT, Project: BECOMING, the creator of the Liquid Strength training module for dance, a Full Professor of Dance and Twilight Artist in Residence at Middlebury College and the Chief Visioning Officer of Steps and Stages. Brown is a native of Kinston, North Carolina, where she remembers accompanying her mother to NAACP meetings and performing at Black Caucus rallies.  This early exposure to social responsibility innately produced a strong desire in Brown to put her gifts to work for the greater good.  Brown earned her BFA in Dance and minor in Business from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and her MFA in New Media Art and technology from Long Island University. Brown’s evolution combines her creativity, educational gifts and love for people into a dynamic coaching, facilitation, and consulting practice designed to create vision and sustain change. For more info visit www.stepsandstagescoaching.com.

Contact Information

Contact:
joe@dancecomplex.org