By: Alison Gerardot
This past weekend, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet announced its closure. As one of the United State’s most Avant-Garde contemporary ballet company’s, dancers/alumni with commercially recognizable names such as Billy Bell and Ida Saki, a beautiful performance space and the promise to pay its dancers full time wages as well as benefits, this company seemed to have it all.
With it’s closing, however, the national dance community is left scratching its head and left to wonder, now what? If companies like Cedar Lake can’t make it, in today’s climate, in New York, what does this mean for us?
Dance, like any art form, cannot remain stagnant. Not just in the repertoire that you offer, but in what you DO. Period. Performing isn’t enough anymore. One avenue of community outreach isn’t enough. Being based only on tradition or only on pushing boundaries isn’t enough. Being a pioneer isn’t enough if you don’t keep blazing different trails. You have to diversify, think bigger, be bigger. Dance is not just about the beauty of the art. It’s about health. It’s about creativity. It’s about relationships. It can be therapeutic. It can rehabilitate. The arts are powerful tools and if you only use one tool in your toolbox, you’ll never build a solid house.
In a mid-sized city, in the heart of the upper mid-west, the Fort Wayne dance scene, the entire arts scene, actually, is not only thriving, it’s growing. Arts non-profits are supported not only socially, but financially. There is momentum from what we are all doing to place importance and significance on the arts in our community in traditional and contemporary ways. In ways that are not just for the elite and the upper class but for anyone, no matter their ethnicity or socio-economic status. And it’s palpable. And exciting. And as we move forward in this time of prosperity, may we be reminded of those who came before us, to teach us lessons as we evolve and to allow us to appreciate all that we have.