[Dixielandjazz] Things are tough in the "Preservation" business

[Steve barbone]

CAVEAT: Off Topic. except that it parallels what is going on in the
"preservation" arena generally. Also, interesting perhaps to those who
collect original sheet music, documents etc.

Cheers,
Steve

Dance Preservation Organization Lays Off Most of Staff

NY TIMES - BY ERIKA KINETZ - Published: November 7, 2005

Since it was founded in 1940, the Dance Notation Bureau has been at the
forefront of dance preservation, and it has one of the most important
collections of dance scores in the nation. But on Oct. 28, it laid off five
of its six staff members, including its executive director, Ilene Fox.

A primer on Labanotation, the system of symbols for recording a
choreographic work, from the Web site of the Dance Notation Bureau, which
has a library of more than 700 dance scores as well as other materials for
recreating dances. 


"We ran out of money," said Lynne Weber, chairwoman of the board of the New
York-based organization. "We were not aware the financial situation was as
bad as it was."

Dance notation, using a system of symbols called Labanotation and
functioning much like a music score, enables dances to be recreated
accurately long after a choreographer has died. The bureau's library houses
more than 700 scores for dances by choreographers from George Balanchine and
Doris Humphrey to Bill T. Jones and Mark Morris. It also has other material
that can help in reconstructing a work, including videotapes and films,
musical scores, costume sketches, photographs and old programs.

In addition to Western theatrical dance, the collection includes scores for
social, historical and folk dances from around the world. It is thus an
important resource for companies recreating works and for scholars of dance
history. 

For now, the library remains active and accessible. (Mei-Chen Lu, who
oversees it, was the only employee to survive the cuts.) But the institution
is on the ropes.

Grant money it had been expecting failed to materialize. The fall membership
drive met with lackluster results. And individual donations, which
constitute about half of the $300,000 annual operating budget, are also
down.

The fiscal problems were aggravated by disorganization. Within the last few
years, three board members and one employee have died, Ms. Weber said in an
interview on Friday. In May, the bookkeeper stopped showing up for work. Ms.
Fox, as executive director, spent the summer teaching in Taiwan, giving a
presentation in Malaysia, attending a conference in London and working on a
major grant application. A new bookkeeper was brought on board only in late
September.

"I was doing three jobs," Ms. Fox said. "I kept saying my title should be
changed from executive director to chief juggler."

The September board meeting was canceled. Not until an executive committee
meeting on Oct. 26 did the extent of the fiscal crisis become clear.

"We were spending more than we were taking in," Ms. Weber said. "The
executive committee realized we had to take drastic measures to make sure we
survived."

Ms. Weber, Ms. Fox and Senta Driver, another board member, went directly to
the office, on West 30th Street, and informed the staff that everyone except
the librarian would be laid off two days later. The news came as a shock to
employees.

"We didn't expect it at all," said Mira Kim, a notation associate
responsible for digitizing handwritten scores. A donation has since come in
that will make it possible for Ms. Kim to return to work today. "I'm
super-excited," she said by telephone on Friday, minutes after learning that
she was no longer unemployed.

For an organization with almost no staff and no money, the Dance Notation
Bureau is still buzzing. Call the office, and someone will answer. On
Friday, five people - four of them volunteers - turned up to work.

"It looks like we will be able to survive," Ms. Weber said. "What we need to
do is restructure."

Projects with outside financing will go forward. The bureau offers the only
professional certification program for dance notation in the country.
Classes for the two current students will continue, and this spring, the
bureau's extension at Ohio State University will check the score for Mark
Morris's "All Fours," as planned, verifying the notation work that has
already been done and mounting a staging based on it for Mr. Morris's
review.

The bureau is still waiting for a $42,000 grant that would allow it to
create scores for two pieces, one by William Forsythe and one by Martha
Graham. It is also hoping to get financing to continue developing
LabanDancer, a software program that translates dance scores into animation.

Calls of support have come in, but little money. "They all want to send
petitions," said Ms. Driver, the board member, who has been helping
spearhead the restructuring. "We haven't figured out to whom we might send
them."

The bureau is still searching for long-term solutions. It is considering
subletting part of its office space and trying to forge alliances with other
institutions, but its immediate plan is to hope the grants come in and
donations increase.

"Right now we're taking it day by day," said Ms. Weber, the chairwoman. "Are
we going to be smaller? The same size? What are we going to look like? We
don't know."

Labanotated dance scores, which can take years to create, are more precise
than video recordings, the most widely used method of preservation today. In
videos, dancers may be blocked, depending on the angle of the camera.
Moreover, different dancers perform the same choreography differently, and
even the same dancer can perform the same role differently on different
nights. So as a dance passes from generation to generation, the
choreographer's intent can become muddied

"We take it absolutely for granted that we can continue to enjoy Bach or
Beethoven," said Ms. Fox, the former executive director. "Everyone has seen
a work of Shakespeare at one time or another. Dance doesn't have that kind
of legacy."