Devise an area of possible development for a small contemporary dance company(real or imagined) that might effectively engage with or explore one current social issue – describe the new activity, suggest why it would be appropriate for the company and describe how this development might affect the organisation

In the world of today there are unfathomable social issues that could be engaged by any type of company in the arts. With a Dance company there are certain issues that would be easier to deal to with. In My opinion the best way for a dance company to deal with any issue would be to create a piece based on or about it, For example; last year I went to see DV8 perform their (then) most recent piece called 'To Be Straight With You'. It dealt with the issues around the world with homosexuality and how homosexual people are treated by their peers. It was a very eye opening performance and beautiful to watch, but it also was very hard hitting with the points that were put forward in it - there were several small stories that made the piece, they were each an interview with a real person telling of their experiences of the prejudice they have been dealt. I feel that this way of dealing with social issues is definitely more effective than just letting people know your company is anti or pro-whatever. People enjoy getting immersed in things visually, and as a dance company I believe that your most powerful tool is the ability to make people think and feel something about the issues you feel are worth thinking and feeling about. The effect this would have on a dance company is relatively obvious, either the audience is going to react positively to your performance and understand the intent behind the piece, or they will not. It is always a risk that any artist needs to take and also they have bear in mind that you cannot please everybody; I mean there are believe it or not some people out there that dislike the great movies such as 'The Godfather'. On the other hand I think you have to be careful when dealing with quite a big social issue in a performance (such as homosexual prejudice) because although your piece may not reach everybody with the intent, you do not want to reach the point where you offend people by expressing your views. This would be a sure-fire way to lose all standing with your audience. I think there must be a lot of time and planning on who it is that you want to appeal to and what it is you want them to get from your piece before you start the actual direction of movement when the theme of a performance could be a temperamental subject. In my opinion I really believed that in this case (To Be Straight With You) the company did a remarkable job and effectively put their cause into the piece without offending anybody but impressing and shocking people, I came out of it seeing a new perspective on things and many other people I spoke to about the piece afterwards were all in the same boat in their thoughts towards it. We all felt somewhat guilty for not knowing about things that were happening in different places in the world which you would think should be public knowledge but isn't. The piece was very successful in bringing these issues to light and are still in very high standard amongst the performance world.

Reference:
http://www.dv8.co.uk/projects/tobestraightwithyou