The images above were taken at Dancers’ Group’s annual holiday party and those present are representative of our members, community partners, fiscally sponsored projects, board members and all of our staff. Also equally represented in this group are people that have been associated with us for a few months and many years in between, up to 30 years. It’s especially comforting to share our history with so many amazing colleagues and friends.
As we reflect on our 30th anniversary this year remembering the past has been fun and yet the potential of the future is even more exhilarating. Therefore, the staff at Dancers’ Group has imagined what the world, the dance community and or Dancers’ Group would be like 30 years from now.
We look forward to working with you throughout a fun-filled and prosperous new year. Welcome to the future!
— Wayne Hazzard, executive director
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Shae Colett—Imagining where we will be in 30 years is somewhat challenging being that I have yet to see 30 years of life. But from what I have seen so far, I have no doubt that 2042 will be astonishing. I am looking forward to the day that I get to bike the underground tunnels everywhere so I can avoid the rain and cold weather; teleporting will be possible (and affordable) and California will definitely be an island.
As for Dancers’ Group, knowing its history and personally experiencing the growth of the organization in the past 3 years leads me to believe that we will no doubt hold a world-wide presence by 2042. I see the dance community continue to grow and Dancers’ Group will grow with it, having national branches in NYC and Chicago and becoming an outlet for dancers to connect in their own community and stay involved in many communities. And, with teleporting so fast, cheap and easy, we will be able to travel with no problem.
Wayne Hazzard—In 2042, I’m 84 years old and I will have just helped secure a hundred-year lease for a building with 30 dance studios, three theaters with 50 apartments on 20 acres of property just outside of San Francisco that serves as an artists’ residence and laboratory for dance. Dancers’ Group has a $500 million endowment that allows us to provide individual artist grants that can be used for everyday cost of living expenses and the making of dances. I can also teleport from my apartment to work.
Evangel King—Imagine the year 2042. Think global. Global crisis continues in the economy, planet warming, war, famine, water and poverty.
All dancers are part of a global Dancers’ Group. We collectively share our vision, insight, creativity and courage. We come
together to lead the people of the world in a visionary dance.
We the people are truly united by this dance. The power of true global unity, vision and action is born. Possibility is vast. Beyond anything we could imagine.
Kegan Marling—I’d like to think that in 30 years, dance artists will be able to fully afford to create consistent public performances without the need for a service organization to underwrite the costs, and these events will reach both deeply and broadly into communities that Dancers’ Group could never reach on our own. Dance artists will have a radically different approach to engaging with people about their work; calendars, articles and advertising will no longer be relevant. Audiences will be experiencing and learning about dance in wildly different ways. In 30 years dancers won’t have individual careers, they will be entrepreneurially combining their interests to carve a creative livelihood. We’ll see lawyer/ writer/ teacher/ parent/ dancer/ architect/ nurse combos and other hybrid careers. And Dancers’ Group won’t be working to convince people of the value of dance. They will already understand it.
Maureen Walsh—What does the future hold for Dancers’ Group? More. Always more. It holds so much more. ONSITE performances will be strictly electronic 3D holograms projected wherever and whenever the viewer decides. In Dance will be downloaded from the Dancers’ Group information cloud into each member’s personal microchip. And to schedule a meeting with Wayne, if you don’t yet have the telekinetic conferencing brain software, you will always be welcome aboard the DG hovercraft.
Projecting 30 years from now, the world around us might look different, but I have no doubt Dancers’ Group will continue to hold the same lasting strength it has maintained for these past 30 years. We’ll always be the dance community’s biggest fan. We’ll forever advocate for the arts and for dance in the most creative, relevant, and savvy ways we can.
This article appeared in the January/February 2012 issue of In Dance.
