Dance Magazine

I don't currently subscribe to Dance Magazine. But I was a subscriber for seven years some time ago and I have to take a moment to point out its merits here, especially since no one has done so.

For 76 years, this magazine has been publishing some of the finest commentary on dance of all types in America. There are some newer publications which cater more to the young dancer, the dance teacher who is not affiliated with any major tradition, and which deal with newer and more popular styles of dance. But this was the only dance magazine which was being published when I was a young dancer (I am now 26, and still a dancer).

I would read this magazine cover-to-cover every month. I pulled out countless gorgeous pictures of famous, classically trained dancers to paste on my walls from this magazine. For someone like me who studied dance history, this magazine has been marvelous. It regularly featured articles and interviews with emerging choreographers as well as pieces about those great dancers and choreographers we can all continue to learn from, like Diaghilev, Pavlowa, Ashton, Balanchine, Tharp, Cunningham, Taylor-the list goes on and on.

The magazine features an advice column for dancers written by Linda Hamilton, PhD, as well as a section for younger dancers, thus catering to the competitive dancer, the auditioning dancer, etc. It reviews performances by nationally reknowned companies, as well as some lesser-known companies, on a monthly basis. It also lists schools and companies nationally, and has a section for classified ads in the back. On the whole the advertising in this magazine was less offensive when I took it than that which I have found in some other dance magazines, often featuring gorgeously trained young dancers and advertising summer programs and schools as well as dance-related products.

In short, this magazine is a highly intelligent publication which has a real sense of the history of dance, particularly American dance, that I have not found in any other publication. The very existence of the the archived photos of dancers you may never see anywhere else that they regularly bring back into circulation is alone enough to truly make the reader feel connected with the world of dance. For me, a young dancer growing up in a somewhat rural area, this magazine connected me with dancers everywhere, helped me to articulate what it was I loved about this beautiful art.

I will note, however, that when I subscribed to this magazine Clive Barnes was the Senior Editor, and has now left the magazine. I have not read the magazine since he left, so I cannot attest to its quality since then. Check it out for yourself-the magazine's website: