This Index to the Dance in / Danse au Canada publication was ironically being prepared as the life of the Association was coming to an end.
Born in the minds of the Canada Council offices in 1972, the seeds of the Association were planted at the first Dance in Canada Conference held at York University in Toronto, June 1973. This was a period in Canada's long dance history that has often been referred to as the cusp of the dance “boom”.
As 175 members of the Canadian dance community gathered at York University for that milestone Conference, the one question which seemed to dominate bewildered delegates was, “Who are all thsese people?” There had not been such a large group of Canadian dance people in one place since the advent of the Canadian Ballet Festivals held during the years 1948 to 1954. There was a buoyant air of optimism by the end of the Conference when the dominant question was, “When is the next one?”
During the Conference, a meeting of an ad hoc committee was chaired by the late Murray Farr. An interim Board of Directors was elected by the attending delegates and the first meeting and the official launch of the Dance in Canada/Danse au Canada Association was held in Banff, later that year.
The Association's mandate included two key projects: to hold an annual Conference in cities across Canada and to publish a magazine.
Over the next fifteen years, Banff, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Saskatoon, Toronto, Waterloo, Winnipeg and Vancouver hosted the annual Conference. These Conferences brought a new dynamic to Canadian dance interests through discussion, argument and the famous “marathon” dance performances.
The first magazine was produced by a committee in 1973 and shortly afterwards Susan Cohen took on the editorship of what was to become the first long-term written documentation of the national dance scene.
Magazine publishing is a risky and money-losing operation, and the magazine suffered from these economic woes. The most regrettable result of the economic difficulties was in paying the enormous costs of translation. In early issues, articles were printed in the language of origin and then translated into either French or English. Eventually these costs - often as much as producing the entire magazine - became prohibitive, and French language precis were included instead.
Michael Crabb took over the helm of the magazine in the spring of 1978 and cajoled a consistent and substantive bank of writing on dance over the next six years. Also, as an economic measure, Michael adopted a pseudonym and produced many articles as Kevin Singen. His assistant, Holly Small, also wrote many articles and reviews.
Sandy Evan-Jones became editor from 1984 to 1989. But by 1989, the Association was facing extreme financial difficulties as well as a disparate dance community - the magazine failed to make it the presses. The last issue, No. 61, was published in the fall of 1989.
Grant Strate, who had organized the first Dance in Canada Conference at York University and who chaired the organization through many of its most vital years, recently noted that Murray Farr had made a statement at that first Board meeting of the Association in Banff, 1973, to the effect that the organization should only last as long as it was useful. Perhaps that distant wisdom logically brings us to this point.
As the Index project did not begin until 1986, it does not include the years from 1987 to 1989. It is hoped that in the near future, this work will be completed.
Abra, Jock 1973-74, No.1 p14
Abreut, Ricardo Fall 1978, No.17 p27-28, Winter 1978-79, No.18 p24, Winter 1981-82, No.30 p27
Académie de Ballet du Saguenay Winter 1979-80, No.22 p24-25
Ace Buddies Spring 1977, No.12 p33, Spring 1978, No.15 p38, Fall 1978, No.17 p27-28, Fall 1979, No.21 p31-32. See also: Avatar Dancers
Acton, Sandra Summer 1986, No.48 p32
Actus Institute Fall 1983, No.37 p27-28
Adams, David Summer 1979, No.20 insert
Adams, Lawrence 1973-74, No.1 p14, Spring 1976, No.8 p2-3, Summer 1976, No.9 p12-13, Fall/Winter 1977-78, No.14 p3-4, Fall 1978, No.17 p27-28, Winter 1978-79, No.18 p21, Summer 1979, No.20 insert, Spring 1983, No.35 p30, Summer 1983, no.36 p27, Summer 1984, No.40 p65, Summer 1985, No.44 p33, Summer 1986, No.48 p46
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