Gowanus Arts guest room attracts dancers to Brooklyn
During the dance performances this past Saturday night at Gowanus Arts, I realized that Andy Warhol based his “15 minutes of fame” notion on a viewer’s attention span between TV commercial breaks in the 1960s.
Now, in an age of tweets and podcasts, it’s hard for choreographers to know what is compelling, or, at the very least, appealing to an audience.
This was especially true for the soloists and groups who came from out of town for Spoke the Hub Dancing’s 8th Gowanus Guest Room, co-produced and curated by Erin Gottwald, who teaches ballet at Spoke the Hub’s school and performs with Sokolow Dance Theater. The dancers paid their own way for some exposure in Brooklyn’s slice of the Big Apple.
Elise Long, founder and artistic director of Spoke the Hub, explained the purpose of the Guest Room: “We’ve been producing showcases for 35 years, mostly of artists who lived in the neighborhood but felt they had to perform in Manhattan [to gain legitimacy].” When, in 2007, Gottwald proposed inviting former colleagues to demonstrate their passion for modern dance at 295 Douglass St., the idea seemed like a natural extension of the dance organization’s commitment to outreach.