L.A. troupe is taking a leading role

Sixteen years ago, Joan Myers Brown, artistic director of the Philadelphia-based black dance company Philadanco, invited some colleagues with their own African American dance troupes to get together and talk about the vicissitudes of their calling.

Myers Brown expected only a handful of people to show up. Instead, 80 did, and that first meeting became the basis for the International Assn. of Blacks in Dance, an annual event that, in recent years, has drawn as many as 1,000 attendees from around the world to exchange ideas, commiserate and watch performances. This year, it’s being hosted at various Los Angeles venues by the locally based Lula Washington Dance Theatre, beginning today and ending Sunday.

“I started the conference because we needed to have our own organization to network and share information,” says Myers Brown, who is on one of this year’s panels and also is bringing eight men from Philadanco to perform. “It’s really important to the African American community, to presenters and funders, and it’s an opportunity to see all of us in one place at one time.”

This year’s theme, “The Business of Dance,” is particularly apt given the Washington company’s situation: Not only is it celebrating its 25th anniversary but it’s doing so in a new $1.3-million home in the Crenshaw district. A longtime conference participant, it first hosted the association when the members convened in Los Angeles in 1992.

“The conference helped us grow, and we also have a national framework of support,” says the company’s executive director (and the husband of its founder), Erwin Washington. “If we need something, we have people we can call on for direction and guidance.”

According to Lula Washington, who is on the association’s board, “In the dance community, there’s a lack of understanding of how organizations can function better as businesses and how organizations can benefit and grow from particular programs and resources available that they might not be aware of.”

This year, several nuts-and-bolts panels are designed to address that lack of understanding. There will be discussions about how to create a business plan, receive grants and obtain nonprofit status, as well as primers on such topics as nailing an audition, managing a career, putting together a press kit and coping with that dancer bugaboo, chronic pain.

With more than 500 people expected to be on hand -- and performances by such artists and troupes Rennie Harris, Jamal Story, the Dallas Black Dance Theatre and the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company -- the conference is also an occasion to honor outstanding individuals in the field of black dance. This year, awards will be presented to Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Arthur Mitchell, artistic director of Dance Theatre of Harlem since its founding in 1969.

Kaiser is considered a rainmaker in the arts, having been instrumental in turning around companies in financial distress, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, which he ran for several years in the early ‘90s, and the Dayton (Ohio) Contemporary Dance Company. Last year, when Mitchell’s company suspended operations because of financial troubles, its school reopened after Kaiser helped raise the necessary funds.

A self-described optimist, Kaiser plans to address the challenges faced by arts organizations of color.

“African Americans have had a huge role in the development of modern dance,” he says. “I liken it to jazz, in which there’s been a remarkable infusion of African American creativity. But arts organizations of people of color are relatively small, and to the extent they don’t talk to each other, they end up being isolated.

“I’ll be discussing the importance of having a plan, which is focused first on doing exciting new art and then marketing that art aggressively. Because if you do good art that is well marketed, the money comes.”

Although the conference is intended to be international, this year no groups from outside the U.S. will participate. The reasons, Washington says, are both economic and logistic.

Attendees will hear from one other distinguished artist. At 74, or four years Mitchell’s senior, choreographer Donald McKayle continues to teach and make dances from a base at UC Irvine. His Rainbow Etude Ensemble will perform Friday.

His hope for the conference, McKayle says, is that “thoughts will come out that will help shape the future.” But asked what sets black dance apart, he demurs.

“It’s been redefined and redefined and there’s no definition of it. When I see good and wonderful work, I’m excited. If it happens to be a black choreographer, I’m excited. I’m also excited if they’re Chinese, Japanese or Caucasian. Dance is something that excites me.”

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International Assn. of Blacks in Dance performances

Where: Lula Washington Dance Theatre Studio, 3773 S. Crenshaw Blvd., L.A.

When: 9 p.m. Thursday

Price: $20

Contact: (323) 292-5852

Also

Where: Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Cal State L.A., 5151 State University Drive, L.A.

When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Price: $30 to $40

Contact: (323) 343-6600 or www.ticketmaster.com