No Dance Writing from Me this Fall

It’s official! I’ve notified my editor at the Chronicle, and I will not be writing about dance for the paper this fall. This was a difficult decision, but with each day that passes I feel more strongly this is the right decision. After six years of reviewing dance as a freelancer, I’m excited about taking time out to regroup (and happy about going to sleep at a decent hour instead of writing until two a.m. under tight deadlines). I’ll be teaching creative writing this fall, and working intensively on my novel-in-progress.

I don’t know what the paper’s plans are for dance coverage this fall and beyond; as a freelancer, I am not involved in that kind of planning. However, I felt more comfortable stepping down at this time because my fellow Chronicle freelancer Mary Ellen Hunt does such a fine job writing about dance.

I admire and love the Bay Area dance scene and its artists more than ever. And I’m thrilled about sitting in the audience as a non-critic. My last piece for the Chronicle will be the fall dance preview appearing in September. I’ll revisit the possibilities of dance criticism in 2010.