American Dance Abroad

American Dance Abroad is pleased to announce the launch of a series of programs to
strengthen the export of American dance. With a two-year grant of $175,000 from the
Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, American Dance Abroad will focus on expanding
global visibility of American dance artists, encouraging relationship building between
American dance artists and their international counterparts, and facilitating opportunities
for international presenters/programmers to see American dance in live performance.

Co-Directors Carolelinda Dickey and Andrea Snyder are spearheading American
Dance Abroad. The priorities and strategies of American Dance Abroad were identified
during a multi-year research project concluded in 2010 and funded by the Robert
Sterling Clark Foundation that investigated the global challenges facing America’s
choreographers and dance companies. The research evaluated the work and effort that
foreign governments and NGOs employ to support the artistic and economic
development of their national artists. Conversely, the research explored with American
dance artists and organizations their needs, interests and capacities to engage
successfully in international cultural exchange. According to Snyder, “The work we
undertook highlighted the glaring trade imbalance that exists between the U.S. and the
rest of the world with regard to equitable cultural exchange for our artists.” American
artists identified the need to gain access and information about opportunities to work
abroad as well as to obtain tools to help them understand the international global
market. The research also confirmed what many in the field already knew – that foreign
programs have little knowledge of American dance and even less access to see it. The
report, Dance America: An International Strategy for American Dance, was published
under the auspices of Dance/USA in 2010. (The report can be found at:
http://www.danceusa.org/internationalstrategy.)