Year: 2012-2013
DanceForce Member: Toni Smith
Community Partners: Dance Alliance – Ballston Spa NY; Kim Engel; Partners in Dance
Audience: 2,500
Counties: Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady

The Capital Region Dance Season Calendar has become a tradition in upstate New York for at least five counties. It is a one-page calendar listing of dance performances, events and festivals that are scheduled to take place over a full calendar year.

The Capital region is a compilation of four major cities that are within a twenty mile radius (Albany, Saratoga Springs, Troy and Schenectady) of each other. Collectively, they are the home to close to a dozen performing arts venues that host dance. Each arts or education organization that sponsors dance activity markets its own unique season.

The Capital Region Dance Season Calendar gathers data on all dance events over a twelve-month period and makes it available to ticket buyers, educators, arts organizations and more. The design of the calendar is full color, foldable for mailing and presentable for tabling. It is the one project that all regional dance presenters do together, allowing for an arena for back and forth conversation.

2,500 calendars were printed, the design fee was partially donated, and a local dance membership organization paid for the postage for a first class mailing to activists in the dance field. All administrative efforts and fees were donated.

The information and photographs are gathered over a one-month period in late summer when local dance organizations have set their upcoming seasons. Once the calendar is printed it is provided for all partners who participated, and placed in brochure-friendly locations around the region several times over a twelve-month period. In some ways the desire to be listed in the calendar encourages early, responsible setting of dates and seasons for local dance companies.