Letter from the Editor: As 2021 Begins, I'm Feeling Grateful

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how lucky the dance community is. I know, I know. That’s a tricky thing to say after the devastating year we’ve had, and given the enormous challenges still ahead. But as 2020 drew to a close, I kept coming back to how fortunate we are to be in a profession filled with such resilient, thoughtful, dedicated, intelligent people.

For instance, I’m continually awed by the brilliance of people like Sydney Skybetter and Maya Man, who illuminate the intersection of dance and tech in mind-blowing ways. I’m encouraged by the care so many have taken to make sure this industry survives, whether that means reimagining institutional systems to make dance more inclusive or building creative alternatives when mainstays—like traditional summer intensives or, you know, proscenium stage performances—prove impossible.

Maybe more than anything, I’m struck by the never-ending creativity of dance artists, which is on full display in “25 to Watch,” Dance Magazine‘s annual list of the up-and-comers we see as the future of this field.

As we ring in the new year, I think it’s worth taking a moment to be grateful for dance artists’ massive reserves of talent and drive. They are what’s going to get the dance world through to the other end of this crisis—and help us thrive as we build back stronger than ever.