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Charles L. Reinhart has worked as a producer, manager, festival director, consultant and administrator in the arts since 1955. He has served as President of the American Dance Festival (ADF) since 1968. He is the recipient of numerous awards including Dance/USA’s Honors for lifetime achievement, Capezio Award, Dance Magazine Award, the French Government’s Officier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Commandeur dans l’orde des Artes et des Lettres, an Emmy as the Executive Producer of the 2001 PBS series, “Free To Dance: the African-American Presence in Modern Dance” and an honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from Duke University. |
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American Dance Festival, Durham, NC – Mandy Morrison
Charles L. Reinhart has worked as a producer, manager, festival director, consultant and administrator in the arts since 1955. He has served as President of the American Dance Festival (ADF) since 1968. He is the recipient of numerous awards including Dance/USA’s Honors for lifetime achievement, Capezio Award, Dance Magazine Award, the French Government’s Officier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Commandeur dans l’orde des Artes et des Lettres, an Emmy as the Executive Producer of the 2001 PBS series, “Free To Dance: the African-American Presence in Modern Dance” and an honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from Duke University.
From 1996-2004, Mr. Reinhart served as Artistic and Co-Artistic Director for Dance at the Kennedy Center. From 1967-1978, Mr. Reinhart developed and was the National Coordinator of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Dance Touring Program and was also the National Coordinator for the dance component of the NEA’s Artist-in-Schools Program from 1970-1981. He produced the City Center and Anta Theater dance seasons, City Center Spring Dance Festival and the Dance Repertory Season at the Billy Rose Theatre. In 1974, he also directed the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Mr. Reinhart has written articles for The New York Times, Dance Magazine and the North Carolina Medical Journal. He graduated from Rutgers in 1952 and studied at the graduate school of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, from 1956 to 1957. Mr. Reinhart served as a US Army historian in Korea, between 1953 and 1954.
Mandy Morrison: Identify the most problematic aspect of creating/programming public performances aside from the issues of funding.
Charles Reinhart: Choosing talented choreographers who may not incorporate your personal aesthetic, and not getting locked in to any single artistic period.
Commissioning and presenting artists that you believe in and hoping the public will buy tickets. Some artists have a quicker audience appeal than others; some take longer to build an audience. You hope you have both. But, you must do what you believe in. There have been a couple of times when I did not, but this never happened again.
MM: What are you interested in accomplishing for a) the artist and b) the public?
CR: The ADF was started by four choreographers of the second generation of modern dance to support great choreographers and train dancers. We’re trying to raise the level of appreciation for the field, as well as commission and present work and develop new audiences.
MM: In your experience, have you noticed audiences changing in the past 10-20 years; are they more or less receptive to what you are presenting?
CR: When we first presented Eiko and Komo, many of the audience members walked out. The next year, only very few did the same, and now they are a favorite. Audiences change and grow. Presenters try to serve them and there is a lot of pressure to do so. It’s great when somebody you believe in sells tickets. Our goal is to help the artist as much as possible and, ultimately, the audiences will search them out for themselves.
MM: Have you noticed a change in the artists vis a vis their practice and/or attitudes toward their practice and their audiences?
CR: The younger artists’ network has increased in size and the field is larger so the base of the pyramid is much wider. Where there used to be 50 companies, there are now 5000. If you are a young choreographer and you do something interesting, a lot of attention gets paid, and the pressure to succeed quickly mounts, but that may hinder creative development.
MM: How could things be improved, or is that a nonstarter questions/issue?
CR: Presenters should be as close as possible to those artists that they believe in and should support them in all possible ways. Things can be improved by raising the awareness of the importance of modern dance, as well as of the arts in general. Look what happened to us old folks; we are now called senior citizens and not “old people,” due to the greatly improved perception of our group, socially and politically, made possible by organizations (i.e. AARP). A similar organization composed of art lovers could accomplish that.
MM: What are some of the things that arts organizations and funders/sponsors are doing that are helpful; what is detrimental?
CR: Funding organizations need to consult with the field and then develop a strategic plan. More in-depth programming is needed to meet the specific major needs of the field. There is too much spreading it around and not enough in-depth funding to achieve real results.
MM: If provocative work is more likely to alienate than engage its audience is it in the hosts’ or the organization’s best interest to provide that artist or group a venue? Why or why not?
CR: We have to risk. Familiarity breeds love and appreciation. What shocks you today may not shock you next week. Before I tell an artist he or she will have to put their clothes on, they’ll have to carry me out. The audience will support great work, and eventually, we have to help the artist make the work.
MM: What has been your most gratifying presentation as a host organization and why?
CR: When you are able to help great choreographers, both young and established, in any direction.
MM: What do you think is important for artists to consider in creating proscenium work?
CR: An artist needs to think about the entire program and how all the parts work together. They need to examine themselves and ask, “How good am I?” [They] need to realize that how they develop their concept is more important than the concept itself.
MM: Given the current political climate in the US, do you feel that a personal aesthetic in the performance realm diminishes the larger issues we in Western culture collectively face, or does it enhance these issues?
CR: Art has often reacted to political considerations, and often not favorably. The current horrible political situation is fodder for great artists. Recently, I have seen a restrictive political climate censor or push artists to self-censor. The larger implications of that are that we need to fight those restrictions, to take them on and, recently in dance, we have.
