I stopped mid-edit last Tuesday, staring at a press release about a new ballet gala, and realized I had no clue what half the choreographic terms actually meant. Pirouette? Sure. Port de bras? Vaguely. But "épaulement" might as well have been French plumbing jargon. That moment changed how I approach every piece that crosses my desk at DanceWami.
The Problem With Editing From the Sidelines
Most dance publications are run by people who write beautifully about movement — but have never felt the burn of a relevé held for eight counts. There's a disconnect. You can spot it in reviews that praise "fluid transitions" without explaining what made them fluid. Or articles that call a performance "groundbreaking" without describing the actual technique that broke ground.
When I started attending open classes at a local studio — embarrassingly wobbly, I'll admit — my editing transformed overnight. Suddenly I could tell when a writer was glossing over something. I knew which questions to ask dancers in interviews. And my own descriptions gained a texture they'd been missing.
Multimedia Isn't a Gimmick — It's a Language
Dance is motion. Words alone can only carry so much weight. The strongest dance journalism I've encountered weaves in video clips, rehearsal footage, and even slow-motion breakdowns of specific movements. A reader who watches a dancer execute a controlled fall while you describe the mechanics of it? They're hooked. They understand.
But here's the catch: slapping a YouTube embed at the top of an article isn't multimedia. It's lazy. Real integration means the visual supports the narrative. A 15-second clip of a costume fitting, placed right when you're describing how fabric affects movement — that's storytelling.
What's Still Missing in Dance Media
We don't hear enough from the people in the room where it happens. Not the stars — the rehearsal directors, the lighting designers, the stage managers who catch a dancer's eye before a cue. These voices carry authority and specificity that no amount of editorial polish can fake.
I once interviewed a sound designer who worked with a contemporary company. She described how she layered breathing sounds into the score to make the audience unconsciously sync with the dancers' rhythm. That single detail taught me more about the performance than any review ever had.
Editing Is a Contact Sport
Good dance writing doesn't come from careful editing alone. It comes from proximity — to studios, to sweat, to the messy creative process. If you're an editor who covers dance, get yourself into a class. Fall on your face a few times. You'll write better for it, and your readers will feel the difference in every paragraph.
