We are excited to announce Issue 2 of our new Danspace Project Journal. According to the Oxford Dictionary a journal is “a newspaper or magazine that deals with a particular subject or professional activity.” We do not intend for this to be an academic “peer-reviewed” journal, although scholars are welcome here. But we do have a particular sphere of professional artistic activity that drives our work. Our goal is to shed light on the ideas of the choreographers, artists, writers, curators, and scholars with whom we engage every day at Danspace Project.

In 2010, we initiated the Choreographic Center Without Walls, which included the launch of the PLATFORMS. Since that time we have been encouraging a wide range of choreographic and curatorial research. We have questioned our own presenting methodologies, created new formats for presenting dance, and basically rearranged our way of working. This Journal is an attempt to share our collective research, writings, images, and reflections. And, as we settle in to our new Journal, we will expand to include ideas and projects from artists and colleagues, throughout the country and internationally.

To this end, we are partnering with Wesleyan University’s Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP) and will, in future issues, include writing from ICPP’s faculty, alumni, and guest artists. ICPP’s director Sam Miller will be one of two Writers-in-Residence for PLATFORM 2016: A Body in Places, who will be responding to select events from now through the end of the PLATFORM on March 23rd. We are also excited to welcome oral historian Svetlana Kitto as a new Writer-in-Residence, focusing on the people and places of the East Village.

Issue 2 coalesces around PLATFORM 2016: A Body in Places. In addition to posts from our Writers-in-Residence, you will find weekly Video Postcards by Alexis Moh (documenting Eiko’s solo performances around the East Village), a Diachronic Map of the East Village, a glimpse into Simone Forti’s recent visit to the former Reuben Gallery, commentary on Eiko’s film series at Anthology Film Archives by digital archivist Leeroy Kun Young Kang, and much more.

Putting the first two issues together has been a major effort by the Danspace staff, in particular Lily Cohen and Michael DiPietro. We are also thrilled to introduce our Curatorial Research Fellow, Jaime Shearn Coan, who is serving as editor for the Journal and conducting research for our 2016 PLATFORMS. We are grateful to have Jaime onboard.

–Judy Hussie-Taylor