It is VERY important that we don't let the coverage of dance in the Los Angeles Dance Community fade away. Please, Please take a moment to read on. Thank you!

We apologize if anyone's already received this, but it's a very important petition to keep dance and choreography covered by the L.A. Times. Please sign the petition and forward this along!

BACKGROUND:

There is no one on staff covering dance in Los Angeles at the L.A. Times, so artists, agents, producers, and audiences have gathered with a way to show that our community cannot be ignored.

We believe that Los Angelenos need a commitment from news organizations such as the L.A. Times to support the amazing, fast growing art forms of choreography and dance as seen on the screens and stages of Los Angeles. At a time when dance has never been more popular, we ask you to sign this petition to support the reinstatement and growth of dance staff and coverage at the L.A. Times.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=E0W6R9XACQ7KdRDJO_2bjxFA_3d_3d

Please click and sign the petition linked above, it takes 2 minutes, then forward this email and link to anyone who is a business person, artist, organization leader, or lover of dance in Los Angeles. We are hoping to gather thousands of signatures, then place a full page ad in the L.A. Times in the next two weeks. Let's show the demand for dance coverage in the L.A. Media!!

UPDATE:

The dance community of Los Angeles recently rallied behind an online statement to support the future of coverage of dance in LA, without a full time critic. After gathering 1852 signatures, and help from the LA Stage Alliance, Michelle Mierz sat down face to face with Lisa Fung, the LA Times Arts Editor, on April 10th: Lisa Fung recognizes the recent growth and strength of dance in LA and in popular media; a fact those of us in the field are very proud of and therein our hopes for continued quality, depth, and breadth of media coverage lie. There is no plan to scale back coverage, rather to increase the options for dance coverage online and in print; with that, LA Stage Alliance and Michelle are planning an event with the LA Times and the arts and entertainment community to understand how to collaboratively work together and further our goal of lifting up dance in LA.