This really wasnʼt as tough conversation or hard interview to schedule as I thought it may be. I simply asked Cathy for 30 minutes of her time and Tuesday at 1pm worked for her.
Cathy Eilers is the director of Joyce Soho. I knew she would be a person steeped in the
New York, downtown dance scene and a good person to have a conversation on dance with. I had no idea she would be so nice and easy to talk to. Given Joyce Soho’s location and reputation, I guess I was expecting a snobby hipster.
When I left the office, I was glad; it was a gorgeous spring day in New York City. The sun was shining and warming my face. It was one of those days where you need to put on your sunglasses for both the blinding light of spring and to guard your eyes from the wind that blows up street grit around you. Gorgeous!
I came within a block of Joyce Soho and found a film crew working on the street in front. I dodged extras as I entered the building. The crew had set up in the lobby of the theater and it felt odd to me to see so much equipment laying around in the theater lobby. I went upstairs and into Cathy’s office. She told me film crews rent there all the time. She mentioned that Pippin, the Operations Manager, had been at Joyce Soho since 3am that morning in order to accommodate them. Then Cathy, in her buzzy style, said that she couldn’t remember what our topic of conversation was supposed to be about. In her style, she abruptly stopped mid-sentence and paused. Still focused on her computer screen she explained, “I’m having a hard time finishing my thoughts lately,” then turned towards me, smiling hugely.
She immediately jumped in and started talking about the need for staff at the theater. Which led to the topic of these “hard economic times” and how everyone is still hurting. Economically, things are not getting better for her small theater, or the larger Joyce Foundation, but things are stabilizing. She shifted to talking about the Joyce Soho’s Meet the Agents panel. She said in one of the recent panels almost every agent in New York showed up and it became an Us vs. Them discussion between agents and dancers. The agents felt as if the dance companies who turned out for the panel discussion weren’t ‘good’ enough to be represented. The dancers just wanted more information. The point of the panel was to break down the mystery behind finding an agent and getting bookings. The discussion between the agents and the dancers never got that far. The topic of conversation skipped from there to how transparency in a person on the business side of performing arts is appreciated.
Cathy never stopped playing with the papers on her desk that were organized in a tiered column. Her hands never stopped touching the papers, the paper clips. Cathy’s energy is like a caffeine buzz. She appears very eager, in a good girl, pleasing way. Our banter literally zoomed from topic to topic. It went from submissions by young choreographers to Joyce Soho, to how the part of her job that she hates most is curating. She doesn’t like to feel like she’s “playing God.” And yet she is swamped with over 200 submissions and only 15 spots this season. She does not assume that she is qualified to create a season; however, it’s something she has to do, like it or not. She is frank and very practical. Cathy is a self-described helper.
During our conversation we didn’t solve any of the dance world’s problems, we didn’t come up with any new brilliant ideas on audience engagement or social media.
Our discussion turned to artists’ feelings. We both don’t like to hear about people taking this business too personally. Some young artists understand that curating, choosing and granting truly can be a numbers game once the panel/curator/presenter shows interest in the work. Once the idea, energy, theme of the dance grabs the attention of an educated programmer and the work stands apart, it then becomes a question of scheduling, fees and logistics. This is the business side of art. The dark side if you will.
Conversation swerved on from there to something that is a favorite topic at the Joyce Foundation meetings- current BFA dance program curriculums. It’s refreshing and yet depressing how each young dancer here in New York feels like the world is theirs for the taking. That greeness is not something one wants to squash. Cathy and I wished we could hand that newby an art/life/balance handbook- something practical. Cathy feels a sense of responsibility toward these people in her position as the Director of Joyce SoHo. Is the life of a dancer something you want to warn people about? I say let experience come to you.
We both wished for a Reality 101 class in BFA/Dance programs. A class where they teach young dancers how to balance their check books, build performance budgets, get their Pilates certification and open a bottle of wine. Maybe there should be a class or a full curriculum that allows eager young dancers to train in dance technique(s) while focusing on other aspects simultaneously- like writing on dance, arts marketing, technical stage craft…This is where Cathy ran her eyes over her desk and said, “We have a handbook that breaks down the process of putting up a show that we hand out to each choreographer that comes here (pause) but I don’t know where it is” and turned to me and again smiled hugely.
She seemed to have much empathy towards performers. It made me wonder if that’s why she was there, getting paid peanuts to help these young, emerging and sometimes not always emerging, choreographers produce themselves (or subsidize themselves) at her stage. After all, she is a self-described helper.
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