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TDF Stages, Theatre Development Fund’s online magazine, with features that focus on the process of making theatre from the artist’s point of view, has just added to its dance coverage. Today, TDF Stages has launched a new short documentary film series, MEET THE DANCE COMPANY.  The first company bring profiled is Sidra Bell Dance New York. Upcoming films will highlight Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, Dorrance Dance and Big Dance Theater. These short films are generally four minutes in length.

This new series is a welcome companion to TDF Stages’ highly successful MEET THE THEATRE series, which tells the stories of Off and off-Off Broadway theatre companies.  Each short film introduces audiences to the company’s overall mission and identity, tailoring everything from graphics to music to editing style to suit the troupe being profiled.  Theatres are then given carte blanche to use these films for their outreach and marketing needs.  These films are provided at no cost to the company being profiled.

“Increasing appreciation of the world of dance is integral to TDF’s mission to provide access and break barriers to attending the performing arts,” said Victoria Bailey, TDF’s Executive Director. “It is our hope that these short films, made possible with the generous support of the Howard Gilman Foundation, will entice dance attendees, from novice to seasoned, better appreciate the process of creating new works and encourage them to enjoy more performances.”

There are currently 40 companies profiled in the MEET FOR THEATRE series. Subjects include The Assembly, Gideon Productions, Keen Company, Transport Group, NAATCO, Lesser America, Intar, and New York Neo-Futurists.

TDF Stages, which is edited by TDF’s Associate Director of Online Presence/Journalism Mark Blankenship, currently has a readership of 75,000 monthly. It may be accessed directly from the TDF homepage at www.tdf.org or www.tdf.org/stages/home.

In addition to the MEET THE THEATRE and MEET THE DANCE COMPANY series, TDF Stages features articles written by some of the leading theatre writers in the country. It is also home to the TDF Theatre Dictionary, which now boasts over 80 videos that humorously define theatre expressions, and the SDC Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation podcast series – Masters of the Stage, which offers rare insights into the working process of America’s most seminal directors and choreographers.  These podcasts are free to download through iTunes.

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TDF would like to thank THE HOWARD GILMAN FOUNDATION for their generous support of TDF’s  dance-based programs and initiatives