Welcome to CriticalDance! We hope you will find the site a welcoming place for discussion about a wide range of dance matters and a good resource for all styles of dance performance.

This is a guide to help you find your way around CriticalDance and get the most out of the site. Please contact us on if you have any problems or queries.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find my way around?

How are the forums organised and why are there so many?

If I want to know about a particular company, ballet or dancer, what do I do?

Is there an easy way to see the most recent posts?

Do I need to register?

Why can't I login or register?

I lost my password or I never received one. How do I retrieve it?

How can I post comments or information on CriticalDance?

Why does CriticalDance have a courtesy rule?

Where do I find reviews, interviews and features?

How do I get published on CriticalDance or Ballet-Dance Monthly?

Where do I go for more information?

How do I find my way around?
To help you find your way around, there are menus on the Home Page and at the top of the page in each of the forums. On some pages (static pages) you will find a menu on the left-hand side.

How are the forums organised and why are there so many?
Because we are a busy discussion board, often with 50+ active topics each day, we have divided the board into various specific forums. It’s useful to read through the short forum descriptions, which we hope are clear, but do let us know if they are not. Please note the forums in our "Behind the Scenes" section near the bottom of the board, in particular the two forums for dancers, teachers and students -- "The Studio" and "Students' Questions and Experiences." If in doubt or if nowhere seems appropriate, remember we have a "Dance Miscellany" forum.

We also have a "What’s New on CriticalDance" forum for board messages and reader introductions. Any problems, queries or suggestions about CriticalDance should also be posted here (but please don't hesitate to contact us on ).

If I want to know about a particular company, ballet or dancer, what do I do?
We have a search function which can be used if you are looking for specific information on a particular subject -- a dancer, company, technique or theme. The search function is found near the top right corner of each page in the forum.

As an example, go to search, type in New York City Ballet, then choose Ballet from the forum list, click on the search button and you will see a number of topics mentioning this theme.

If you are not sure which forum will have the information you want, there is also an option to search the entire forum but this does take a few minutes.

If a search generates too many topics, think about including more words in the Search box, such as New York City Ballet 2003. Do not put your search words between "…", as you can do with Google, as it doesn’t work here and will give a nil return.

Is there an easy way to see the most recent posts?
A number of readers use this daily -- you can find it near the top right corner of the forum pages. It provides all the live topics in the past 24 hours with a rollover at midnight (currently Mountain Time i.e. PST –1; EST+4) with brief quotes of the latest posts and direct links to the topics.

Do I need to register?
If you want to just read the articles and postings on CriticalDance, then you don’t need to register. However we really hope that you will want to join in the discussions and that means that you will need to register, which is free and quick. Your e-mail address must be valid, as we will send you a password, which you will need to use when posting to the Board.

Click here to register

You can change your password, by clicking on my profile found alongside the search function described above.

Why can't I login or register?
In 100% of all cases where a potential member isn't able to register for the first time or unable to log back in after registering, the problem has been found to be related to security settings on the member's computer or network. The forum software can only work if the browser settings are set to normal, standard or default and with cookies allowed. If there is a firewall installed on the network, it too should be set to allow cookies.

I lost my password or I never received one. How do I retrieve it?
At any time, you can retrieve your password by clicking on the login link on any forum page and then clicking on the Lost Password link or by clicking here. You will have to enter the email address with which you registered. The software will look for the email address, find the matching password and email it to you at the registered email address. This is to verify that you are who you say you are, which protects you and the forum from impostors. If it did not find a match, then you may have registered under a different email address, in which case you should try another email address that you may have used to register with. If that doesn't work or if you could not have conceivably registered with a different email address, then the registration may have been unsuccessful, in which case you should re-register.

How can I post comments or information on CriticalDance?
We are keen for our members to join in the many active discussions we have going at any one time. In any of the topic threads, please do not hesitate to join in by just clicking the “Post Reply” button near top right and typing your reply in the box provided. If you want to write 100 words or more, consider writing your message in Word or something similar and then Copy and Paste the text into the postings box. You can preview your post or submit the message directly. You must be logged in before a posting will be accepted.

If you wish to edit your post, just click on the pen and paper icon at the top of your post. This will take you back to an input box, where you can change the text. You cannot completely delete your post, as in some circumstances this can mean that others lose their posts as well. However, you can erase your text and replace your message with a request to the Moderators to take action to delete the post.

Why does CriticalDance have a courtesy rule?
A key aspect of CriticalDance is that we are a friendly and courteous site that allows discussion, which sometimes can become passionate. However, we want this to be a place where artists, their friends and their colleagues are not angered or embarrassed by what they read and where other posters will not feel that their opinions will be mocked or dismissed. We therefore have a clear policy and guidelines providing details of what this means in practise. Here are the full details: CriticalDance.com courtesy rule.

Where do I find reviews, interviews and features?
Within the discussion board you will find many reviews, features and interviews concerning companies, dancers and dance themes. Again the search function is a good way of finding areas of specific interest to you. However we also have three sections dedicated to these themes, where we have archived a selection of articles. To get to these, you can click on the “Reviews”, “Features” and “Interviews” either on the CriticalDance home page or in the bar along the top of every forum page.

From time to time we run special forums to mark a company’s particular visit or festival. In the past, this has included San Francisco Ballet’s visit to London, Dance Umbrella, and US National Dance Week 2003, among others. You will find a link to these Special Pages on our Home Page and the archived forums near the bottom of the main forum page.

How do I get published on CriticalDance or Ballet-Dance Monthly?
Firstly, we want to stress that Critical-Dance does not pay for articles. We are a non-commercial site, staffed by volunteers from the international dance community. This is how we have managed to maintain a community spirit in our forum. If you have a review or a feature you would like to contribute, post them into the appropriate existing threads (or create new ones if required). Our editors will review the forum for posts to be considered. If you have a special project you wish to discuss with us, contact . You may find the following helpful: Ballet-Dance Monthly Writer's Guidelines. If you are new to writing about dance and would like to give it a try, please see the friendly guide: You Too Can Write A Review.

Where do I go for more information?
We hope you will find the above information useful and if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail any of the moderators or .

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