The Dancing Times is closing down

[Suffolkgal]

So typical of printed titles of all sorts I’m sad to say.

[Odyssey]

I was so sorry to hear of the demise of this excellent publication, but it’s a too familiar story where print based media is concerned. I have some recent experience of running a niche magazine that commenced publication nearly 30 years ago. It became increasingly difficult to obtain the regular support of advertisers, particularly with the onset of the pandemic. Those publishers and organisations that did advertise began to make, what we considered to be, unreasonable demands in terms of content to the point that it began to threaten the integrity of the independence of the magazine. Subscription numbers remained steady, but there was no significant growth in new subscribers. Last year we took the difficult decision to cease publication when it became evident that that the long term future of the publication became untenable.  When you look at the numerous magazine shelves in WH Smiths you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is a thriving industry, but the vast majority are products from a very small number of publishing houses and these are closely linked to other media or commercial organisations . Dancing Times did well to keep going for so many years against such a difficult backdrop. But the future isn’t a rosy one for independent print based magazines . 

[FionaM]

I read DANZA&DANZA via the Pocketmags app.  
 

It is Italian and also covers Europe, and, is available in English as well as Italian.  The latest issue has articles on RB’s Like Water for Chocolate and Osipova’s new Carmen. 
 

i don’t know if it’s available as hard copy as well as online.  
 

https://www.danzaedanza.com/en/home.html

[Emeralds]

Oh no!  😢😭😥

 

I read Dancing Times as student (long time ago) and still read it when I can. Ironically, I had been buying more issues recently than I used to.  There are so many valuable and much loved companies and services closing of late around me, first due to Brexit, then due to the pandemic closures, and now due to rising cost of living and raw materials/utilities as a result of the invasion. 

 

Will miss them - wish it were not so. Thanks to all the staff, photographers  and writers over the years at Dancing Times for a very enjoyable publication. Anyone got some spare millions and feel like resuscitating it? 

[alison]

I too was very sorry to hear of this.  Dancing Times never was something I would read cover to cover, but I appreciated the Pocketmags subscription as it enabled me to keep in touch with the things I wanted to read without having to hunt high and low for a copy.

 

On 12/08/2022 at 19:34, Odyssey said:

When you look at the numerous magazine shelves in WH Smiths you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is a thriving industry, but the vast majority are products from a very small number of publishing houses and these are closely linked to other media or commercial organisations . Dancing Times did well to keep going for so many years against such a difficult backdrop.

 

Ah, yes, WH Smiths.  As the "nation's newsagent", I've been pretty appalled at its attitude to shelving (i.e. where you put them on the shelves) dance publications.  The logical thing, surely, when you have a magazine clearly with a photo of a dance performance on the front cover, would be to stack it along with the music, opera and theatre magazines?  But apparently that's far too sensible.  I've found it, depending on the branch, in with the women's magazines (because of course we know that men aren't interested in dance, don't we ), in the hobbies section, and I think once next to the military and aircraft mags.  Indeed, so convinced was I that my local large town's branch didn't stock any dance magazines that I used to go to the neighbouring town instead to get them.  It was only when I spotted them in a much smaller branch that I thought, "Hang on, if they're stocking them why doesn't my local?"  After searching row by row along the shelves, I eventually found them - tucked in next to the angling magazines!! (and on a completely different set of shelves from the other performance magazines.  Talk about not putting them anywhere where they might be found by likeminded people). 

 

So, what I was working my way round to saying was that it seems that the dice are rather stacked against "niche" specialist publications these days.  I remember the days when Dance Books, the more serious bookshops, specialist classical music shops and even some of the local newsagents in the Covent Garden area used to stock the dance (and opera) publications.  Most of the specialists are no more, and the traditional local newsagents - along with supermarkets - have depleted the range of magazines they stock in favour of drinks, sweets and food, which presumably sell better.  The loss of the ROH Shop for several years during the Open Up redevelopment must have been a blow - and other stockists such as Sadler's Wells being closed during the pandemic even more so. 

[Sabine0308]

I have a subscription for the "Dance for you" magazine. It's in German but contains also articles and interviews in English. It covers not only dance and dancer news, but also highlights interesting topics like better nutrition and health preservation for dancers. 

https://www.danceforyou-magazine.com

[Jan McNulty]

35 minutes ago, Sabine0308 said:

I have a subscription for the "Dance for you" magazine. It's in German but contains also articles and interviews in English. It covers not only dance and dancer news, but also highlights interesting topics like better nutrition and health preservation for dancers. 

https://www.danceforyou-magazine.com

 

We link the English reviews.  We can only see a couple of paragraphs of the features before you have to pay.

[li tai po]

I understand that the final edition has now been published, although I have not yet received my hard copy.

 

I also have a digital subscription, but unfortunately Exact Editions have already removed The Dancing Times from their platform, including the archive of 67 years.

 

 

[Sebastian]

20 hours ago, li tai po said:Exact Editions have already removed The Dancing Times from their platform, including the archive of 67 years.

 

This is awful. Who should we write to at Exact Editions, in the hope of getting them to reverse this move? 

[alison]

Who are Exact Editions?  My subscription is with PocketMags.

[bridiem]

On 29/08/2022 at 01:06, li tai po said:

I understand that the final edition has now been published, although I have not yet received my hard copy.

 

I also have a digital subscription, but unfortunately Exact Editions have already removed The Dancing Times from their platform, including the archive of 67 years.

 

 

 

I very much hope that a full archive, hard copy and digital, is held and will be preserved in various places.

[maryrosesatonapin]

I did think of letting my sub lapse during lockdown but decided they needed support and am glad I continued.  Little did I know how much .... poor Dancing Times.  It's the end of an era.

[SheilaC]

Have other subscribers received the final copy yet? I'm just back from my London ballet/dance trip and fully expected to have my copy waiting for me but no sign of it. I never got the final copy of Dance and Dancers, either.

[alison]

I've not had a notification that the digital version is ready, either.  Perhaps they're taking their time about it, since it is to be the last one?

[bridiem]

46 minutes ago, SheilaC said:

Have other subscribers received the final copy yet? I'm just back from my London ballet/dance trip and fully expected to have my copy waiting for me but no sign of it. I never got the final copy of Dance and Dancers, either.

 

Yes, I received mine earlier this week. It has Ivan Putrov on the cover.

[capybara]

No copy received by me yet but, then, it is always late arriving.

[Bluebird]

39 minutes ago, alison said:

I've not had a notification that the digital version is ready, either.  Perhaps they're taking their time about it, since it is to be the last one?

 

The digital version is available. I downloaded it a few days ago.

[AnneMarriott]

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

 

Yes, I received mine earlier this week. It has Ivan Putrov on the cover.

Me too.

[Ian Macmillan]

Now you mention it, no sign of one here yet, and it would often arrive before the turn of the month.  (And our sub had just renewed before the announcement!)

[jmhopton]

I've not had a notification about the digital edition either and I always have done before. Will have to try and access it via the website.

[Bluebird]

8 hours ago, jmhopton said:

I've not had a notification about the digital edition either and I always have done before. Will have to try and access it via the website.

If you download the app, you'll find the edition automatically appears, ready to download.

[jmhopton]

Thanks Bluebird. I'll try this.

[bridiem]

I do hope they find a suitable buyer for their photographs collection (see today's Links).