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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 at
if you have any problems or queries.
Frequently asked questions
How do I learn about all the functions
in the forum?
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 Magazine?
Where do I go for more information?
How do
I learn about all the functions in the forum?
Below the menu bar, you will find an faq link for the forum
software. You can also click here.
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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,
you will find a menu on the left-hand side.
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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 at
).
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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 of each
page in the forum.
As an example, go to search, type in Royal Danish
Ballet, select Search all terms, then choose Ballet in
Europe from the forum list if you wish to narrow the search, click
on Search topic title only if you wish to view topics focused
on the subject only, 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.
If a search generates too many topics, think about including
more words in the Search box, such as Royal Danish Ballet 2005.
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Is there an easy
way to see the most recent posts?
If you are a registered user, you can click on the view posts
since last visit link near the top right corner of the main forum
page. A number of readers use this daily. It provides all the live topics
since your last visit with brief quotes of the latest posts and direct
links to the topics.
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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 with registration comes
additional privileges, such as the ability to post and access to the view
posts since last visit link. 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 username must be unique and your e-mail
address must be valid. Remember your password as you will need it to log
in to post on the Board.
Click here
to register
You can change your username, email or password at any time,
by clicking on the profile link found near the top of any forum
page.
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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.
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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 I forgot my
password link or by clicking here.
You will have to enter the username and email address with which you registered.
The software will look for both pieces of information in its database,
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 username or email address, in which
case you should try another username and email address that you may have
used to register with. If that doesn't work or if you are sure that you
have the correct username and email address, then the initial registration
may have been unsuccessful, in which case you should re-register.
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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 the top or bottom of each topic page and typing your reply in the
box provided. If you want to write 100 words or more, consider writing
your message in Word or a text editor 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 edit
button 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.
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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.
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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 a magazine, Ballet-Dance Magazine, where there
are a healthy variety of articles. To get to these, click on any of the
links to the magazine where you will also be able to access and search
back issues.
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. Links to these special forums and sites will
be advertised when active.
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How do I get published
on CriticalDance or Ballet-Dance Magazine?
Firstly, we want to stress that CriticalDance does not pay for
articles at this time. 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 Magazine 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.
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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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