About DCA

General Information

The Dance Critics Association was created in 1973, when a group of dance critics attending a Philadelphia arts conference saw a need for an organization that represented working dance critics. The groups primary focus, then and now, was an annual meeting to serve dance writers. DCA was formally established in 1974, also the year of its first convention.

Now, the association has nearly three hundred members – both freelance and full-time – who write for newspapers, magazines and websites across the US, as well as in Europe and Asia. DCA continues to host a yearly conference in the late spring or early summer where critics, editors, writers, scholars, dancers and choreographers convene to discuss issues that impact the world of dance in general, and the art form of dance criticism in particular.