The inclusion of live dance is hardly unusual for living history museums, but the last decade has seen a surge in the number of art museums turning to the Greek muse Terpsichore to push the envelope. “Budgets may be shrinking,” says Blumenthal, “but in terms of programming, we’re getting more and more creative.” A number of world-class institutions are trading chamber music for what Catherine Turocy, founder and artistic director of the New York Baroque Dance Ensemble, has dubbed “sculpture in motion.” Maybe your museum can follow suit.

“Live dance is a draw with audiences of all ages,” says Sara Moyn, producer of evening programs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “It’s lively, engaging and full of energy.” Last August, Moyn produced a Victorian-themed Art After 5 event in conjunction with the museum’s “Late Renoir” exhibit that featured authentic parlor music, live models dressed in 19th-century garb and performing artists from Shien Lee’s “Dances of Vice,” a New York-based series of monthly costume balls focusing on various historic time periods. Reflecting on the success of the event, which included an elegant fan dance and a balletic routine with a lace parasol, Moyn recalls, “It’s not that I wanted the programming to be provocative, but it’s just so easy to program a [string] quartet. Instead, we’re trying to make a layered program, something that the audience has never encountered before.”

For Moyn, it’s all about translation —in this case, how to evoke Renoir in a live program that would be accessible to the general public. Following this vein, the Walters’s Blumenthal says, “We’re really interested in this idea of transforming the space, especially for family programs. We want kids to experience what it was like to live in ancient Egypt, what it was like to be a knight. Dance troupes, such as Chorégraphie Antique, are really critical to making this happen.”

Under the leadership of Chrystelle Bond, Chorégraphie Antique has performed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C, Baltimore Museum of Art, Hampton National Historic Site in Towson, Md., Colonial Williamsburg and Baltimore’s Maryland Historical Society. The company also provides live entertainment for museum fundraisers throughout the Baltimore area to get donors up and dancing.

Bond advises museums to “mark the opening of a special exhibit with a historic dance program that corresponds to the artist’s lifetime. For example, pair Baroque art with Baroque dance.” Considering the integration of the arts historically, especially in the 18th century, this makes perfect sense. But given the diverse needs of the visual arts versus the performing arts, interdisciplinary endeavors are often easier said than done.

Museums present challenges that dancers don’t typically encounter in a traditional performance space with a proscenium stage, auditorium and backstage facilities. “We need two secure dressing rooms for our dancers, one for the men and one for the women,” Bond explains. “Also, audience participation seems to be the highlight of our programs, but if we are performing in a gallery, we need some way to control the flow of newcomers to keep them from talking during the performance.”

Whereas Moyn prefers to clearly delineate the space between “stage” and “audience” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (due in part to safety concerns), Blumenthal takes a more holistic approach at the Walters. One dancer who performed several times at the museum used stanchions to separate the audience and the performance space. “We don’t like to create those barriers and, as such, we have not invited this dancer back,” Blumenthal says.

Turocy echoes Bond’s concerns over space and adds a few of her own. “One of our biggest challenges,” she explains, “is having the museum understand the need for an on-site rehearsal.” Caroline Copeland, principal dancer with Turocy’s ensemble, notes that dancers need to practice costume changes in addition to entrances and exits between numbers.

Unfortunately, time and space are often at a premium during large-scale events. “We had 3,000 people at our last Family Festival,” Blumenthal recalls. “We take over the entire museum and have scheduled activities taking place in every possible space. When our performers ask for dressing rooms or rehearsal spaces, we have to close some of these public spaces down.”

Safety is also a cause for concern. Visitors, performers and—oh, yes—the collections themselves must be taken into account. Moyn urges performing artists to be “especially considerate of the space.” She notes that the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s central atrium is not a typical performance area but “something we try to convert on Friday nights.” Blumenthal provides performers at the Walters with safety information and liability forms alongside their contracts to ensure everyone’s (and everything’s) safety. Live dance hasn’t caused any damage to the museum’s collection, although the Walters’s insurance policy offers protection should such an incident occur. (“Knock on wood!” says Blumenthal.) She coordinates with the head of safety and security and the director of conservation to ensure that performers are placed in an area allowing them to remain a safe distance from artwork.

Although the logistics can be sticky, the rewards are great. “Sometimes visitors come to the Family Festival specifically to see a certain performer or dance company,” notes Blumenthal. “Our galleries are installed contextually,” she continues, “so from their very installation to the way in which we hold public programs within these galleries, there’s an acceptance of other art forms.” Bond urges museum programmers to “invite board members of local arts and humanities councils to the event so that they can see the effectiveness of the integration of the arts.”

According to Moyn, “dance can be a bit riskier than a simple quartet concert, but the reward of the energy in the space has been worth trying new things.” In 2008, she commissioned Philadelphia’s Miro Dance Theatre to create a site-specific piece based on Frida Kahlo and plans to present a similar work based on the work of Marc Chagall this April. “It’s great to use innovative programming as a key to unlock exhibitions for the public, who might be brand new to the subject,” Moyn notes. “Interdisciplinary programming connects performance curators with dance companies in an exciting way.”

Whether your aim is to transport visitors back in time through an interactive medieval dance performance or to translate modern art through the medium of modern dance, Moyn advises museum programmers to “take the risk.” With a bit of creativity, careful planning and flexibility, your museum can roll back the rug and make way for dance.