Organization Background
thINKingDANCE is a writers collective that has been dedicated to exploring the intersection of movement, creativity, and learning since 2011. Through coverage of dance-based topics and experiences, they empower readers to think differently, communicate more effectively, and engage more deeply. And not just with dance, but the world around them. thINKingDANCE’s work recognizes movement as a tool for expression, collaboration, and discovery and aims to help readers and writers alike to unlock new perspectives and build meaningful connections.
As an organization, thINKingDANCE also focuses on education, professional development, and community engagement. By offering workshops, resources, and collaborative programs, they support educators, artists, and organizations in using movement as a catalyst for growth and innovation. With an emphasis on creativity, reflection, and shared learning, thINKingDANCE helps foster environments where ideas can evolve, communities can strengthen, and individuals can thrive by bolstering the power of movement.
About the Project
thINKingDANCE was previously using the original website design they had initially launched with all the way back in 2011. The aging website structure made it difficult for readers, writers, and contributors to quickly access articles, organizational information, and opportunities to engage. As the organization continued to grow over the years, so did its archive of dance criticism, interviews, and editorial content. Thus, the need for a more intuitive, accessible, and modern platform became increasingly clear. Creative Repute partnered with thINKingDANCE to redesign the website and bring it into the modern age. However, the ultimate goal was more than just aesthetic, it was to create a more cohesive digital experience overall on thinkingdance.net– one that better reflects the organization’s mission and editorial voice.
The newly redesigned thinkingdance.net now features modern, simple, sleek, and intuitive design. Furthermore, the new site has improved navigation, clearly organized content categories, and a homepage that is much more conducive to driving traffic to articles. The new home page structure highlights recent publications, featured articles, and archived content alike. These updates make it easier for visitors to discover new writing from thINKingDANCE’s collective of independent contributors, while also inviting readers to further explore the organization’s growing archive of articles.
Ultimately, Creative Repute developed a fully responsive WordPress website designed to support thINKingDANCE’s ongoing editorial workflow and future expansion. The new platform strengthens the organization’s ability to publish regularly, elevate diverse voices in dance criticism, and continue building a vibrant digital journal dedicated to movement-based arts and cultural dialogue.
Our Approach
Our team at Creative Repute took a thoughtful and collaborative approach to this project. We focused on thINKingDANCE’s organizational priorities of modernization, accessibility, and creating a more “sticky” website that would ultimately encourage visitors to keep reading and explore beyond a singular article.
We started by digging into thINKingDANCE’s prior website, and identifying clear pain points and opportunities for improvement. Our discovery phase of this project included considerable time invested in discussion with the thINKingDANCE team, which helped us to get a clear picture of what their organization was looking to get out of this redesign.
While modernization and accessibility were high priorities, thINKingDANCE also wanted to honor their history and maintain aesthetic elements from their original site. For example, the teal color used prominently throughout the new site is essentially the color thINKingDANCE has featured as a part of their branding since their inception. However, our team slightly altered the shade and used new accent colors to meet modern web accessibility standards.
The Outcome
Simplified Navigation: No more digging through dense archives and layered menus; the redesigned thINKingDANCE site features clear, intuitive navigation that helps readers easily explore reviews, essays, interviews, and special series. Visitors can quickly discover new articles, browse by category, and access archival content with a more seamless reading experience.
Enhanced Content Management & Workflow Efficiency: A custom WordPress dashboard makes content publishing simple and straightforward for the thINKingDANCE editorial team, and allows them to manage articles, contributor profiles, and editorial updates with greater efficiency. This improved backend organization and these simplified workflow tools help reduce administrative difficulties and support more consistent publishing.
Scalable & Prepared for Growth: The redesigned website was built with long-term expansion in mind, ensuring thINKingDANCE can add to its editorial offerings and digital archive over time without technical concerns. WordPress has a flexible, modular structure, and is a platform that will allow for the the thINKingDANCE team to easily make updates, add new content types, or add feature enhancements without disrupting the existing site architecture. This scalable approach supports thINKingDANCE’s evolving role as a leading voice in dance criticism and ensures the platform can grow alongside its community.
In the end, Creative Repute partnered with thINKingDANCE to redesign thinkingdance.net into a more accessible, user-friendly platform that highlights new writing, improves overall ease of navigation, and strengthens the organization’s mission of fostering thoughtful dance criticism and community dialogue. The refreshed site now makes it easier for readers to explore the latest articles, discover writers, and engage with thINKingDANCE’s evolving body of work while supporting a more vibrant and inclusive dance media landscape.
