How Online Video Helps Undiscovered Dancers

More than any other medium today, online video is turning us on to unique dancers outside of the public spotlight. Prior to Youtube, we used to catch glimpses of talented dancers in short clips found in music videos or appearing behind music artists on television. But online video puts the primary focus on the dancers themselves. The whole Web 2.0 mentality has helped bring attention to dancers who might not be in the Hollywood audition scene. And that's a good thing.

One of the most famous examples is the Kollaboration 2001 clip of a skinny Caucasian kid, wearing an orange shirt, moving as if his body had no bones or joints. That was David "Elsewhere" Bernal, a dancer who also appears in the much talked about Detours video collaboration with Kujo, Midas, and many other abstract dancers. Elsewhere went on to appear in a memorable solo in the 2003 film You Got Served as well as recently appearing as a motion reference for Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter character in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Solo dancers aren't the only ones getting noticed. Dance crews are making their presence known through an online following. Perhaps the most recent example is Poreotics, who recently was crowned season 5 champions on America's Best Dance Crew. Before the rest of America knew them, these guys were competing and showcasing at choreography events all across California. By the time, they appeared on the MTV show, they had a solid fan following that was vocal and supportive. Plus, they had a history of "credits" easily viewed by anyone on Youtube, including folks involved with ABDC.

So online video has democratized the dance landscape. It's opened the doors to a whole new audience for dance, informing them that there are plenty of talented dancers out there who aren't showing up at auditions but have something to offer. It's shown the average Youtube user that there's diversity in dancers around the world. And we've had to redefine our definition of what a dancer looks like. They're not all "hip" or "sexy looking" as what we may see in a typical music video. And that's great for the message of our dance culture as a whole. You don't need to look a certain way to enjoy dancing or to even be good about it. You just have to move with the music and express yourself.