The Death of Dance Reality Television

Are we nearing the end of dance reality television? It's hard to imagine America's Best Dance Crew continuing for another season if they plan to only draw from the available dance crews in our country. They'll have to open up their doors to crews from others nations, like what they did with Canada's Blueprint Crew in season 5, to keep things fresh. The challenge of this show is that while there are many highly skilled crews, there's only a handful that can translate well on television as entertaining personalities. The same is true for So You Think You Can Dance. After multiple seasons, this show can only go as far as their contestants' ability to connect with the audience. There doesn't seem to be any new ideas emerging from dance reality shows, which makes us wonder how long they can last.

From a business standpoint, these reality shows are kept on the air because they represent a demographic that's targeted by advertisers. For a network, maintaining a reality show is slightly more cost-effective than a scripted drama or comedy. That's why MTV evolved from a place where we watch music videos to a lifestyle branded channel filled with faux reality programs and lower-cost game shows. It's perceived that these dance reality shows attract largely youthful female audience although it's still valid to see the audience as coed. You can sense the intentions of advertisers through the frequent appearance of cosmetic and hair product ads that play during the primetime airings of these programs.

So if advertiser money is a justification for these shows, the only way they'll go away is if there's a ratings drop. Any new radical ideas for portraying our dance culture on mainstream television isn't likely to come from the usual Hollywood channels because of this business model. While networks may still choose to push these reality shows, creatively they're barely breathing. Would it be better for these shows to take a hiatus? Maybe let some time pass, reenergize the concept behind the show, and launch something new? Could we see cable channel networks create more documentary-style series investigating dance cultures across the world? Can we see a HBO or Showtime series focusing on dancers while giving them strong dramatic storylines to play out? There's a lot of creative territory that's unchartered but little confidence from networks that money can be made through these projects.

It still boils down to the same business question - what can dancers sell? Even for a show about performers like Glee, money can be made through the sales of songs via iTunes and the upcoming live concert with the cast. None of the dance reality shows have cracked this question yet for television. What dancers can sell is still an unanswered conundrum. And if it isn't answered in the near future, dance reality television will likely become extinct without a creative influx.

What's Happening in Middle America...and the Rest of the World

Even as we speak, there are dancers of all ages getting inspired by other dancers, filming themselves, uploading their videos online, and talking to each other about what they're working on. This global dance conversation is running 24/7, powered by video-sharing sites and social networking portals. It's nonstop. And it's amazing. More people than ever are discovering the joy of dancing for the first time. They're getting that first exposure, that first taste of what it's like to be free with the music. And a whole new world is opening up for them. But where is all of this heading?

Those of us who are trained in the traditional hip hop street styles may bemoan the lack of foundation among our peers who are just learning from Youtube videos. We predict the "watering-down" of our culture and fear the upcoming backlash when history repeats itself, and it's no longer cool to dance. On the flip side, newbies are frustrated that we don't share foundation and our training secrets more openly. Some of them are so hungry to learn that they will devote hours to watching online videos for any kernel of truth. It's a familiar situation of haves and have-nots.

So the newbies who throw themselves into dancing for the first time are trying out all kinds of ideas, whether they're half-baked or not. In middle America and around the world, kids are trying out moves. They're copying routines. And they're dissecting how their favorite dancer is moving in a poorly lit Youtube video. Sometimes, they have no one to turn to for advice except their online peers who share comments on their channel. It's a strange new way of learning dance - not by going to a class or a session - but by self-initiative through shared media. This is the dance revolution that's happening now on our laptops and smart phones.

The end result is that dance becomes commodified in a media conversation online in the same way that viral videos, Youtube musicians, and comedy bits are being traded, viewed, and distributed from one person to the next. Dance in the form of online videos have become part of that media fabric that invades our awareness through plugging in. It's becoming accepted as a form of online entertainment or at the very least, a visual curiosity to admire. Dance online is also becoming part of our human history. We can call it a form of cultural documentation that's sprawling worldwide through terabytes. It will be interesting to see how we look back at this period of time a hundred years from now. Will we reflect back and conclude that dance played a unique role in communication with each other online?

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.

Expanding Hip Hop's Reach Globally

We've heard the stories over and over again. Hip hop has gone global. It touches many corners around the world and has inspired the minds of people everywhere. But what about hip hop dance? Many of us are somewhat familiar with the original hip hop dance - breakin'. And now in modern times, poppin' and lockin' have been grouped with breakin' to be part of the same family. In almost every major city, you can find a session spot or a dance studio that's teaching some form of these styles. But how can we expand the reach of hip hop dance across the globe?

Some of the dance capitals of the world have thrived because of the energy coming from a vibrant dance community within their borders. Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles, New York, Montreal and many others are favorite visiting spots for international dancers who want to train and to network. But what about the other thousands of cities out there who are trying to educate and to provide supportive communities for their youth? Very little media attention or outside support is given to them from folks who aren't part of their cities. We hear about teachers traveling around the world giving master classes and workshops. Dancers will flock to their local studio to catch a lesson. But is this enough? Are we doing all that we can do to encourage dancers of all ages to grow?

Conversations about hip hop dance, technique, history are happening at a much faster rate and on a larger scale than years before, thanks to connections made through the Internet. We know how to network, how to start collaborations, and how to make things happen. We're moving in the right direction. But unfortunately, there's still not enough financial investment in the arts to expand the reach of hip hop dance. There are few individuals who will teach and share their gifts for free. And so, often we fall into a familiar pattern where international dancers save up their money and travel to cities like LA, New York, and Tokyo to train.

Can we flip the situation and bring teachers from these cities to other locales so that dancers can save their money for classes and not burn it on travel expenses? Monsters of Hip Hop is doing that with their conventions, bringing a selected faculty of choreographers to teach in cities across the U.S. This is a model that we'd like to see more of especially with styles like breakin', poppin', and lockin' that aren't often offered to larger classes. Boogiezone has expanded their reach to other countries like New Zealand, Germany, and Norway, after establishing their class network in southern California.

Maybe we're talking about a cultural shift here. It used to be that parents enrolled their kids in sports or musical instruments to instill values of discipline, perseverance, and teamwork. But what if parents sent their kids to dance classes instead? Today's upcoming generation are more open to embracing hip hop as their medium of expression. If parents accept that, then more money will be poured into supporting classes, teaching networks, and expanding hip hop dance's reach globally. Parental support is not the only factor, but it is one important factor to consider for the future. Many young people aren't financially independent yet and will depend on their parents for money to take classes. Newer parents in the early thirties today will likely be more open to hip hop dance classes for their children since they themselves had exposure to hip hop in their youth. So it's possible that the cultural shift we're looking for is starting to happen right now as a generational shift is happening.

Grass Roots Hip Hop Dance Community

Sometimes, it's easy to take the hip hop dance culture in Los Angeles for granted. There are so many opportunities to train, to compete, and to be paid for what we love to do in this city. Films, television, commercials, music videos and the rest of Hollywood offer opportunities to do business. There's a strange dual nature to how hip hop dance evolves in LA. We have dancers who want to make a living by performing. We have others who just enjoy dancing as part of their lifestyle. And we also have dancers who embrace both paths. Sometimes, we have to take a look back and wonder what would our scene be like if money wasn't involved. What would happen if we went back to simpler times when our community wasn't influenced by money or professional fame?

We're talking about a grassroots approach to dance community. It's still possible and there are many examples of this here in LA that we've touched on before. The underground dance culture will always thrive because young people want to connect with something deeper than what's being offered to them via commercial mainstream consumer culture. There, they'll find community and relationships that will help them to understand themselves on a deeper level as well as their peers. Young people always want to find something to call their own, to establish their own identity, and to express what they're going through in life. Hip hop culture, with all of its elements, has been that medium for many kids for over thirty years. For dancers, this grassroots culture has remained more grassroots than the other hip hop elements because it's harder to make a living off of it. But now, that's changing with the greater exposure that hip hop dance has in mainstream culture.

It's hard to see a new generation get into hip hop dance and then to be tempted by chasing fame in the entertainment industry. Sometimes, it seems like it would be better if they discovered this dance in another city where money and fame were distant factors. That way, they could come to this dance with purer intentions. Maybe this is where the older generation can provide guidance. They've seen it all since the bubble burst in the '80s. Without their advice, today's youth might go down the same path of being taken advantage of by folks who want to cash in on a dance trend. We'll need our elders' wisdom if we want to learn from past mistakes. By standing on their shoulders, perhaps we'll create a new era of hip hop dance that can stand against the destructive forces of greed and fame.

What Dance Movies & Superhero Movies Have In Common

Superheroes save the world. And dancers express music with their bodies. They're from two different worlds but in the entertainment industry, they may have more in common than you think. Superhero movies have become a familiar genre, especially during the summer blockbuster season. Everyone has become accustomed to rules, cliches, and archetypes of superhero stories to the point where it's part of our common pop culture language. Now, they're being reinvented. Are dance movies following the same path as superhero movies? Dance movies have stereotypes and familiar tripes, and we're reaching a plateau where dance is becoming more accepted in mainstream entertainment culture. Maybe a reinvention of dance in films and television is needed right now.

In the late 1990s, Hollywood was laying the groundwork for the comeback of the superhero movie. Marvel and New Line Cinema released the first Blade film. This was followed up by the first X-Men movie distributed by Twentieth Century Fox in 2000. Then, the king of all superhero movies in the early 2000s - Spiderman - unleashed its mantra of great power coming with great responsibility. We were in the golden age of superhero cinema. These films have become big business and they replaced the typical action-adventure stories of earlier years. Now, as an audience, we're so familiar with the idea of superheroes to the extent that filmmakers are taking chances and reinventing the genre. Whether it's Zack Snyder's Watchmen, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, or the recent Matthew Vaughn film Kick-Ass; the superhero movie is coming of age and maturing. Why can't we do that with dance movies?

There are some important differences between these two genres. Superheroes touch something deep inside our souls. They inspire us to become more than what we are and to change our surrounding world. They're empowering for those who feel powerless. And they're big business these days. Hollywood's business model has changed where franchises are sought after properties. They're willing to bet on something that has a following in order to get their money back. Dancers are not traditionally seen as storytellers, so it's hard for a studio to see a dance movie as something more than what we've seen in the past. Dancers aren't seen as touching people's souls or inspiring them to become more than what they are. They're not as ingrained in pop culture as superheroes.

But we're getting close to a point now where dance is becoming more of a familiar element in entertainment. Whether it's backup dancers in Fox's Glee or Nickelodeon's The Fresh Beat Band, dancers are popping up more in the mainstream. The familiar reality dance TV shows like So You Think You Can Dance and America's Best Dance Crew have filled the airwaves with dance on television. But where's the reinvention? Dancers are superheroes. So it's not a surprise that Jon M. Chu's LXD posits dancers with superheroic abilities and stories. For reinvention to occur, we need to convince investors and studios that dance movies are able to make a big profit. This will attract top notch filmmakers and actors who may not be interested in this genre at first. Look at Iron Man and The Dark Knight as parallel examples in the superhero movie genre.

One day, it's possible that dancers will become valued as superheroes in mainstream pop culture. Are we nearing that stage? If anything, it will be more feasible for an inspired kid to become a dancer than a costumed superhero in real life. That's a practical application.

Why Twitter Is The Dancer's Social Networking of Choice

It's been over a year since Twitter hit the tipping point and went mainstream. Not surprisingly, dancers of all genres are using it to network and communicate with each other. We're expressing personal thoughts, advertising our upcoming classes, and sharing photos of what we've seen. Twitter's 140 character limit has quantified elements of our culture into bite-sized tidbits, endlessly streaming through mobile devices and web portals. Why is it so popular with dancers?

First, dancers are very mobile. We have to frequently travel to take classes, go to sessions, or commute to jams in other cities. We're rarely tied down to one location. Maybe that's also due to our tendency to move. We don't sit still when we hear music. We're always expressing our emotions through our bodies. Since geo-tagging can be applied to tweets, it's worth looking at where tweets are originating from in cities, counties, and countries worldwide. It's a fascinating example of how our hip hop culture is evolving with technology. And it represents a historical documentation of our current times.

Also, Twitter is incredibly immediate. For a generation that's thinking and reacting faster in a media-drenched climate, Twitter fits our needs to momentarily capture a thought or impression without too much effort. The speed with which we can communicate online via Twitter is astonishing, especially with its accessibility from mobile smart phones. We can be at battles, showcase competitions, or practice sessions twittering away. It's a form of massive text messaging that offers the opportunity to be heard by a wide audience.

Maybe that's a third reason why Twitter is so popular with dancers. Fans and followers can follow our tweets and can just as easily not follow them with a click of a button. But dancers have never had the same media attention as actors and singers, so we haven't had a mainstream platform to connect with fans. Twitter allows us to do so. It still has that underground vibe, free of corporate control. We can put our thoughts, intentions, and agenda out into the tweetosphere without censorship. Twitter, in its earliest days, represented a raw form of rapid communication that broke down the barriers between people whether they were celebrities, fans, or casual followers. For a dancer, this medium is powerful and empowering. But Twitter's underground status may change since we're starting to see company-sponsored tweets and advertising in recent weeks.

It's wonderful to see dancers being empowered by technology. Within the entertainment industry, there's very little support for professional dancers. Anything that we can do to bring more opportunities to our doors is always welcome. Twitter is one tool that's helping us along the way, regardless of how long it will be around.