Social Media in Dance

Author: Katelyn Jordan

It always brings a smile to my face to see a former dance instructor post on Twitter about an upcoming class or performance happening in New York. 

It amazes me how far social media has come even in just the past few years.  When I was taking dance classes, the only way to know if a class was cancelled or if a time was changed, was by phone or email.  Today, I am able to write (or tweet) a short 150 character update about upcoming classes or other cool things in the dance scene.  Not only am I able to connect with my students and share important information with them but also, I can keep up with my old instructors and see what new ideas they have about pedagogy in dance while staying up to date with new choreography as well.

I think that many people take the connections we make and information that we receive and share for granted.  And admittedly, it’s easy to see how easily that can be done.  I rarely think about the articles that I wouldn’t be able to read about new dance ideas thanks to someone’s link from a post.  Neither do I think about what it would be like if I couldn’t connect with my students outside of dance class or with my old instructors in New York.  We have this awesome tool, and take it for granted.  We rarely realize the impact that a single tweet, blog post or profile status has on the people that we connect with.  We see it as a normal, day-to-day activity, rather than a most useful utility.  It is crazy to me that we can post on the internet for millions to see but even more so that we can “tag people” or make a group solely dedicated to what the interest is at hand is.

I think that the ways we connect on the internet have allowed us for a great expansion in our own personal knowledge, whether it is about dance or any other subject you are interested in.  You can see what people all around the world think about one single idea and I find that fascinating. The route social media will go in the future is still unknown, however, the successes of social media thus far can only mean great things are to come!