Teaching Dance Online

We all were skeptical when we first heard of University of Phoenix... you know, the one that is everywhere and nowhere because you get the entire degree online. I mean, how enriched could your learning be if it's all from a computer and without actual live interaction between an instructor and a student??

How I feel about University of Phoenix is how I feel about something I just watched on YouTube. Here it is... someone teaching dance choreography for Ciara's "1, 2 Step" music video:

 

Now, my initial concern with this video is the fact that the person teaching the choreography and breaking it down step-by-step and putting it online is NOT the choreographer. Despite my research efforts, I've been unable to identify the actual choreographer- as I would love to know what he/she has to say about their work being put up on YouTube and having someone else reap the benefits without acknowledging the choreographer's work.

Getting beyond that point, how effective is this so called "teaching" of choreography? And is it good or bad for the dance industry?

For one thing, it's free... that's great for expanding the amount of people who even have access to dance education. Also, people can learn this at their own pace and practice it and from it even create their own style or explore more with dance as an art form. On the other hand, this is stealing. And it's taking dance education to a level of simple memorization and regurgitation of steps, as if that's enough. The teacher/student interaction is just as important in dance as other kinds of education, if not more important, because the content matter is physical movement.

Another issue this brings up, copyrights. So, from further research I learn that Corey Vidal, the guy in this video, is actually a YouTube partner who is PAID to show these videos because he is creating original content. Here is Corey's official website. He gets PAID when someone watches his video because there are advertisements running along side of it. *** AHEM... Does the actual choreographer get ANY of this revenue?!?!!? I think not!!!*** How is this liable? How is it not illegal? Anyways... not sure.

On a related note, there is a different site that I heard about from the choreographer I assist, Christina Woodard, who is involved with a project that puts Across the Floor progressions, as well as center combinations, and even choreography for competition routines online for a fee that people can buy so that studios can essentially outsource the creative content they teach to their kids.

This is an interesting concept... I'm not so sure how it will work, as I see part of the reasoning for spending a lot of money on hiring an outside choreographer is because they are "famous" or "known" in the dance world and the kids get really, super duper excited having their favorite choreographer actually team them at their home studio. Regardless, here is a the website, along with a screen shot- the site is called OnlineDanceAcademy.com. 

Anyways, that's all for now folks. :-) Go check those sites out on your own and comment back on what you think the effect of this online dance teaching/education/choreography means for the industry. Ciao!

TenduTV

So, after extensive research about TenduTV ... There's not much to report back. But I did find a couple articles and found an email address for inquiries about TenduTV so hopefully I'll know more about it soon. I'll tell you what I found out and then offer my opinion of the possible profitability and value of this company, TenduTV Inc.

TenduTV appears to be working hard to put up a fully functional offering of their product by the summer. For now the following info is all they have on their site: "TenduTV is proud to present the best of Dance performance, available for the first time on demand.  From the established masters of today to the emerging choreographers of the future, the global dance audience finally has a place to go, without having to go anywhere. TenduTV is theater in your home. Coming this summer, to a stage, monitor or television near you."

... Yes, PLEASE! Finally! How amazing would it be to have access to real Dance performance in the comfort of your bed at home before you doze off to sleep, during your lunch break at work, at the studio preparing for a job... you get the drift.

Anyways, strangely (or not so strangely, considering how Facebook is taking over the Internet in general), TenduTV's Facebook page has more information about their goals for a summer release of their service than their company website. Here's what's up:

• Specifically, their mission is: "To provide the opportunity for dance companies to benefit from new revenue streams while growing the global dance audience."
  
• Also... "TenduTV will be the leading provider of high quality dance performance video on the internet. TenduTV will be launcing as a channel on leading video portals in the Summer of 2008."
  
• Finally... "Are you a choreographer wanting to show your work on TenduTV? Send an email to inquiries@tendu.tv with your contact information, and a content associate will get back to you."

In addition to this info, the TenduTV Facebook page has a note attached that introduces some new TenduTV advisory board members who: "Provide industry-specific expertise related to the varied issues faced by TenduTV and its content partners." Here's a summary of the new

 contributors' backgrounds:

• Jay Franke: Lar Lubitrov Dance Company member since 2005, Chicago Dancing Festival co-founder. Danced with Twyla Tharp, Lyric Opera Ballet Chicago and Hubbard St Dance.
• Jason McDole: Conservatory of Perorming Arts at Point Park College and the New Jersey Dance Theater Ensemble faculty member. Alumnus of Twyla Tharp, David Parsons, Lar Lubovitch, and Battleworks dance companies.
• Andrea Weber: Merce Cunningham Dance Company member and AGMA delegate since 2004.
  

Seeing these bios made me curious as to the nature of this site because it seems very east coast based and appears that people involved largely have a background of modern and ballet. Being based out of LA I'm naturally wondering how they plan to incorporate the LA dance world (and international world if their goal is to 'grow a global audience.'" The founders may think that focusing only on dance companies they view as legitimate or professional is smart... I beg to differ. The beauty of the Internet is in the long tail of space available to reach an audience that is simultaneously mass and niche. All the videos posted could be sorted by:

• Dance style: (ballet? modern? tap? jazz? hip hop? contemporary? swing?)
• City/country/region: (Broadway? LA? Spain? China?)
• Intended distribution channel/venue: (live theater? music video? cinema? TV?)

If TenduTV isn't exploring options for expansion beyond modern, ballet, and the east coast they should definitely reconsider. Choreographers want the opportunity to distribute their work and doing so is only an opportunity to make more money and draw more eyeballs to the site.

**TenduTV was founded only a month ago and is funded by Sumaki LLC. They are currently planning on launching a branded channel on leading video portals in summer 08.

Dance and choreography with technology!

I actually thought that I was bored of this topic and had nothing else I cared to write about. I thought that dance reality TV was shamefully oversaturating and cheapening the dance market. I thought that dance agencies hadn't changed since last time I wrote about them. I thought I didn't need to talk yet again about how exciting the prospect of 3D live action movies are for the dance industry. I thought I talked enough about dance content on the internet with the rise of YouTube an my mentioning a couple social networking sites.

I thought wrong.

After darting around on the internet for the past coup

le hours (and finding some very interesting dance articles, blogs, and other content...), I FINALLY found something that encouraged me into thinking that at least a certain part of the dance world is utilizing available technology.

It's called DanceForms 1.0 and it's a computer software program that allows choreographers to use software animation to choreograph, review, teach, and store their creative process. I stumbled upon it after googling "motion capture dance," which referred me to Merce Cunningham Dance Company's website (Merce is a very impressive, well-known choreographer, so once I saw that Merce uses the software I was interested)...

Take a look at the animation company's website: Credo Interactive Inc. and their site further explaining the product: DanceForms. Here is a quick screen shot to give you a glimpse of what the software is like:

 

This really sparked my interest. Before stumbling upon this program I was considering blogging about motion capture technology and my experience in a motion capture lab at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering with world renowned choreographer, Mark Morris, but dreaded the dullness of that topic. The reason I thought motion capture was dull was because my experience with motion capture was for use of performance enhancement where my motion capture dancing was shown during a solo performance of mine last spring at a USC School of Theater show. I felt it took away from my dancing instead of adding to it.

Anyways... Seeing this software, DanceForms, I'm really impressed with how Credo Interactives Inc. has used motion capture and applied it to teaching, recording, and suggesting choreographic movement. I'd really like to order it-- ooo, 20 day trial! Yes. :-) Then if I like it maybe I can somehow work it into my "books" budget for next semester.... hmmmm...

So here are a few other sites I discovered that may be of interest or relevant:

-TenduTV= New dance video online distribution site launching summer '08 (like YouTube, but just for dancers)... they also have a Facebook "fan" page for their updates.

-The (inter)Mission and Movmnt.net= Two social networking sites geared for dancers. The (inter)Mission was created by a New York City ballet dancer, Kristin Sloan, and is more East coast/ballet/musical theater, whereas Movmnt is a social networking site that was co-created by publisher David Benaym and Danny Tidwell, a So You Think You Can Dance finalist who sides more with LA and popular culture.

-The Winger, which is the parent website of The (inter)Mission and is a "community oriented dance website that shows the lives, insights, and personalities of professionals, students, experts, and pioneers in the dance world."

-Dance Blogathon! :in case you're interested :-)

Next time I'll research some more and expand on TenduTV... Do you think this could be cool? Will anyone go there instead of YouTube? Will this be used more as an added revenue stream or as a distribution channel?

Dance. Pure and simple.

For all that I preach about how the dance industry should use technology to the best of its advantage in order to make more money and become more relevant to mainstream culture, it's important to take a step back and remember what's so amazing about dance: LIVE dance- in person, in a theater.

I performed in a dance show this weekend at the Stella Adler Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. I've been rehearsing for the show for a couple months now and it's crazy that it's finally over. We performed on the Irene Gilbert Stage at the Stella Adler Theater. It's a very intimate setting with four rows of comfy old time movie theater style seats. It holds about 85 people when you add an additional row of folding chairs in the back, which we did because we were sold out over capacity every night (woohoo!!!).

There's nothing like live theater. Especially with a dance concert that is so intimate where audience members even in the back row can see sweat dripping from the performer's faces, as well as if they have a bruise on their right knee.

The thing about an intimate live dance concert is that it's SO real. SO human. This is what makes me think back on all my posts I've written about digital dance concerts distributed in cineams, or amazing performances on YouTube, and the like. F the digital world.

....... Then again:

-The "SHE Dance Company" MySpace profile page

-The Facebook event invitations

-The countless emails and  text messages to schedule rehearsals

-The video recording of every dance to review and improve dances between each performance

-The photographer who took digital photos of "SHE Dance Company" for future digital promotion

-Apple computer's music editor, GarageBand, that enabled quick music editing and mixing

-The online database system used for hiring dancers to perform in the show

Wow- guess we did use a lot of digital technology. Maybe that's part of the reason we sold out? At the bare minimum the online social networking event pages (MySpace, Facebook) proved successful. :-)

And if you're interested... Here's the SHE Dance Company (very minimal) MySpace page. And our flier: 

And as soon as some video footage from our show is available I'll post it up!