Dance in Movie Theaters

To extend my last post about the upcoming film, Step Up 3-D, I'm going to share some of my ideas on how dance can be further integrated into theaters and other mainstream culture.

Simply speaking, the majority of the population no longer goes to live shows, theaters, and concerts-- unless they're in NYC and want to see Wicked on Broadway. Imagine if actor's performances were limited to stage concerts. Their revenues would be a marginal compared to the amount of money they are able to pull down by being distributed in thousands of theaters in the United States, as well as all over the world.

Before you dismiss me for a dancer who's delusional about the ability for a non-film to be competitive with cinematic distribution, let's look at some examples of how the music industry has used 3D live action film technology to expand their distribution and profits. There are two music concerts in particular from this year that have impressed audiences around the world and gained great profits for the struggling music industry: 1. U2 3D, which has made more than $6.5 million in the US box office so far, and 2. Hannah Montana/Miley Cirus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour that has already grossed over $64 million in the US since its release in early February!!!

Here's a YouTube video of the U2 3D concert so that you can see for yourself what's appealing about presenting various performance arts in these new 3D live action theaters:

And here's a posting from a U2 fan on YouTube about his experience:

"Basically put it like this, you would think the band was beside you, at one point Bono reaches out his hand to the camera and it looks like you're in front of him and at the start of the film the camerica cut the crowd and a fan jumped, I was about the tell the person in front of me to sit down, that's how realistic it is, hope you can get to see it, as I said to my mates, it's the closest you'll get to being on stage with the Greatest Band Ever..." 

And just for you Hannah Montana fans... (I know you're out there)... here's a clip from her concert:

I think dance concerts should have a special place in cinemas... Some may argue that dance is not as mainstream or popular as music in terms of being able to pull in a large profit throughout the United States. This may be true for now, simply because the dance industry has failed to revolutionize and adapt to remain relevant with the prospect of new media.

I would also urge those who think a properly marketed dance show wouldn't be profitable in 3D live action theaters to remember a few recent dance related movies and their resonance in the cinema industry as proven by their respective box office revenues:

-Stomp The Yard: $61,365,221 in the US

-Step Up: $65,269,010 in the US

-Step Up 2 The Streets: $45,448,225 in the US

-You Got Served: $40,066,497 in the US

-Hairspray: $118,823,091 in the US

And as if that weren't enough, think about all the successful TV shows that showcase different types of dance: ABC's Dancing With The Stars, MTV's Americas Best Dance Crew, of one of the summer season's highest rated shows, FOX's So You Think You Can Dance, which doesn't even rely on celebrities from other industries to bolster audience viewership. Here's a clip from SYTYCD:

It's clear that dance is growing and creeping into the mainstream entertainment industry. It's time dance concerts come to 3D live action movie theaters. This will a create an experience that's over all:

         1. cheaper than a concert

         2. presented up close and personal

         3. more convenient for all people around the US

The YouTube effect

YouTube.com. Two years ago it was starting to take its first baby steps. Now YouTube is owned by Google and has partnerships with many other corporations such as CBS, BBC, Universal, Sony, Warner, NBA, and more. YouTube allows people to easily view and share video content on the internet. Because of this, the dance world has expanded into many different areas on the internet.

YouTube's effect on dance is similar to the introduction of digital music file sharing sites and how it changed the music industry. As most people know, once Napster and Limewire released onto the internet, it made piracy a lot easier than ever before, which very negatively affected the music industry because people were purchasing less CDs and instead opting to download particular tracks they wanted on the internet.

This is similar to what is happening to the dance industry because people can choose to not consume the product by buying tickets to a show or tuning in to one of the new dance TV shows. They can opt to watch the content later on the internet, free of charge, without leaving their home. This hurts the dance world because its already a community that's starving for more exposure, a wider audience, and a larger reach into more people's lives. In addition, YouTube has somewhat enabled dancers to steal choreography they found on the internet and claim it as their own or use it without the choreographer's consent. YouTube videos have made it difficult for choreographers to protect their projects.

However, just as the music industry evolved with the rise of products like iTunes that allowed people to legally purchase digital music, dancers are finding ways to use YouTube as a promotion tool and one that ultimately drives revenue instead of limits it. Within YouTube itself many artists are able to promote themselves and the projects they are involved in. For example, the hit show So You Think You Can Dance has endless videos up on YouTube that promote the choreographers, dancers, and the show in general. Here's an example of how YouTube has been used to promote dance shows like SYTYCD: 

The interesting thing about YouTube is not that it's a website that dancers can use to post and view videos, allowing them to share their work, learn new techniques, and get inspiration for different styles. YouTube is amazing because of how embedded it already is into dance company sites and dancers' personal promotion sites. For example, communityclass.com is a site that promotes a series of master classes dancers can take, presented by boogiezone.com, which is an online dance community. Instead of being limited to posting resumes and bios of the teacher's works, communityclass.com embeds YouTube videos of previous master classes to drive interest and attendance for the next class series. Here's a quick view of the page layout:

You can see how offering videos sparks interest in potential customers and allows those people to see what to expect at a master class so they are more comfortable with their purchase.

Overall, the presence of YouTube on the web has allowed the dance industry the same freedoms as many other entertainment art forms that can make their work available outside of a physical performance venue. Movies and DVDs can bring cinema into home theaters, iTunes and CDs can bring a rock concert into one's living room, and now YouTube.com and YouTube integrated sites can bring dance performance into one's every day life.

Dancing in a digital age... the intro

Dance has come a long way since being showcased in classics feature films like Singing in the Rain, the creation of schools like Julliard, and even since Michael Jackson’s epic Thriller video. With the recent rise of multitalented dancer/actor/choreographer/directors the dance world is expanding by becoming relevant to mainstream media, especially film, television, and most recently the Internet.

My name is Mary Thurtle. I’m a junior at the University of Southern California in the heart on Los Angeles, majoring in Business Administration with an emphasis in Cinematic Arts. I’m also pursuing a Dance minor and am highly involved in USC Repertory Dance Company as the Company Manager. In addition to school, I am active in Hollywood’s dance industry as an assistant to Los Angeles-based professional choreographer (and my dear friend) Christina Woodard. I also intern at DDO Artist Agency in their dance department. This is who I am and what I do.

I love dance. I have been dancing since I was three and even to this day I'm still dancing over 20 hours  a week. However, my deep passion extends beyond dance performance. More than anything, I care about dancers rising to their utmost potential as artists, professionals, and people. All too often, artists (especially dancers), get so involved with their passion for creation and performance that they don't take the time to understand how to make their work relevant and present in mainstream media and in the minds of all people around the world. From what I've seen first hand, the factor that limits dancers' ability to present themselves and be relevant in more communities than the small dance world is a lack of academic secondary education. Most dancers haven't taken the time to understand how to appeal to the greater population, largely because they haven't adapted into the digital age.

This blog will address the many ways that dance has the potential to evolve past theater performances, studio classes, and beyond being simply featured in main stream media. I will discuss how the dance community can use technology, to become deeply integrated into mainstream and digital media, particularly in cinema, television, and online destinations. In the past two years the entertainment dance industry has exploded. I feel that with the use of new technology and proper utilization of the digital world, the dance world can extend its reach and transform from being a community and become an industry.

Stay tuned… the first topic I will address is YouTube.com and how it has changed the dance industry for the better and for the worse. In anticipation of my next post, view one of my favorite dance videos up on YouTube.com of a very talented performer, Travis Wall. Incidentally, his life was greatly affected by technology and the mainstream entertainment industry after he finished as the first runner up in season two of FOX's famed dance competition reality show, So You Think You Can Dance.