I am a professional dancer of nineteen years however when I tell people this I am required to further explain. I have to clarify that I am a classically trained dancer, meaning proficient in ballet, tap, jazz, gymnastics, and lyrical, not an exotic dancer that dances around a pole (Not that there is anything wrong with exotic dancing, it is just not my specialty. I have heard it is good exercise but that’s about where my knowledge of stripping ends). All of my fellow dancer friends tell me they have this issue as well which leaves me thinking, wow, what has changed in American Society to require me to now spell out that I am a dancer not a “daaancerrr”.
When professional dance was first integrated into American society it was a shining example of high culture. Only the elites participated and appreciated the art. This held true for a number of years, however today dance is moving toward a reputation as an art of low culture. This is evident through the mere fact that I now have to explain what type of dancer I am. I never used to have to do this. Why has the perception of dance transformed from one of high culture to one of low culture, and what does this transformation say about us as a society?
I plan to start this research paper with a brief history of dance in American culture. I will explore how and when classical dance was introduced in America and by whom. Then, since most of society’s exposure to dance comes in the form of music videos, I plan to approach this question from the observance of music videos from the 1980’s to the present. I will compare and contrasts these music videos, the dancers themselves, and type of dancing in them, from then to now. In doing this I will show the downward spiral of dance and how it has unfortunately become an example of low culture. Furthermore this observation should also explain why strippers are now regarded as dancers, and why classically trained dancers have to explain what kind of dance they partake in.
After the comparison of the music videos, I will move into what the transformation of dance from high culture to low culture, tells us about our society. I will answer questions like, what changes have taken place over the past few decades in American society to completely change the face of dance. Why is it that American’s know more about “video hoes,” like Melyssa Ford then real dance icons like Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey? There has to be some kind of societal, social, and/or psychological change that has happened to explain this phenomenon. (461)
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