Topic Proposal

Title:  Are You a Dancer or a “Daancerr”: The Decline of Classical Dance in America

Topic:  I am working on the topic of dance in music videos from the last 30 years because I want to find out why classical dance has decreased in substance and content in America, to help my reader better understand what this transformation says about us as a society.

Description of the research question (or topic) of project:

Recently I was asked what I do for a living. My response was “I am dancer”. With an uncanny look on her face the women then proceeded to ask me “are you a dancer or a daancerr.” I guess because I was not stick thin and 5’9” with legs a mile long, she assumed I could not be a ballerina so I must be an exotic dancer. I explained to her that I am a classically trained dancer proficient in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern, and gymnastics. She then sighed with relief and nervously changed the subject.

            As I have gotten older, I am confronted more and more frequently with situations like this. Since when does dancing imply exotic dancing? When classical dance was first integrated into American society it was a shining example of high culture. Only the elites participated in the art. This held true for a number of years, however today dance is moving toward a reputation as an art of low culture. I attribute this to music videos. The music video was really the first introduction to dance that popular culture experienced. In the 80’s dancing in music videos, while still entertaining, derived from classical forms of dance and utilized technique. Furthermore, not just anybody could do them. The dancers in a lot of these videos were classically trained. As time has progressed music videos have battled with providing technical dancing as well as entertainment, and it is evident that classical dancing has lost this battle. If you have a big butt and big boobs you to can dance in a music video!

             Since most of society’s exposure to dance still largely comes in the form of music videos, I plan to approach this research 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 until now. In doing this I will show the downward spiral of dance and how it has become a shining example of low culture. More importantly, I will examine what this phenomenon says about us as a society especially about adolescents and young adults because they are the largest viewers of music videos. 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 in music videos. Why is it that teens know more about “video hoes,” like Melyssa Ford then real dance icons like Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey? Also what kinds of effects have these erotic music videos had on the youth in America?

Preliminary Context Description:

            Classical dance is any form of dance derived from ballet. Jazz, Tap, Modern, Lyrical, and Gymnastics are all forms of classical dance. They take years of training to do well. Because ballet is the parent dance form, you cannot be a classically trained dancer without studying the art.

            Ballet was first developed in Renaissance Italy in the 1400’s. It was only performed by men whose sole purpose was to entertain aristocrats. The art quickly spread through Europe who then imported dancers to America to perform tours. “After the Revolutionary War…, well trained dancers began to appear regularly in America” (Amberg 3). It was through these tours that Americans received their initial exposure to classical dance.

            Although America was familiar with the art form by the early 1800’s, ballet was still very avant-garde during this time. In Europe ballet was a venerated art and formal institution, however in America ballet was still left entirely to private initiative. There was little opportunity for aspiring artists to study classic dancing and even less to see good performances (Amberg 9). It was not until 1910 with the development of Anna Pavlova and Mikhail Mordkin that the beginning of ballet era in America was said to have happened. “Both Pavlova and Mordkin had a far-reaching influence on the dance education of America; Pavlova by her endless tours prepared an audience, and Mordkin’s activity as a teacher in New York trained a whole new gerneration of American dancers” (Amberg 10). From here classical dance gained an immense amount of popularity in America and gave birth to other dance forms and legends such as Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey.

            For numerous years in America classical dance performances were only seen by the upper class. In the 1981 however the invention of Music Television (MTV) marked a new milestone for classical dance in America (Straw 249). When classical dancers started appearing in music videos a more widespread audience was exposed to the art. This audience included upper, middle, and lower class Americans alike. During this time popular artists like Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Pat Benatar all had music videos that exposed classical dance in a way that was both technical and entertaining. Yet, if you were to compare a Janet Jackson music video from the 1980’s to one created in the last five years you would see a dramatic difference in the type of dancing, and the technique, or lack thereof, employed by the dancers in the video. Music videos of the 1980’s, while considered risky back then, contained much more substance when it came to dancing. Today’s dancers in music videos largely resemble exotic dancers as apposed classically trained artists.

Works Cited

Amberg, George. Ballet in America:The Emergence of an American Art. New York : New American Library, 1954. Google Books. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. <http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=H-eCjhWHoRsC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=who+brought+ballet+to+america&ots=T1MWR-bxPC&sig=NOyeIExr1p17NpGkDzA8zp2C350#v=onepage&q=who%20brought%20ballet%20to%20america&f=false>.

Straw, Will. "Music Video in Its Contexts:Popular Music and Post-Modernism in the 1980s." Shibboleth Authentication Request. Cambridge University Press. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org.proxy-bc.researchport.umd.edu/stable/pdfplus/853024.pdf?acceptTC=true>.