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Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Beyond Dance Challenges: 4 Choreographers Share Their Unique Approaches to TikTok
Dance Magazine: Can you remember the last time you thought of a clock when you heard the word “ticktock”? We can’t either. The TikTok app has brought new meaning to the word—and a new space for dancers to create and share the moves they’re making with the world.
Truthfully, I must confess that I have a good amount of grudges with TikTok. This social media platform, in my opinion, is one of the worst perpetrators of toxic online cultures that are hurting younger generations. Not only does it rely on and perpetuate fast entertainment, shortening attention spans, but it also feeds on controversy and drama. So, I would like to see a benefit of the platform, though an overwhelmingly net positive effect of the app would be absolutely shocking. This article does make a good point about how the content has really great levels of mobility and reach, some niches to connect people and inspire, so maybe that is something that can be facilitated more rather than the toxic culture. To me, that change would have to come from the leadership at TikTok or a change in the algorithm rather than content creators. It is undeniable that as pandemic culture becomes more ingrained in our society, platforms like these will have to be utilized to facilitate performance, so it is good that some artists are finding a way to use it to their advantage.
I think TikTok is pretty bad for our industry, and I’ve talked about this a lot. During Covid, with so much media on demand at all times, people began to crave media faster. TikTok is one way we filled this niche. With that our attention spans got shorter, and they will continue to get shorter from generation to generation. I think the days of sitting through a 5 act opera are soon to be left behind us. Yes, evolution is good but at what point do we take things too far as a society. I recognize, however that TikTok is a great way for artists to promote themselves. My friend Tay, a Pace musical theatre student, has actually found enormous success using TikTok to market himself as a black content creator, dancer, and choreographer. He has gained major popularity on the platform and had a dance challenge that gained significant celebrity traction.
I am not really sure why but I think that it is really funny that Tik Tok has built up such an incredible platform that people are able to make their entire livelihood from posting videos on Tik Tok. But maybe I am just jealous. I am not a Tik Tok dancer and I don’t think I ever will be so this entire article is kind of lost on me but it was really cool to see how much work one group of people can put into one Tik Tok. It makes me wonder if theatre will ever move to a digital space like Tik Tok, but would that not make it theatre anymore? I don’t know but I do think that shifts like this are coming to the entertainment industry and the art form will be changing as we know it. For now, I will be happy watching my silly little Tik Toks and not thinking about the days in my future when I might be employed to help create the same silly little videos I found so much comfort in years ago.
3 comments:
Truthfully, I must confess that I have a good amount of grudges with TikTok. This social media platform, in my opinion, is one of the worst perpetrators of toxic online cultures that are hurting younger generations. Not only does it rely on and perpetuate fast entertainment, shortening attention spans, but it also feeds on controversy and drama. So, I would like to see a benefit of the platform, though an overwhelmingly net positive effect of the app would be absolutely shocking. This article does make a good point about how the content has really great levels of mobility and reach, some niches to connect people and inspire, so maybe that is something that can be facilitated more rather than the toxic culture. To me, that change would have to come from the leadership at TikTok or a change in the algorithm rather than content creators. It is undeniable that as pandemic culture becomes more ingrained in our society, platforms like these will have to be utilized to facilitate performance, so it is good that some artists are finding a way to use it to their advantage.
I think TikTok is pretty bad for our industry, and I’ve talked about this a lot. During Covid, with so much media on demand at all times, people began to crave media faster. TikTok is one way we filled this niche. With that our attention spans got shorter, and they will continue to get shorter from generation to generation. I think the days of sitting through a 5 act opera are soon to be left behind us. Yes, evolution is good but at what point do we take things too far as a society. I recognize, however that TikTok is a great way for artists to promote themselves. My friend Tay, a Pace musical theatre student, has actually found enormous success using TikTok to market himself as a black content creator, dancer, and choreographer. He has gained major popularity on the platform and had a dance challenge that gained significant celebrity traction.
I am not really sure why but I think that it is really funny that Tik Tok has built up such an incredible platform that people are able to make their entire livelihood from posting videos on Tik Tok. But maybe I am just jealous. I am not a Tik Tok dancer and I don’t think I ever will be so this entire article is kind of lost on me but it was really cool to see how much work one group of people can put into one Tik Tok. It makes me wonder if theatre will ever move to a digital space like Tik Tok, but would that not make it theatre anymore? I don’t know but I do think that shifts like this are coming to the entertainment industry and the art form will be changing as we know it. For now, I will be happy watching my silly little Tik Toks and not thinking about the days in my future when I might be employed to help create the same silly little videos I found so much comfort in years ago.
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