November 22, 2005

Emerging Digital Dance Careers

When dancers think about their careers, they think about live performances and live classes. The focus is on dancing in front of other human beings who are present in the same room at the same time.

This notion that dance must be performed in front of real audiences is no longer valid. Dance is about motion in space and time. There's no reason that dance must be limited just to the "real" world.

Over the next five years, there will be such a huge proliferation of digital dance opportunities for professional dancers and instructors that many dancers will soon be earning more money by selling and licensing their performances and classes in digital format than they will from live presentations.

Here's a brief run-down of emerging digital distribution channels and opportunities for dancers:

1) Video Syndication

New companies are emerging that make it possible for anybody to upload video content to the web and make money from advertising when their video is played through hundreds or thousands of different websites. For example, Brightcove, a private company that just received $16.2 million in funding, is creating a syndication network for video programs. Any website can make any selection of videos available from their site. When these videos are played, 15-30 second advertisements are added.

Dance companies and dance instructors can take advantage of this video distribution network by uploading performances and classes. Each time a video is played, the dancers get a cut of the revenue.

2) Integrated Product Placement

Online video advertising is going to grow like crazy. In part to support the increase in available video content as I just described. Some online video ads will be discrete video segments of up to one minute in length. But most advertisements will be in the form of product placements that are integrated into a storyline, a music video or a dance piece.

Watch this video ad from Nordstrom department store. What you'll be watching is a video remix of the popular music video from the 80's "Our Lips are Sealed" from the Go-Go's. Clips of models wearing Nordstrom clothes and accessories are interspersed with the actual video of the Go-Go Girls. And the featured products are displayed right below the video clip so that you can buy them online from the retailer.

This type of promotional marketing is perfect for dancers. Advertisers need a way to get online viewers to actually watch their video ads - a difficult proposition in any medium. And featuring professional dancers performing different styles of dance is a great way to draw the attention of multi-tasking, easily distracted viewers.

3) Remote Dance Classes

As Internet bandwidth continues to improve, there will be more opportunities for dance classes to be distributed in real-time to distant locations.

Western Michigan University and Case Western Reserve University have teamed-up to deliver dance kinesiology classes over Internet2, the new high-speed Internet. Jane Baas, associate professor of dance at Case teaches this course on the science and mechanics of dance via the university's videoconference facilities.

This type of distributed real-time class instruction offers huge opportunities for delivering dance educational programs at the college and university level as well as to dance studios and even private homes.

As more people purchase wide-screen high-definition TVs (HDTV) and have access to high-speed Internet connections, it no longer is difficult or far-fetched for a group of friends to get together at home and have a remote instructor lead a dance class.

4) Portable, Transferable Media

Recently I've posted stories asking why dance companies aren't sharing video clips via Apple's iTunes so that owners of the new iPods could watch these dance performances on the go ("Dance and the 99 Cent Video" and "Where Are the Dance Podcasts?".

TV programs are already being sold inexpensively through iTunes and there is no reason that dance performances and classes cannot be sold through this distribution channel as well.

And what is likely to further accelerate this move toward portable digital content is that TiVo, the maker of a digital video recorder (DVR), just entered deals with Apple iTunes and Sony Playstation Portable so that TiVo recorded programs can be transferred to these mobile devices.

While it is not clear yet how a dance company would sell performances or classes for download by TiVo and transfer to a mobile device, this e-commerce functionality cannot be far away.

5) Computer Games

The graphics and versatility of computer game consoles and games continues to improve and in the process will eventually offer more opportunities for dancers.

Today Microsoft launched its new video game console Xbox 360, which features improved graphics quality and is HDTV compatible. According to Wired article, the graphics are not yet photorealistic, but still very impressive.

Sample Xbox graphics

While most games are action-packed sports contests or shoot'm up adventures, a less violent breed of interactive games will inevitably gain greater popularity. Already Dance Dance Revolution is a huge hit but features directional information not actual dancers.

What's bound to be on the horizon are almost photorealistic games that feature dancers or cheerleaders participating in multi-player dance competitions and, hopefully, other dance-related storylines.

As these dance-themed games take-off, there will be a greater need for dancers to be featured in these interactive gaming experiences.

6) Virtual Worlds

Are you ready to perform a dance program in an online 3D virtual world?

Well recently, a participant in the Project Entropia role-playing game, with more than 300,000 players, spent $100,000 - real US dollars - to purchase a virtual piece of land with the intention of building a resort.

Jon Jacobs, known in Entropia as Neverdie, will call his entertainment oasis Club Neverdie. Gamers, in the form of their customized avatars, will come to this new club and spend real dollars (in the form of Entropia currency) to socialize and watch live performances.

As millions more join these virtual environments, more entertainment of all types will be needed including dance performances. And since there is real money to be made and the visual quality of these environments is verging on lifelike, there's no reason not to figure out how to create your own digital dance performance company.

Other virtual worlds include Second Life and There.

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