December 12, 2006

10 Ways to Use Online Dance Videos

The global dance community is in the relatively early stages of embracing online video. I think it's very likely that we will soon see an explosion in the use of video by dancers, dance companies, writers, educators, presenters and others connected to dance.

In this post, I'd like to offer my thoughts about the main ways that video is being used or can be used by dancers. I will be exploring all of these topics in greater depth in the near future. Plus, I'll be writing about a number of different video tools and applications.

If you'd like, please share your thoughts about which of the below uses of videos will be most important (or least important) to dancers and dance companies. Or, are there other uses of video that I did not include? Plus, how are you using dance videos today?

Video and Dance:

1) Multimedia press releases: Direct links to dance videos can be included in press releases so that dance writers and others can instantly watch clips of performances and, possibly, embed these videos in their online stories. These same videos can be used by bloggers and other non-traditional journalists.

2) New era of dance writing and criticism: In the age of video, it makes no sense for dance reviews to be all text. It would be nice to see explorations by dance writers and critics of how they can incorporate video into their reviews in order to develop new approaches to dance criticism.

3) Deep tagging offers intriguing possibilities: There are a number of web-based, video editing applications that allow users to tag one or more segments within a single video clip. This means that there are new ways to explore, document and share dance videos that have barely been contemplated before. Deep tagging will have ramifications in education, marketing, dance criticism, and remote collaboration among choreographers and dancers.

4) New frontiers in dance education: Deep tagging holds the possibility of revolutionizing the study of dance - no exaggeration! As more and more videos are available online and as the concept and use of deep tagging spreads, it becomes possible for educators and students to make connections that would have been virtually impossible to make before these developments. For example, a dance student could conduct a search for specific tags to identify a specific movement phrase and receive a list of all video segments that are identified by these tags. Clearly, a lot of work must be done before the dance community reaches that type of distributed collaboration, but it is a possibility.

5) Dance classes embrace video: I haven't seen this in performing arts dance classes, but I have seen this in social dance classes: At a point during a dance class, the instructor invites students to videotape a piece of choreography so that students can study and practice it in between dance classes. Sometimes I would really like to videotape the routine we learn in the modern dance classes I take. But, at the same time, I think it would be partially counter-productive since part of learning to dance is developing the capacity to process and recall movement and video might slow down the development of this skill. That said, there are probably a number of ways that video can be used in support of dance classes for students of all ages.

6) Choreography at a distance: Choreographers and dancers are not always able to meet together for extended periods of time. So videos of rehearsals play an increasingly important role as artists work together while separated by hundreds or thousands of miles. Today it's easy to shoot video, do a quick edit and share it with choreographers and dancers who are not in the same city.

7) Presenters turn to online video: Presenters - such as performing arts venues and dance festival organizers - are always looking for dance companies to book for future performances. As of today, online video is underused in this arena. As more dance companies post good quality dance videos online, it will be easier for presenters to make booking decisions without meeting dance companies face-to-face.

8) Using videos to get auditions: I've seen applications for performing arts schools and university programs where dancers are asked to include a video audition on DVD or videocassette. But I haven't seen that many websites lately where dancers create a profile and upload an audition video - they actually may be out there, I just haven't looked for awhile. Then, once dancers upload their videos, dance companies, shows, music video producers and others looking to book dancers could review the online auditions of dancers. I'm skeptical about how well this could work, but maybe good quality web-based applications can be developed that are used by a large number of dancers so that those booking dancers have a wide pool of dancers to choose from.

9) Promoting upcoming dance performances: The most popular use of dance video today is to promote dance companies and thus upcoming dance performances. Dancers and dance companies upload videos to their websites, blogs, MySpace pages as well as to popular video hosting sites in order to create more awareness for their work and performances.

10) New revenue model: How can dancers and instructors generate additional revenue with the help of digital video? One way is to sell dance performances, classes and video dance productions online. This market is in its very, very early stages. While there is still need for lots more experimentation, there's no reason that the market for online sales of dance videos cannot grow significantly. In addition to selling videos directly to customers, other revenue models can be explored such as providing videos for free in conjunction with banner and video ads.

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