Screen Dance and Communication Technology

Adding another layer of complexity to this analysis is the development of technology and travel in recent decades. The availability of digital information through internet channels such as YouTube or Vimeo allows dancers to watch and copy each other’s choreographies and styles from both within and outside ballroom world while the possibility of cheap and speedy travel has facilitated the opportunities for dancers to attend workshops, performances, and competitions abroad, further globalizing the already transnational practice of DanceSport (Marion; McMains). This section provides a brief analysis of these aspects within this DanceSport industry.

Dancers Interview – Vova and Laura, Ottawa DanceSport

E – When we began to learn there were no video recordings, there was no information spread at all. One of us in the studio had a really old video (film) camera and a projector. We used the projector to get glimpses of dancing in the west at competition. People from other studios would come and watch. Information was very valuable. Now everything is on the internet.

V – Then we acquired our first video camera.

E – We couldn’t even film or photograph ourselves properly; it all went into the past. We have no visual memories of that time. That’s one of the reasons we decided to get back into it here after 25 years.

V – Now everything has developed, everything is more simple. Information is not closed, before you could only receive information from your teacher and try to make it work, if it didn’t work

142

there was nowhere you could go. Only once I remember a foreign coach came to do some workshops and training. Also, one time our friends recorded for us a videotape of Donnie Burns the world champion at the time. We watched it and were in awe…some of the people in the studio even cried…there was so much explained that we never knew…it’s only now that you go to YouTube and can see anything; before you didn’t have access to such information so easily so whoever had the information could dance better using it. Now everyone has access to it, so it is more a question of will and ability, whereas before it was determined by information.

The lack of information and possibilities for travel was one of the reasons for the late blooming of the Soviet DanceSport industry. Besides early government censorship, the difficulty of access to information has created a unique approach to this dance form in the former USSR. The dancers and coaches relied more on the embodied knowledge produced through regular and intense practice rather than on specific technical instructions. Nevertheless, when such

instructions were available they were positively received and thoroughly analysed. By the time global information technology became widely accessible, their bodies were in great shape to receive it. In the late 1990s and early 2000s West European and American dancers still dominated the world DanceSport scene, but progressing further into the new millennium the names on the podiums around the world began to sound increasingly eastern European (WDSF). As anthropologist Helena Wulff points out, new technology has further increased global

communications and collaborations in the dance world. Such a transparent climate produced a lot of questions of authenticity and reconstruction of material available on social media channels. New copyright initiatives such as Creative Commons (Creative Commons) have emerged as potential solutions to them but they seem to be better suited for the music industry than an ephemeral art such as dance. Steps and choreographies are not yet copyrightable although

143 teaching syllabi (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance; Dance Vision International Dance Association) and specific productions for stage already are (Burn the Floor; Strictly Ballroom). This means that in cases of cultural appropriation it is very difficult to argue ownership unless the dance steps or choreography are codified and protected by a written contract. This situation precludes many of the cultural dances such as Flamenco or Argentine Tango from being protected from appropriation in DanceSport, an unproductive cultural process continues the colonial legacy of Ballroom dance35. These dances are now gaining their own foothold on the global-market economy through the large media exposure and their exotic appeal in the West. However, many have had to join World DanceSport Federation in order to grow their market and in doing so had to adhere to a restrictive syllabus created by this ballroom-based organization (WDSF; McMains). Salsa for example, made such a transition and, not surprisingly, is looking increasingly like competitive-ballroom with many acrobatic tricks, fancy costumes, and

international competitions (WDSF). In the Soviet Union, ballet character dance has had a long tradition of appropriating Soviet Republics’ and has facilitated the acceptance of ballroom as a legitimate practice with a similar history of appropriation.

When Rosenberg discusses the development of dance on screen, he argues that dance had to adapt to the new media as a part of its production rather than just a means of recording. For DanceSport, that meant theatrical production of the competitions, complete with stage lighting, television coverage, and set designs. The Eurosport Television channel has covered dance competitions for at least a couple of decades already (WDSF) but in the USA, bigger

competitions such as the Ohio Star Ball for example, have taken it further by using Hollywood style camerawork, broadcasters, and slick event venues (Ohio Star Ball Championships). The

35 _{WDSF now includes dance styles such as country western, acrobatic rock n’ roll, and salsa. This year it has also}

144 depictions of Competitive ballroom dancing on screen even made it to Hollywood films such as Take the Lead and Shall We Dance, featuring famous actors including Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, and Antonio Banderas (McMains). Furthermore, the growing popularity of YouTube and Facebook has given easy worldwide access to lectures, competitions, and shows. Because of these developments in communication technology and accessible travel possibilities Great Britain and Western Europe have lost their traditional oligopoly on ballroom dance. Main competitions are now held in various locations around the world, dancers travel to training camps in Eastern Europe and Asia, and alternative associations have emerged destabilising the long reign of the UK-based World Dance Council (WDC). In fact, many of the best coaches from Western Europe and the UK have now migrated to the United States in search of larger profits, competition scale, and student base.

145