What is the impact of social media on young dancers?

                                                                                  Views on the impact of social media on young dancers

                                                                                                                                                  Many argue that social media, such as Instagram and YouTube, have a negative influence on the art of dance, and perhaps even more so on classical dance. But let's read what famous dancers have to say about the impact of social media on young dancers.

“Young classical dancers are being destroyed by Instagram,” claims Russian prima ballerina, Diana VishnevaOne of the biggest stars of our time warns that the development and advancement of young dancers is being jeopardized by videos of hyper-elastic dancers performing transcendently difficult choreographies. Diana Vishneva argues that popular Instagram and YouTube clips set false expectations that could create barriers or even harm young dancers.

“I often see young dancers more focused on their phones than on what’s going on in rehearsals. Some are not yet professionals or mature enough to understand what they’re watching on YouTube,” said the famous dancer. Mariinsky Ballet“They see the surface, the perfect bodies, but they don’t realize the work behind them,” said the former student of the legendary Vaganova Academy, the school that produced classical dance legends such as Nijinsky, Nureyev, Anna Pavlova and Natalia Makarova.

OR Vishneva He fears that young dancers believe in unrealistic standards with photos and videos, especially on Instagram.
"When I was young, we just didn't have time for anything else but ballet. Now kids spend hours on social media and you see the consequences immediately on stage. They don't know what a timeline is and they don't have a sense of the progression of movement over time. They want everything to happen immediately, they want everything now," said the ballerina who has divided her time between American Ballet Theatre and dance in Russia for the last 13 years.

Her comments come as concern grows about the influence of unrealistic standards for young dancers on social media. The American magazine Dance Magazine warned that “what seems like harmless visual candy is setting new standards for young dancers as they seek to emulate Instagram heroes. These impressive choreographies, in themselves, are not a bad thing. However, without codified technique, they can be disastrous,” he warned.

H Theresa Ruth Howard, a former dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem who teaches classical dance around the world, argues about the impact of social media on young dancers, saying, “Teachers who encourage the flexible girl to stretch all the time instead of working hard can easily be swayed by the impressive but unrealistic images of Instagram that are gaining fame and followers worldwide.” She also adds that “it is a ‘guilty pleasure’ that by the time dancers of our generation realize it, it will be too late.”

Vishneva, who was trained by the famous Ludmila Kovaleva and had the highest scores ever earned by a dancer in the system Vaganova, stated that the struggle is constant in order for a dancer to reach and stay at the top. Things take time and the new artist must learn to wait.

Article source:  telegraph.co.uk

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