THEMES IN COMMERCIAL DANCE!
Last but definietly not least we come to themes and how they relate to commercial dance! The theme I am going to discuss is sexuality!
The theme I am going to discuss and relate to commercial dance is sexuality. Sexuality has always played a part in commercial dance however, over the years it has grown massively and become such a key aspect to the style. Commercial dance as a style is nowadays in a nutshell is ‘selling sex’. Many well-known celebrities and the media in itself have influenced sexuality in commercial dance causing it to expand and develop over the years.
Firstly, sexuality is one of the most controversial topics in society. Years ago there were many debates on what was right and wrong and usually people wouldn’t speak about the subject or portray it. For example, from a dance related aspect before Isadora Duncan (a pioneer of contemporary dance) dancing wasn’t vulgar like it is nowadays. Isadora pushed the boundaries within her generation and started to dance sexually which caused an outrage at this time. She also would show her ankles and legs in her performances and was very controversial in the fact she was open about her sexuality and had many lovers. This was taboo at this time however it has made an impact on society now as this has become the norm. Today, sex is spoken about more openly and things such as sex before marriage and teen pregnancy are a lot more common. Although, some cultures still see this as absurd. As it is a more open subject with less rules put into place, its shown a lot through commercial dance and is now initially a competition to show the most sexuality.
Without the media commercial dance wouldn’t have expanded the way it has, the same as sex wouldn’t have been seen as much. In our generation everything becomes virally viewed and everyone has the ability to see everything. The topic of sex is now so dominant within the media because it’s all over it. Sex is mentioned in most songs, debates about sex and celebrities are virally spread over social media and dance moves in commercial, dancehall etc are becoming a lot more sex based. All of this is portrayed through commercial dance and the industry itself and has expanded and developed so much because it has the ability to go viral through the media.
Fashion also plays a big part in commercial dance. If you were to go into a commercial class or audition for a music video everyone would be dressed near enough the same. As commercial has progressed ‘less is more’, to wear less clothes is more fashionable and the ideal is to look sexy, this refers back to selling sex and making everything a lot more sexualised. This interrelates to body image massively as the commercial industry has created a lot of controversy on what is a perfect body image. Now that in commercial dance the clothing is usually tight fitted and minimal society suggests you have to look a certain way which has had an impact on young females. Everyone is aspiring to be this image of perfect and ‘sexy’ that comes across in the commercial industry a lot as usually commercial dance is more based on image than talent.
The piece I’m going to talk about isn’t very dance heavy but shows a good indication on how the commercial industry has been sexualised and how music videos especially are portraying sex. In the music video ‘wrecking ball’ by Miley Cyrus it shows sexual relations between Miley and objects such as a wrecking ball and a sledge hammer. I think these objects relate to men and you can see her having ‘sexual encounters’ with them as she licks the hammer and swings on the wrecking ball naked. This caused a lot of stir on social media as people thought it to be unacceptable, however its all been done before by people like Madonna etc and truthfully its just an indication of open sexuality through commercial which we are all familiar with today.
Also, I looked at ‘Ride It’ by Ciara which is a song initially about sex. For the duration of this video Ciara is dancing sexually and touches herself and moves sexually on the floor. This is a good example of the development of sexuality in commercial dance as the movements are all very sex related like the way she moves her hips and makes sexual gestures to portray her having sex with somebody.
