by Madeline Gruenler
One of the most popular platforms for dance in this social media age is TikTok, where people try dance challenge trends, post their practice or performance videos, and talk about life in the dance world. Though dance is by no means the only topic of TikTok videos, it is a strong base of the app’s popularity, drawing many teen dancers to it. TikTok amplifies many perspectives and experiences of all kinds of things, including dance, so while it can be a place to find fun, healthy dance videos, many videos display hypersexualized dancing or age-inappropriate music or outfits. Unfortunately, videos like these are often popular, encouraging people to see such content as normal or healthy, even though it isn’t. So, about a year ago, the DA:NCE team decided to start a TikTok account to be a voice for healthy dance and the dignity of dancers in this space where dance students are seeing so many examples of harmful dance.
As a youngish dancer myself, DA:NCE hired me to run this new TikTok account. I’ve grown up dancing since the age of 5 and have recently embarked on the beginnings of a professional modern/contemporary dance career, as well as being a dance teacher. I’ve had the privilege of growing up in, and experiencing over time, healthy dance environments that teach good technique and artistry without hypersexualization. I’ve seen in my own life how these classes and communities are formative, and when they are healthy, dignifying spaces, it is so beautiful and fulfilling. Dance classes and performances have always been some of my favorite places to be, so it is so special to be helping preserve and promote the safety of those places for young dancers through the DA:NCE TikTok account.
My main purpose with the DA:NCE TikTok account is twofold. One goal is to educate people—particularly teen dancers but also dance teachers or studio owners, and even dance parents—about the differences between harmful and healthy dance. The other main goal is to encourage and empower dancers to stick up for their values and personal comfort when necessary, as well as to help people see they’re not alone in valuing a dancers’ human dignity. I hope to create a space that will inspire and motivate people to support healthy dance and to bring about change where it’s needed.
On the more practical level, I’ve also been using a few different video strategies to pursue these goals. One is the direct approach of posting videos that explain ideas like why hypersexualized dance is so harmful, or what a healthy dance studio can look like, as in this video. In addition to these, though, I also post less serious videos that use TikTok trends applied with a dance theme in order to draw more viewers to the account. These trend-based videos are sometimes just jokes about life as a dancer, but there are also times when a video trend lends itself to a more direct expression of the DA:NCE message, as in this example. My hope with having this blend of videos is that when people reach the account, whether that be through a silly trend-based video or a more educational video, they will be able to find whatever encouragement or education they need.
I will close with a shameless plug. If you have TikTok, please give us a follow and join this growing community of support for healthy dance!
Madeline Gruenler is the TikTok content creator for Dance Awareness: No Child Exploited. She has a B.A. in English from Biola University and is a professional dancer and dance teacher. She has been dancing since the age of five, experiencing excellent healthy dance environments and training in various styles including ballet, modern, contemporary, tap, pointe, lyrical, and jazz. She teaches at and attends the School of International Ballet in Redlands, California, as well as performing professionally with two Southern California contemporary/modern dance companies: CalliOpus Contemporary and Maura Townsend Dance Project.
