UC Irvine

ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

Social Media and Its Effects in the Commercial Dance World

by

Robert Rene Laos, Jr.

Master of Fine Arts in Dance

University of California, Irvine, 2019

Associate Professor S. Ama Wray, Chair

The worlds of social media and commercial dance are topics usually discussed separately. In this study, they are examined as a unit to reveal how they interrelate, hand in hand. To enable an examination of the role of commercial dance in this interrelationship, the research includes interviews of professional choreographers, dancers and directors in the commercial dance industry, with a focus on their experiences with social media as they navigate the field. The study observes the ways in which social media impact the careers of dance professionals. In addition, the research interviews uncover reasons why many commercial dancers and other artists in this world choose not to study dance in college. Suggestions about how the dance studies environment could be re-articulated to include as a mode of study a critical and practical examination of the commercial industry and its layered relationship to social media are offered. Applying what was learned from the subjects and a review of some relevant literature, my investigation included the creation of a new Instagram profile to experientially grasp the process of entering this social marketing and profiling arena, in order to be a better-informed future instructor in dance studies