Dancing Across Platforms: The importance of Social Media to the Artist

Today I want to share with you the story of my dear friend. She is one of the premiere dancers in one of the most widely respected dancing companies in the country and maybe even in the world. While dancing she could hover like a snowflake, spin like a leaf caught by a tropical cyclone or tremble as if she is caught by an earthquake, while still being as graceful as a swan. When you see her dancing, you contemplate all the beauty of dance. 

My friend humbly asked me not to mention her name, so I’ll call this dear creature, Thalia, after one of the Kharites goddesses of grace, beauty, and dance in Ancient Greece.

Passionate about dancing, she excelled from a very young age. Memorizing movements for a new performance was for Thalia like memorizing a poem to other children. While they were studying how to do calculus, Thalia focused on the movement of her hands and fingers. 

Three Kharites or Graces - detail from "Primavera" by Sandro Botticelli (1482)

"I don't feel that I'm important enough to have an online presence."  - Thalia

As I mentioned before, Thalia is very humble. She doesn’t have a fan page on Facebook, own website and her Twitter account is private. When I asked her why, she told me that she didn’t feel that she was important enough to have an online presence. I was so surprised! I told her that I’m much less important than her, but I have my own webpage and all that jazz. 

During the next couple of months, I had a couple of conversations with Thalia on this subject, but I never got her to change her mind. I told her that an online presence would not only connect her with her fans, it would also help her professional career. I believe that a high number of fans browsing her website, liking her Facebook page, or following her on Twitter would indicate to the executives of her dancing institution that her performances will have a higher sell-rank. Potentially, she could get much more invites from other dancing institutions from anywhere in the world. Her online popularity could help her get a promotion or even open her own dancing academy in the future. Regardless of the potential benefits an online presence would bring to her, Thalia was not convinced. 

I told her about some of my other friends, who have Facebook pages and websites. Some are photographers, writers, and others are activists, radio hosts, a myriad of passions and professionals. And even if they don’t have many likes, they are still properly maintaining their pages because it helps them to open up their souls, connect with their audiences, as well as increase their businesses through online exposure. 

I pointed out some of the success stories in her own industry, like famous opera singer Anna Netrebko as well as dancers Gillian Murphy and Sarah Lamb and others, but still it didn’t help. I remember that all this was making me feel frustrated. I was thinking of why I even needed to explain to her all of the benefits and keep trying to win the argument. It is obvious to me that she has to work on her online presence. Besides, believe me sometimes I can be very convincing :P! However, later I realized that she is probably so stubborn about it because she was born and raised in a country, where any sort of self-promotion is unusual and unacceptable.

Anna Netrebko 
  www.annanetrebko.com

"I've seen her grace and agility light up the stage; I wish more people could have the chance to see her dancing."

Now a couple of our common friends are helping me with this and I hope that all of us together can convince Thalia. I have seen her grace and agility light up the stage many times, and I wish more people could have the chance to open up their minds and admire the beauty and sensuality of dance that Thalia brings to stage. 

Please leave a comment and let me know what do you think about the importance of Social Media to the artist, why and maybe you can also share with me your personal experience. I would love to know. Thank you!