“Dancing With Myself” sets an impressive scene, even with the dazzling standards of a television talent competition. Two rows of room-sized cubes trimmed with sparkling light fill the stage — “Hollywood Squares” and “Saturday Night Fever” meet. Pop stars Shakira and Nick Jonas, as well as Internet celebrity Liza Koshy, sit at the judging table. Behind them is an audience in the cheering studio. The door of one cube slides open to reveal the first contestant of the show.
… TikTok style dance challenge. Pajamas are an option, as the creators of the app are known for shooting in the bedroom.
The designed appeal of Network Reality TV may seem to be at odds with the carefree slack of TikTok dance. “Dancing With Myself” was set out to prove that it wasn’t. The new NBC show from Tuesday to July 19th seeks to transform the viral dance challenge phenomenon into a reality competition format.
The packaging is familiar: elaborate sets, live audiences, and a collection of celebrity judges. However, the program’s social media savvy athletes (who take on short dance challenges in isolated “pods”) do not look or move like most dance show athletes. And the judges aren’t just commenting from behind the table. They are also charged as creators who set up and teach the show’s dance routines.
“Dancing With Myself” harnesses the momentary power of TikTok and the now vague nostalgic power of network television talent shows. In an effort to connect these two cultures, we faced some of the same problems that rocked the world of social media dance and revealed how much TikTok dance itself has evolved.
“We’re trying to justify TikTok dance at the venue, which is TikTok’s antithesis,” said Trevor Boffone, teacher and author of the book Renegades: Digital Dance Culture from Dubsmash to TikTok. “But it also shows how deeply this kind of dance is embedded in popular culture.”
Development of “Dancing With Myself” began in early 2021 shortly after the dance challenge reached its peak. “We saw people holding these virtual dance parties, posting these dances from the living room, and looking for a way for everyone to connect,” said executive producer John Irwin. I did. “And I thought,’Oh, this needs a show.'”
Celebrity Star Power decided the idea. In December 2020, Shakira and Black Eyed Peas released a dance forward music video for their song “Girl Like Me”.straight away I got a virus When fans try to recreate a jazzercise choreographed passage co-created by Maite Marcos, Shakira, Marc Tore and Sadeck Waff... Already a veteran of the dance challenge, Shakira has begun reposting her favorite “Girl Like Me” video to her social account. “She felt like the best person to get into this,” Irwin said.
Shakira participated as both an executive producer and a leader of the show’s jury. After that, her model Camille Kostek participated as a host, and Cossy and Jonas closed the jury.
You never hear the name Tik Tok in “Dancing With Myself”. “I didn’t want to be a’TikTok show’because I thought this move was bigger than that,” Irwin said.
Twelve participants in each episode will learn a set of routines that resemble social media dance tasks in terms of simplicity and relative simplicity. They are run in square “pods” that suggest a boxed isolation of the phone screen, and you can’t see each other on most challenges. Like many TikTok dance creators, Jonas, Koshy, Kostek, and Shakira aren’t experienced choreographers, but they all help show and teach the show’s routines. Judges have the opportunity to save their favorite dancers, but “likes” are the currency of the contest, and the winner is determined by a vote of the audience and animated as a shower of hearts on the screen.
The “Dancing With Myself” approach to casting is probably most in line with the spirit of TikTok. “In an app, success isn’t always a good dance, but it’s actually the performer’s personality,” says Boffone.
Although some “Dancing With Myself” athletes are talented and highly trained dancers, the show emphasizes the inclusion of charismatic competitors of all skill levels. Many are already outstanding on TikTok: Dance flight attendants, Dancing police officer, Dance dentist.. (And dancing TikTok scholar. Boffone, Post a routine with his students on Instagram and TikTok, Cast as an alternative to episode 5 of the show. )
“This is a show for everyone,” Shakira said in an email. “It’s about celebrating the love of dance and personal stories among all, not just professionals.”
When TikTok dance reached an inflection, “Dancing With Myself” arrived. In early 2019 and early 2020, when the platform was still predominantly known as the “teen dance app,” the culture revolved around dance challenges. But as TikTok grew to include a wider range of users and uses, the dance challenge became less dominant. Renegade ChallengeChoreographed by Jalaiah Harmon in the fall of 2019, it has 124.8 million views.This spring Blockbuster dance, Jaeden Gomez’s choreography for Lizzo’s song “About Damn Time” has been played about 31 million times.
Continuing questions about proper credit for dance creators, especially color creators, have also helped cool the trend in dance challenges. In last summer’s #BlackTikTokStrike campaign, some black artists who were dissatisfied with white influencers adopting dance content took a step back from the platform. (Recently added apps Built-in credit function This allows the user to identify the original creator of the dance. )
The show’s relationship to this conversation is a bit complicated. “Dancing With Myself” doesn’t even include the handles or names of the participants’ social media, so it’s difficult to find and follow them online. It also recreates some of the credit issues that many TikTok creators have protested after fashion. During the show, celebrities are identified as the creators of the dance challenge and show the choreography as if it were their own. Behind the scenes, they are backed by a team of professional choreographers — Brittany Cherry, Cameron Lee, Simmons When Kelly Sweeney — Selected by married choreographers and co-executive producers Tavisa and Napoleon D’ummo.
“If you’re not a choreographer, it’s pretty good to make a lot of dance in a short amount of time,” said Napoleon, who has worked with Tabisa on “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing.” With a star “, in other shows. “We are there to help creators with choreography. We put together the base and then discuss with them what feels good and what movements we want to incorporate into the dance. “
Napoleon states that the final title of the show includes all the names of the choreographers. It’s already credited more than some TV dance artists. “I think putting that information in the episode itself would confuse the viewer,” he said. “I don’t always say when Tom Cruise is stunting or when he is a stuntman.”
The “Dancing With Myself” contestants list includes some successful social media stars. Why do they expose themselves to reality TV meat grinders? If you have a lot of followers from popular creators, it can be difficult to tell if your fame is narrow. This is often limited to niche online groups. National television shows provide a greater spotlight — a boon for those who crave a better perception of their work.
“in short, Communication network“Mary Moring, the contestant of the second episode. Nearly 700,000 TikTok followers.. “Social media is pretty new, but NBC exists. People know NBC.” And 46-year-old Moring said the show helped her reach new demographics. Discovered: Her companion. “Many of my people, Generation X, don’t participate in social media, but watch TV,” she said. “People are now coming to my page saying they saw me at the show.”
TikTok celebrities are also limited by the platform’s short video format. This format gives you a quick glimpse of the author. Keara Wilson, 21, the winner of the second episode of “Dancing With Myself,” is one of the most famous Tik Tokers on the show.She choreographed the Savage Challenge, which swept the Internet in the spring of 2020, and is now 3.4 million followers.. Despite her viral moments, Wilson said he thought most of her fans didn’t know much about her.
“Few things can be shown in a 15-second or 30-second video,” she said.She had a strange half-fame — it got more complicated Diversion of her choreography by a white creatorThis means that many who encountered the Savage Challenge were unaware that Wilson created it. (Wilson is now Copyright of her barbaric dance.. )
However, reality TV is an area of backstory, and “Dancing with Myself” includes packages that introduce participants both online and offline. At the show, the judges not only shouted Wilson as the creator of the Savage Challenge, but the viewers also learned about the arrival of her wedding and her wide range of dance experiences beyond the TikTok Challenge. “Two years have passed,” Wilson said in her episode, “and I can finally show who I really am.”
Neither Moring nor Wilson saw a big rise in TikTok’s followers after appearing on “Dancing With Myself.” However, both said they had a valuable bond with the many creators they met at the show. Boffone described the hotel where the athletes stayed during the shoot as a “Tik Tok summer camp” and everyone stayed up late to share their dance practice and career advice.
“Many of us were very excited to be around the other people who got it,” he said. “Hey, how do you talk to the brand? What are some good strategies for using hashtags? It’s all about sharing resources and helping each other succeed. It’s a cohort of people. “
“Dancing With Myself” Far away from runaway hits, It may reflect the next step in the development of TikTok style dance: taking the dance challenge offline.As the app’s vocabulary and memes permeated mainstream culture, TikTok Dance Along began to happen everywhere. concert For baseball games. There may be days when you’re less likely to watch a TikTok dance on TikTok than you would on TV.
“These kinds of movements are created by people, not platforms,” Irwin said. “We provide another place to spread the movement.”
