Type of Document	Thesis
Author	Young, Latika Linn
Author's Email Address	l_un_atika@hotmail.com
URN	etd-04052007-140622
Title	Dorky Dance.Com: Dorky Dancing, Vlogging and the Rise of Self-Produced Dance on the Internet
Degree	Master of Arts
Department	Dance, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Sally Sommer Committee Chair John O. Perpener, III Committee Member Tricia Young Committee Member
Keywords	Dancing Dance Internet YouTube Numa Ok Go Awkward Dorky Vaudeville Amateur
Date of Defense	2007-04-02
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract This thesis traces a lineage from historical onscreen awkward dancing to contemporary online dorky dancing. This evolution encompasses Edison’s actualities, the stars of silent film, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the expert awkward dancer, Donald O’Connor, and the more recent awkward dance stars, Pee Wee Herman and Napoleon Dynamite. This foundation contextualizes the rise of self-produced, “dorky dance” on the Internet, a form beloved for its genuineness and lack of fabrication and immensely popular due to “viralization” and transmission as “Internet memes.” Dorky dance is further distinguished from awkward dance by examining the specific criteria that compose its definition. This investigation utilizes both movement analysis and socio-cultural studies, drawing particularly from gender studies and recent sociological theorizing about the Internet. The current role of Internet participation advocacy is linked to a long-standing precedent for participation-fuelled art-making, drawing from Walter Benjamin to the post-modern artistic collaborators of the 1960s and 1970s. This study analyzes the impacts of the online dorky dance movement, including those personal in nature—either for the creator or the viewer, the new audience member—and those on a societal level, both the positive and potentially negative. Although participation in the dorky dance genre is still limited by the existing restrictions of the digital divide, the technology necessary to participate is rapidly becoming cheaper and more available. This greater accessibility is continuing to bring fascinatingly diverse examples of online dorky dancing. Finally, the thesis explores the points of intersection between Internet dorky dancing and other arenas that it is permeating—the live concert dance stage, the cinema house, the video art realm, and the commercial world of advertisements and sponsorship.
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