The spread of the new coronavirus disease affected almost every notable group of our society, the global dance community being no exception. The current policies of self-isolation and seclusion made it difficult for dance amateurs to gather and enjoy performing their favourite pastime. Fortunately, we live in the age of Internet, and the Web became the solution: a way of reconnecting people from different places and countries into a single dance community, raising their spirits with anti-COVID-dance live events and remaining together in times of trouble.
In this article we will tell the story of Social Dance TV, Kirill Korshikov’s channel, a tale of how what once had been a simple Instagram account grew and evolved into a large mass media product, covering social dancing events all around the globe and attracting numerous new subscribers on a daily basis. Thanks to Social Dance TV, all those eager dancers longing to have a proper party have their wishes fulfilled, the video channel being a sight for sore eyes.
Of course, those who aren’t newcomers to the dance community, realize that social dancing changed considerably in the last 20 years. Diverse groups and schools evolved into a global community and cultural industry due to social networks. Today, a person interested in social dancing will easily encounter a blooming social media network, with its own cult trends and icons, all night long parties and never-ending fun, a brave new world of huge dance events and festivals. Social dancing has become a lifestyle.
Let’s have a look at some figures, just to prove the facts: 20 years ago, when the “Salsa” iconic movie was released, the global salsa movement was still at its roots. The few festivals and events organized managed to gather a thousand people at most. However, nowadays we can find about 10 big festivals taking place every weekend! The salsa, bachata and kizomba dances became well-known worldwide, with corresponding festivities organized almost in every corner of our planet. For example, the Croatian Summer Salsa Festival in Rovinj manage to attract more than 5000 participants, and the Euro Dance Festival in Germany is annually attended by about 10,000 dance lovers.
Having compared the figures above, let’s get back in time and try to trace the Social Dance TV back to its origins. Kirill, a passionate dancer since childhood and also a talented videographer, had an idea of expanding social dance influence, wishing for it to appeal to a wider range of audiences. That’s why he decided to combine both of his interests in order to achieve it. Six years ago, when the channel was created, social dancing was barely represented in social media, the information provided was fragmentary and scarce, often mixed with videos on other unrelated topics. This state of affair gave Kirill the bright idea of starting a new Instagram channel dedicated strictly to dancing videos, aimed at dance buffs like himself, capable of binge-watching that kind of media. Then, on January 13, 2015, Kirill Korshikov launched his own channel, the Social Dance TV.
The channel started its existence with lively dancing videos compiled from all kinds of sources, gradually Kirill started to film and upload his own videos, with the aim of expressing a unique vision of the passionate dancing community on film. Six months later it became obvious that his own videos attracted many more viewers and attention, so it was decided for Social Dance TV to become a channel with exclusive author’s content.
Over the course of the years Social Dance TV steadily grew, expanded to wider audiences and soon became an indispensable part of the social dance web community. Kirill Korshikov realized that thanks to his channel people from all over the world could be brought together to enjoy the beauty and passion of the dance, and this was a huge achievement. SDTV provided an easy access to the social dance scene, allowed unrestricted communication between dancers, unhindered by the language barrier thanks to the translation option available. Thus, the next logical step was becoming a platform for dance festivals post-productions.
According to Kirill, although the result is important, the process in itself for him is the key, proving to be an unending source of joy. When shooting a party, it’s crucial not just to film it, but to blend with the environment, becoming a part of the dance, feeling it’s rhythms and following the course of the action. The camera provides an excellent way of perceiving the passion, body language, sincerity and liveliness of the dancers, allowing to capture it on film and later show it to those who missed the performance. Summarizing the above said, the mission of SDTV can be described as filming all that magic moments in vivid detail in order to share it with the global dance community, thus making it part of the common global dance heritage.
Nowadays Social Dance TV has grown into a production studio with recruited staff. They shoot more, post faster and film concomitant events. The channel films up to 50 dance events from all corners of the world annually. It’s 36 countries that Social Dance TV have aired from. Now channel offers its aid to those in need, advocating for charity, gathering donations for healthcare institutions, organizing online classes and dance challenges. Social Dance TV also takes responsibility for trends it makes, as it declares itself mass media.
Speaking of recent events, in March of 2020 SDTV organized a charity dance event online with the aim of raising funds for COVID-affected countries. Dozens online dance lessons performed by top dancers of wide renown enjoyed huge success and managed to gather a substantial donation sum for the medical institutions. Despite being left without the opportunity to perform live, dancers surprised and captivated the audience, providing much-sought compassion in times of dire circumstances. In May 2020, a worldwide “Social dancing on Quarantine” challenge entertained people all around the globe, quickly gaining popularity thanks to the participation of numerous Latin dance stars.
In June 2020, Kirill Korshikov enters the music scene. He released his first song remix, made in the “Trap” genre, of the track “Iglesia Rumbera” of La Maxima 79, reinvigorating the popularity of the original track, that made its debut in 2015.
Due to the current pandemic restrictions, building interaction online with the dance community continues being the main goal, however, after the end of the pandemic and cancellation of the corresponding restrictions, video shooting of dance festivals will recommence.