Context Collapse- Protecting the Cypher
Context Collapse has always been prominent in the dance world, especially for black dance practices. There has been a deep history of using African aesthetics in European dance forms, and giving no credit to the roots of the new hybrid dance. Similarly, there has been a history of white people (who have access to mainstream media and captial) using influence from black art forms (dance) to make money. But, with the creation of media platforms, such as Tik Tok, movement can be spread with the touch of a button, and the idea of context collapse has been taken to a whole new level.
Many of the Tik Tok dances are created by black women and men, who take movement from black social dances and create 15–30 second phrases which are often replicated. When posting these phrases there is an “expectation that the audience understands the social norms and practices of the group creating a ‘private’ post in public” (IndieWeb). The creators of these phrases are taking black social dances out of the circle, or the cypher. DeFrantz reminds us that the cypher “protects and permits,” but when the movement is opened to the public this protective aspect of the circle is removed, and therefore the movement is vulnerable to appropriation.
When these dances are replicated by the users of Tik Tok, very few of the dancers understand the meaning behind the movement- they are literally just copying the moves. And though this can be a fun way for the younger generation to move their body, it is also allowing for the dance to lose its integrity.
Ideas Stem from Nicholas Carr’s, “From Context Collapse to Content Collapse,” and IndieWeb’s “Context Collapse.”
