Ballet Education for the Web 2.0 Generation: A Case for Using YouTube to Teach Elementary-School-Aged Ballet Students

Abstract

Today's elementary-school-aged ballet students were born in the era of Web 2.0. Their everyday lives are significantly engaged with digital technology. Though scholars have addressed related topics, no one has looked at how ballet can be taught to the Web 2.0 generation using twenty-first-century technologies. The purpose of this article is to help fill that gap in the literature. This author first, calls for a shift in the pedagogical approach to teaching elementary-school-aged students ballet; next, suggests incorporating student-generated time-lapse, tutorial, fan review and commentary, and reaction YouTube videos; then, argues that this cross-pollinated approach could help teachers develop specific skills in students, while also extending existing research on twenty-first-century technology as it relates to cultural identity, pedagogical approaches in arts education, and other pedagogical approaches.