Instagram – ‘bringing you closer to the things you love’: Ghanaian popular dance circulation through interaction within current pervasive media

Abstract

The advent of social networking today is bringing us closer to the people, places and things we love to see. As an avenue for bridging the communication gap and advancing human interaction, social media’s pervasiveness has had tremendous impact on Ghanaian dance culture in contemporary times. Popular dancers today present their oeuvres in the form of short videos (mostly a minute) on Instagram and solicit user responses from audience of diverse backgrounds and locations. Considering this influence of globalization, its pervasive global communication media, and the move from in-person to virtual communication, it is imperative to interrogate the utilization of the social media networks (especially Instagram) by Ghanaian popular dancers in recent times as regards its impact on the proliferation of the locally created popular dances. This article is framed within the concept of Active and Affective modes of engaging with mediated dances and Connective Marginalities in addition to perspectives from globalization, social media and popular dance studies. Through the analysis of the exploits of two famous popular dancers in Ghana and specific ‘cypher pages’, I highlight the opportunities offered by Instagram as an alternative ‘cultural space’ for the marginalized youth to exhibit their creative ingenuities whilst interacting and reaching out to a wider audience within the shared mediated space.