Experiential Marketing Through a Dancer’s Lens
When I joined my college dance team, I knew I’d be at countless university events and performing in front of thousands of people. What I didn’t realize was that five years later, I’d walk away with an entirely new way of looking at marketing, specifically experiential marketing.
I’m honestly surprised I never made the connection earlier. I didn’t put two and two together until my junior year of college that much of my dance experience was experiential marketing. At the time, I never thought about it from a professional or marketing perspective. Looking back, dance taught me invaluable lessons about storytelling, energy, and audience engagement, all of which translate directly into how brands create experiences. In this blog, I’ll walk through my experience as a dancer, what it taught me about storytelling, and how performance and brand experience are far more connected than I ever expected.
Understanding Experiential Marketing
Before we go into my experience as a dancer, let’s talk about what experiential marketing actually is. Experiential marketing focuses on creating an experience for the consumer rather than relying solely on traditional, one-way marketing methods. The goal is to create a fun, memorable, and engaging interaction that people will associate with a brand long after it’s over. Sports events are a great example of this because fans aren’t just watching a game; they’re immersed in an environment designed to entertain, energize, and emotionally connect them to a team or organization. More broadly, experiential marketing shows up across industries, from pop-up events and brand activations to live performances, in-store experiences, and interactive campaigns that invite people to participate rather than observe.
Dance itself is inherently experiential. It’s live, embodied, emotional, and audience-facing. In many ways, you’re always representing a brand as a dancer. Growing up, that meant representing my studio at competitions. My studio is very well known and respected, and much of that reputation stems from the routines we have performed over the years. The stories we told on stage left a lasting impression on spectators and other teams, shaping how people viewed our studio. Dance competitions as a whole are experiential, and that experience is heavily influenced by the teams competing. Events like UDA College Nationals are a perfect example. People tune in specifically to watch elite, prestigious teams perform, and the routines they bring shape the energy, excitement, and overall perception of the competition. Marketing often talks about storytelling and engagement in abstract terms, but dance offers a tangible, lived example of what those concepts look like when executed well.
Storytelling in Dance
In the art of dance, storytelling can take many different forms. Sometimes, a routine has a clear, literal theme or storyline. Other times, the story is more abstract but still intentional. The strongest performances tell a clear story and leave little to the imagination about the theme. Even when a routine is abstract, you typically walk away feeling exactly what the choreographer intended. You may not immediately be able to explain the theme, but you feel the emotion, whether that’s excitement, joy, sadness, or tension. In many routines, the story is reinforced through visual and auditory cues such as props, costuming, music choices, or choreography style, all of which help guide the audience’s understanding.
A few strong examples of memorable storytelling from recent years include:
University of Minnesota Jazz (2025)
LSU Tiger Girls Hip Hop (2024)
UNLV Hip Hop (2018)
Looking back, my favorite dances were always the ones that made me feel something. They were emotionally resonant, visually compelling, and memorable long after the performance ended.
How Dance Storytelling Translates to Marketing
Marketing storytelling should follow the same principles as a well-crafted dance routine. The story shouldn’t be vague. It should be easy to understand quickly and, most importantly, make the audience feel something. At the end of the day, the goal is connection. Visual and contextual cues matter in marketing just as much as they do in dance. Branding, messaging, tone, and the medium you choose all shape how a story is perceived. A brand’s story can be conveyed through a brand’s tone of voice, the stories it tells about consumer experiences, and even the way it uses colors, which are associated with specific emotions and can subtly influence how people feel about a brand. All of these elements work together to communicate a story, whether the audience consciously realizes it or not.
College Dance as a Live Fan Experience
College dance is very different from competitive dance. For most of the season, it’s less about telling a complete narrative and more about creating a live fan experience. The most significant exception is nationals, where you’re competing in the name of your school while still telling a story through your routine. Outside of that setting, the environment shifts significantly. You’re performing on a field or court instead of a raised competition stage, and you’re dancing for fans rather than judges. Your core responsibilities revolve around keeping people entertained between game action and maintaining high energy, even when the game itself isn’t particularly exciting or high-intensity. There’s also a strong representation aspect. You’re wearing the university’s name across your chest and serving as part of its public image and brand. That means you have to act the part just as much as you look the part, which becomes even more important beyond the performance itself.
Audience Energy & Engagement
Crowd energy is not passive. When momentum drops, performers are responsible for actively resetting the atmosphere. That shows up through leading cheers, high-energy sideline performances, and sustained visible enthusiasm, not just during big moments. Consistency is key, and your energy can’t drop just because the conditions aren’t ideal. I vividly remember dancing during a football game while it was pouring rain, and the expectation was exactly the same. I’ve also danced at games where we were losing badly and the energy was low, but as a dancer, you still have to cheer like your team is the one up by 30 points. Your engagement doesn’t fluctuate with circumstances; it’s part of the role.
Fan Interaction Beyond Performance
Fan interaction is a significant part of the overall experience, whether it’s during games, appearances, or community events. Expectations are essential but straightforward. You’re expected to be respectful, kind, energetic, and approachable. That applies not only to your own fans but also to visiting teams’ fans.
One personal example that always stands out to me is selling calendars to visiting Virginia Tech fans at a home football tailgate. We became part of their experience, something they likely remembered while being in “enemy territory.” I felt the same way whenever we traveled for away games and had positive experiences at other stadiums. Duke, NC State, and Boston College all had incredibly kind staff, and the USC spirit team and fans were very friendly when we traveled to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl. Those interactions shape how people feel about an entire program. From a marketing perspective, they reinforce how small, human moments can influence brand perception from both sides.
Experiential Marketing in Action
Live performances act as direct brand touchpoints. Every interaction shapes brand perception, from on-field performances and sideline presence to one-on-one conversations with fans. Even the fans themselves play a role in shaping perception. People go home saying things like, “That team’s fans were really nice,” which reflects positively on the entire program. Emotional takeaways matter more than specific details. Fans may forget the score, but they remember how the environment felt and how they were treated. Consistency across moments is critical; energy, tone, and behavior must align with the brand being represented. Experiential marketing prioritizes experience over message. The goal isn’t to tell fans what a brand is, but to make them feel it in real time.
Final Thoughts
Dance gave me hands-on training in storytelling, energy management, and audience engagement. Those lessons translate directly to marketing and brand experience. Experiential marketing isn’t theoretical; it lives in moments, environments, and interactions. Looking back, every performance, cheer, and fan interaction reinforced the idea that how people feel during an experience matters just as much as the experience itself.
What experiences have reshaped the way you think about experiential marketing?
