So You Think You Can Dance

For many people in the 'serious' dance world, a show like So You Think You Can Dance is both a blessing and a curse. For one thing, it's very exciting to know that a lot more people are being exposed to dance during primtime hours, and that 'lay people', meaning not dance insiders, might actually start to learn that modern or contemporary dance isn't just a bunch of self-indulgent ballet under-achievers running around the stage screaming and staring blankly off into space like zombies. the judges' commentary is also something educational for people, even if the audience doesn't like what they say and get booed when they say something critical (nigel), i think it serves the purpose of trying to describe elements of an art form that a lot of people are still really intimidated by and feel they don't 'get'. i think that in part because of shows like this, that is changing. it may not be high art, but it can be thought of as a kind of gateway drug. if people enjoy it, they may just try to seek it out more in their communities and end up going to see a professional dance company performance or two, or even (gasp!) take a dance class.

The downside? i think the show really caters to the lowest common denomitor of our society's collective attention deficit disorder. We all know things have to be packaged in this way to fly on primtime, but in this particular show I think it even affects the dancing and that is a shame. for those in the bay area, a show like Spark is much more where it's at to really explore artistry. SYTYCD is all about going for the emotional jugular, and the dancers know they have to over-do their performances in order to compete. it is, after all, a competition. There are some real artists on the show however, who know about sutbtely and how to really shape movement into something that communicates viscerally. In order to stay on the show though, they have to show off their technical wizardry or else they won't survive. dancers like mark from hawaii is one of these artists, and so is will. even though will's elimination was a big shock to me at first, the more i thought about it, it actually makes sense. he chose to do a totally different solo where he wasn't shirtless for once, and also wasn't pulling out all the virtuosity stops with flying leaps and ridiculous amounts of turns. instead, he chose to do a character dance that was more about the joy of dancing and and ode to james brown. i watched it three times and now on the third time i feel like i totally get it. right on, will... you took a chance and failed, but in my eyes you are the true winner. i think that takes major cahones.