Am I the only one that thinks that the freestyle dancing they do on So, You Think You Can Dance? when they are trying to save their assess looks like crap? I just can’t take it seriously. Waving their arms to and fro. They jump high, swoop low and pirouette – with So Much Feeling. The swishing. The tumbling. The fake pulling the sky towards you and then collapsing in a heap? Why?
As a visual artist, you think I might be able to appreciate it more since my art is all about unreserved expression. But, nope. They look like idiots to me. I can totally get behind the couples dancing. The Salsa, Merengue, Quick Step – yes, yes, yes. I love it. My left foot starts shaking to the beat and when I notice and try to keep it still, the next thing I know, my big toe is tapping. I even like the Hip Hop routines. Can’t we just keep all those around and get rid of the freestyle crap? Who do I need to talk to?
Yeah, absolutely I am with you. I used to usher so I could see shows for free at a performing arts center and quickly discovered I do not like modern dance. One show was even billed “Modern dance for people who don’t like modern dance.” Hated it.
I have to agree about the freestyling. Even to a trained dancer (perhaps especially to a trained dancer), it tends to look like a whole lotta nothing. And if you watch week to week, they basically do the same thing every time. Last season, there was that guy Jonis whose solo consisted of doing full-body heaves in an oversized hoodie. That was all he could do. It was really odd.
I loved it last week when Nigel dressed down the Jerry Seinfeld/Shelley Duvall lovechild when the kid said he hadn’t prepared anything for his solo. Like, really? You want to make this your career more than anything, so you just went out there and thrashed around to some Incubus? He actually did better than Jaymz (!) that night, but I still think it’s ridiculous not to have some choreography prepared.
And yes, I did just write two long paragraphs about So You Think You Can Dance. What?
I took a summer course in biology once at Connecticut College where they also held a really prestigious dance program. I watched Martha Graham teach ballet and I watch Alvin Ailey teach African Dance and I saw Twyla Tharp perform (I’m really old) But the thing that was most remarkable was watching the dancers groovin’ to the jukebox in the dining hall. They were the stupidest looking dancers I had ever seen and they were totally self absorbed. Maybe they just enjoyed the opportunity to shake it without much of an agenda.
I am concerned about the validity of last night’s voting for So You Think You Can Dance. Is Fox aware that many viewers missed the first half of the show because local papers had an incorrect time published? Many people that I have talked to in Nevada and Arizona, (our family included) tuned in one hour late. It was impossible to make a valid choice based on only half the show. Was this published starting time mistake nationwide? Jan Gegeheimer