AKICOLJ

[oyceter]

Would anyone who watches a lot of Bollywood movies be willing to watch this and tell me how the dancing is? (possible spoilers for So You Think You Can Dance Top 12)

I am really really happy about more cultures being represented on the show (Chinese folk dancing pleeeaaaseeeee?), but I haven't watched enough Bollywood dancing myself to be able to tell about technique and etc., and I'm pretty sure the judges haven't either. Also, I think a lot of the praise from the judges is coming from just having a Bollywood dance on the show; I remember when a couple did lindy hop last year, the judges so did not pick up on a lot of the little technique problems that they would have for a more familiar genre like ballroom.

(Also, while I like Katee and cheer for her, my reaction was also, "What, how can you not know what Bollywood is?!")

Also also, while I am here, commentary on the African jazz piece very welcome!

Comments

[cryptoxin.livejournal.com]

And I keep wondering if she's being held back by aversive racism (via her partners or the judges or the voters, who knows)

I really like Comfort, but I'd been disappointed by a lot of her performances.

I watched season 3 of SYTYCD for the first time this year, and tried to keep track of the proportion of people of color at each stage of the competition, to see if they were eliminated at a higher rate than white contestants. What I found was that at every stage, about 30-35% of the dancers (plus or minus 5%) were people of color, suggesting that they weren't more likely to get cut. And then of course, there were two people of color in the final four, and (awesomely!) Sabra won with Danny as runner up.

This year, things seemed to follow a similar pattern for the first half of the season, though the percentage of people of color was a bit higher on average -- maybe 35-40%. I don't know if you've seen this week's episodes yet, so I won't say more now -- but things have gotten really interesting now that we're down to the top 8!

Of course, the show still has a fair amount of racial issues. Especially around stereotypes & fetishization of dance styles associated with blacks -- i.e. the recurring drama of whether white dancers can be sufficiently 'gangsta' when dancing hip hop, or the whole 'animalistic'/primitive stuff viz. African jazz routines -- and the pseudo-affirmative action narratives around 'street dancers' and b-boys/b-girls. Plus there's the preponderance of white judges and choreographers.

As a counterpoint, I've also been watching America's Best Dance Crew on MTV (the episodes are all online, though I don't know if they're accessible from outside the U.S.), where the majority of crew members and two out of the three judges are people of color (the crews come up with their own choreography). The first season, which aired earlier this year, was amazing; the crews in the current season don't seem as strong or memorable, but it's still enjoyable with some really impressive dancing.

[oyceter]

Oh, thanks for the numbers! I mean, I critique the show, but one of the reasons why I watch (besides being a total dance geek!) is because it's so much easier seeing non-stereotyped POC on SYTYCD than it is on most network tv shows! So sad, and yet...

Word to the fetishization of dance styles associated with black people! I get so sick of all the commentary on how "aggressive" and "scary" hip hop is and all the "gangsta" commentary and the "animalistic/primitive" comments you mention re: the African jazz routines. And I HATE the "Oh, you clean up so nicely" comments so much!

I really wish they hadn't made Mary Murphy a permanent judge, because then that'd leave two guest spots open for more judges of color. Of course, if Nigel weren't a white man, this would be even less of an issue!

ZOMG America's Best Dance Crew! I only caught the tail end of last season, but it was awesome! It's why Shane Sparks hasn't been on SYTYCD as much, right? At least, that's my guess. And I love so much that white people on that show are the exception, not the norm! I need to catch up with the current season when I get back.