When Worlds Collide: Alvin Ailey on Dancing with the Stars
This blog is a bit of a balancing act. I try to cover general performing arts, and that’s a wide spectrum; so you end up with one day me talking about plays in London, another day about popular culture like Dancing with the Stars, and another day about the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre celebrating its 50th anniversary.
And then you have days like today, when I can talk about how the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre performed part of its signature ballet Revelations on Dancing with the Stars. I have to say, this is one of the best reasona I can think of for shows like this. Aside from the fact that it popularizes dance for the masses (something with direct benefits to me, as a professional dance instructor) it also exposes people to fine arts that are otherwise missed. I think there’s a huge benefit to presenting AADT in the same program as Kylie Minogue, as if to say “Look, these are both arts, and you might enjoy both; don’t think of ballet as high-brow, it’s still an enjoyable art!”
Now if we could just get rid of Adam Carolla instead of nice guys like Steve Guttenberg...
1 Comment
I totally agree – I’m a bit torn about the mediocre dancing that appears on these reality tv shows as well as the horrible judging, but it’s a great way to get people interested in dance and filling theater seats, and indirectly, funding even more creativity on the stage.