SYTYCD: More Cred Than DWTS?
The Show Tracker at the LA Times brought up an interesting point about So You Think You Can Dance. Specifically, Claire talks about her surprise – at first – at the snippy and irritated way the judges treat the dancers auditioning. Unlike American Idol, they seem truly annoyed with not only the dancers who truly have no chance, but also with some dancers like “Stepford Dancer” Paige Jones, who puts in an honest effort but still… has no real chance.
Her theory is that unlike Dancing with the Stars, which doesn’t really have an audition process, SYTYCD has a very limited amount of time for dancers to get their chance, and therefore should not be as tolerant of the people who are not serious, such as Sex.
Besides that, the judges – Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, and usually a respected choreographer like Mandy Moore or Hairspray’s Adam Shankman – have real credentials in dance and choreography. So it is, in effect, a waste of their time to watch someone who is a self-confessed “bull in a china shop.”
That begs the question, though, if dancers like Brett Branford, who admitted he had very little dance training and no expectations of going on to Vegas, should be admitted just to prove a point (in this case, that “disabled” people can move too). If the show is about dancing, then dancers should be on it – not martial artists, not comedians, not even practical jokers like Drew Lachey was on Dancewar when he donned a wig and baseball cap and took over the stage for a time.
I guess what it comes down to is the question of whether the show is about dance or entertainment. In the end, it’s there to make the sponsors money, so the final decision will have to be left to them.
image courtesy of Newscom
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