Fame or Famine

“Hi, my name is Jessie, I’m 15 and I have my own radio show,” started the email in my in-box, and I almost thought it was spam. Luckily, my peripheral vision caught the name Shane Sparks in the paragraph and I read more closely…
Welcome to the Big Show with JK Live!
Jessie is the host of a show aimed at teens on BlogTalkRadio. Aside from the normal sports talk he’s also covering entertainment news, and am I jealous: he’s managed to snag Shane Sparks (about whom we’ve raved before) for an interview. You remember Shane, fantastic choreographer on So You Think …read more

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I only know a few small facts about Sharon Osborne. I’ve heard some disturbing things about the way she managed her famous husband Ozzy’s record label; I’ve heard (but never watched) how entertaining she is on the reality show they did with their kids.
A Twisted Road to Dance
However, I’m going to probably be hearing and learning a lot more about her in the near future, as she is apparently in the running to be in the upcoming Dancing with the Stars – well, the UK counterpart, that is, Strictly Come Dancing. She was supposed to be in the U.S. version …read more

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Every once in a while it is the job of a blogger to grab the bull by the tail and face the situation, and this is one of those. I made a rather egregious error in a prior post, for which I apologize.
Haylie Duff, Not Hilary Duff
Yes, that’s right. Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle is not hosted by Hilary Duff, as I wrote, but by Haylie Duff, her sister and co-star for the movie Material Girls. Haylie has also appeared on Broadway in Hairspray, but her longest and most recognized role was on the long-running TV series 7th …read more

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I’ve been very interested in learning some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of everybody’s favorite reality dance competition, So You Think You Can Dance. I think it was getting Arielle’s perspective that got me interested. But something is rotten in the state of etc…
So You Thought You Could Dance?
Like me, the TV Grapevine had a personal connection to someone who auditioned for the show. Like me, that person didn’t make it past the preliminary stages – but in their case, she was able to stay the extra day to see the “individual round.”
Yes, that’s right. That “individual round” is not …read more

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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 …read more

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Lynn Devries, my fellow B5Media blogger, has a nice prequel to the So You Think You Can Dance season coming up. She snagged an interview with the host, Cat Deeley, along with the folks over at TV Guide.
One of the more interesting things I found in it was Cat’s comments about the true purpose of the show. “…this isn’t just a dance competition. It’s to find America’s favorite dancer…” That explains a lot to people who complained last year that so many technically proficient dancers were being given the boot while those who engaged more with the audience stayed in …read more

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We’ve had our own insight into the brave dedication of the cast of Beirut’s High School Musical, including the gracious input of Milia Ayache, whose sister Rania plays Sharpay Evans. But ABC news has also taken note, and draws a correlation between the theme of the performance and the fact that literally during the performance the warring factions that caused the strife were agreeing to put aside their weapons in favor of talking over their differences.
There was another part of the article, a minor part, that I found very interesting from a theatrical point of view. Apparently, when the streets …read more

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I had the distinct pleasure recently of dining at the Med Hookah lounge in Madison, WI, which aside from having great Mediterranean food also feature middle eastern dancers (aka bellydancers, though some don’t like that term).
Those Who Can, Teach
One of the performers there is Arielle, a teacher at the Madison Multicultural Dance Center with Mona N’wal and others. Though very young, Arielle’s been dancing since she was fourteen, and that leads to quite a bit of experience as well as talent.
That evening she did a three-part set, starting with two traditional songs and then a blended hip-hop/bellydance routine of her …read more

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Well, I didn’t follow the Dancing With the Stars competition as closely as I’d like – got sidetracked into dancing myself for a month. But I’m not surprised that Kristi Yamaguchi is the clear winner. As I said at the beginning of the season, it almost seems to be an unfair advantage – the goal of the show is to get people who may not be normally dancers to dance well. An Olympic Gold Medalist in figure skating is going to have a pretty good idea of how to move her body, I think.
Still, the purpose is entertainment, and she …read more

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For the past month I’ve been working as a ballroom dance instructor for the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Madison, WI. One of the pleasures of working there was the opportunity to work with Ms. Rita for a couple of hours while she was in town visiting. Here is her account of the experience:
Marlee Matlin is gone from Dancing with the Stars, but that didn’t stop me from signing up for a ballroom dance lesson with Gray during a recent trip to Madison, WI. Before we started, we talked about my particular needs, since there are a variety …read more

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