So You Think You Can Dance?

Can You Dance Summer

August 2, 2022 topoetLeave a comment

Can You Dance Summer

I was excited to see So You Think You Can Dance make a comeback & also that the show had revamped some of the old format that was becoming sort of predictable & stale. It did bring back host Cat Deeley with new judges: Stephen (tWitch) Boss, JoJo Siwa & Leah Remini. tWitch, a past alumni of the show along with Cat are links to the old days of the show.

To be honest I underwhelmed by the new format, the current competitors, the new judges & the voting system. No longer is it America’s Favourite Dancer but the studio audience at the taping’s choice. Easier to comply votes from, what is it – 500 people? Than from all of the USA. Only one of the competitors has charisma – the Patrick Swayze clone.

Often the most dramatic thing on stage is Cat Deeley’s outfits – who dresses her in the dark? Some are laugh-out-loud messes & others are merely dismaying. The judges aren’t much better. Leah often needing safety pins to keep her cleavage from upstaging the dancers. JoJo, suffering from hideous costumes, often mistakes shouting for energy. Boss hold his own nicely between the two women but at times even he seems puzzled by what his fellow judges are wearing.

As for the dancing – none of the pieces or dancers seem to take joy in the act of dancing deep emotional storylines or jumpy hop-hop fidgeting. The Broadway & jazz routines were flat & forced – but trying to squeeze something into a 2 minute routine doesn’t really give time for anything to develop beyond an emotional pop.

P.S. More AfroJazz & please bring back breakdancing.

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#Juniah to #Junior

September 20, 2019September 20, 2019 topoet1 Comment

dj Juniah’s D.A.N.C.E. Pride 2008 was a freedown -as you might guess it’s a dj mix set of dance music, as such I can’t name a track he uses though I did recognize a few of them. Dance music! Yes I do like me some high-energy dance music. Great for writing too & also for making out. Not all music has to be emotionally demanding, politically forthright or sonically challenging.

It is part of an mp3 collection that includes Gino Soccio: Greatest hits. Soccio success was in late 70’s early 80’s disco. I enjoyed the easy danceability of his studio work & have more of his work tucked divot other mp3 collections. Here too is the Afro Celt Sound System’s Capture (1995-2010) – compilation from various lps. I heard a track on So You Think You Can Dance? & loved it. As the band name suggests they mash up African & Celtic rhythms in a way that actually works. Also here is Stereo MC’s Double Bubble. I found their song ‘Connected’ irresistible (& have as a stand alone that cd) Bubble is more of the same & has a similar sound to AfroCelt – danceable world music & fun with a bit of a socio-political edge.

On the shelf next to Juniah is Junior Senior – a Danish pop duo. I have as stand-alones their ‘d-d-don’t stop the beat’ & ‘Hey Hey My My Yo Yo’. This is super fun summer music. Sweet, gay subtext, a bit of rap, a touch of hip-hop & all infused with crisp energy & lots of hand-clap propulsion. I love these guys. All the above are worth hunting down if you need, as I do, some fresh, fun, funky music.

Daily Special

the cafe wasn’t too crowded – there was a table with two seats – maybe should take that – leave the larger tables for people with friends – don’t want to waste valuable space on myself after all – besides someone might want to sit with me – strangers – or be afraid to sit with me because they thought I was expecting friends – once that happened – longing looks but afraid to sit with me even though the cafe was full – I felt so responsible – so afraid that people wouldn’t sit in those empty chairs – was it something about me that pushed them away – I wouldn’t have minded but wasn’t able to invite them – to say join me – I could tell they wouldn’t have anyway – I wasn’t the type they wanted someone else to think was their friend or even an acquaintance – so since then I’ve taken a small table – let people take the extra chair if they wanted it – easier to sit on my own than worry about – well what ever it is one worries about when a stranger sits at a table with you – I see that happen a lot though – but never to me – do I frighten people – am I so uninviting that they’d rather not sit with me – not that I blame them – I am drab – better not to draw too much attention to myself – never liked those show-off people with their flashy comic book character t-shirts – with too much jewellery, piercings, tattoos all those things that said hey look at me look at me – who do they think they are anyway – too many of those noise makers around making it hard for ordinary guys like me to get noticed at all – better to be sort of nondescript than be one of those self consumed assholes with loads of similar people to laugh out loud with when they sit at their tables with each other, pulling spare chairs from tables like mine, not even bothering to say why don’t you join us, after all I’ve been here before, many times some even nod to me, the waitress knows my name, I think, – but those crafted husks haven’t got the time for the likes of me – not that I blame them – better not to have to perform all the time the way they do with those hey I’m so cool poses as they drape their arms around each other at their table, as they block the view of the stage, as they get up and their friends hoot and cheer to whatever drivel they spew, you won’t catch me up there –

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every Tuesday 2019

September

17 – Shaw Festival – Sex (Mae West)

22 – Stratford Festival – Little Shop Of Horrors

Tuesday 24 – Hot Damn! It’s Queer Slam – Buddies and Bad Times Theatre

https://www.facebook.com/events/504067323723768/

October

15 – Stratford Festival – The Crucible

November

7 – Hot Damn! It’s Queer Slam – Buddies and Bad Times Theatre

December

The Secret Handshake Gallery – feature – date TBA

January

23 – Hot Damn! It’s Queer Slam – Buddies and Bad Times Theatre

March

March 5 – Hot Damn! It’s Queer Slam – Buddies and Bad Times Theatre

April

April 3 – Hot Damn! It’s Queer Slam – Season 6 finales Buddies andBbad Times Theatre

June – Capturing Fire 2020 – Washington D.C. capfireslam.org

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#SYTYCD

July 24, 2015July 24, 2015 topoet1 Comment

The new season of So You Think You Can Dance? is well under way. To say I’m disappointed is putting it mildly – not in the dancers but in the apparent format change to ‘shake things up,’ which merely allows dancers to say in their comfort zones without shaking anything up. Which was a bit of a ruse as the second show of the season revealed by tossing dancers randomly into all genres.

high kicked to the curb

One of the things that makes the compelling is seeing how genre busting many of the dancers are when push out of those comfort zones. Poppers who mastered Viennese Waltzes, modern ballerinas who could crump with the best of them – now that was amazing stuff. But a face off between street & stage is more the public deciding which dance style is more popular not which dancer is best liked.

The audition shows didn’t show enough dancers. Too much backstory & not enough performances. I quickly could tell those backstories before they were told – mother/father/grandmother dying/dead of cancer; overcoming street gangs/drugs/injury. Where are the greedy guts who want to win for the sheer glory of winning? It’s as if its shameful to want to be the best for the sake of being the best.

not much kick ball change here

I’ve also found over the years that sexism runs rampant on the show – there are far too many routines that rely on the female dancers to be in semi-bondage, stripper wear to tell the story – temptresses. The males on the other hand almost get shamed for baring themselves too much. When two guys did a number in the sort of costumes the women get put in one of the judges said ‘we’ll have to talk to costume so this doesn’t happen again.’ One thing about Can Dance I admire is that they do bring back the most talented of the past competitors, sometimes as judges, choreographers or to dance with the current season’s finalists. I’m also enjoying the move to more group pieces this season.

pas de bureau

I also have to admit that I cannot, off the top of my head, name a past winner. I can recall faces, abs but names are gone. Twitch (who was a runner up) has stuck because of his stage name & his amazing dancing – his real name? Ditto for past winner Fik-Shun. A glance at the Wiki list gives all the names, but frankly who cares.

The sides have been picked & the first eliminations have happened. The judges have their say on technique but I seriously doubt if the viewing public cares as much about grande jetes as they do about washboard abs. To be honest I’m much the same way – it’s personality that leads to the big win on this show and for my $ the street team has all the personality. At this point that $ is on Virgil, though this could be the season a female street dancer finally wins.