For a long time I told myself dance was boring to watch. I had ballet in mind, and it didn't do much for me. And I think watching the women get up on point violated everything I believed about kind use of the body. I felt sort of ill watching those moments. I thought to myself that dance should be about doing rather than watching. After a lifetime of holding on to my ignorance, my daughter got me to watch So You Think You Can Dance. It quickly became our regular, much-anticipated, get-together. It was a revelation for me. I was mesmerized. I was especially impressed with the hip hop: the popping, the locking, the street dance variations. It was so cool. But I learned to love all of it. Part of me wanted to be young again and dedicate my life to dance.
One of the strange things about dance in America is that the view on main street is that any guy who wants to be a dancer must be gay or something. How did we get to be such rubes about this? I suppose it's because some of the male dancers are gay, and we then went on to define dance that way. Well, some football players are gay, some accountants are gay, some cops are gay, who cares? So let's assume you're a red-blooded American heterosexual. Would you rather play baseball with the guys or work on a dance with a really hot, beautiful, splendidly-fit woman? Duhhhhh! The ultimate reality for all the dancers my daughter and I watched, both the men and the women, is that they're some of the best athletes on the planet. If that doesn't deserve some respect I don't know what does.
Some of what I saw on So You Think You Can Dance was astonishing, some of it was how did they do that?!, some of it was mind-boggling, some of it was touching, some of it was just plain enormous fun to watch. I'm a convert. Next season it's on, you should watch. At least give it a try. Oh, and the judges, they're what all the "judges" on TV should be about. Instead of the usual drivel, they're real and kind and worth hearing from. Thank you, Nigel.