Inauspicious Beginnings?

This wasn't supposed to be the first post in this blog. When I got the idea to add this particular journal, it was intended to be the new home for my laboriously long Dancing with the Stars reviews and my newly-commissioned So You Think You Can Dance reviews (and it still will be, this particular entry aside). But I've been watching something happen out there in the electronic ether, and I really feel like commenting.


Last night, I watched the first episode of the fifth season of SYTYCD. As is typical, it's the first of two or three weeks' worth of preliminary auditions, taped in a half dozen cities around the country. I've only really got a few things to say on the episode itself and the dancing and dancers therein, but in fine internet tradition, controversy has exploded in a matter of less than half a day.

On last night's episode, a pair of men auditioned for the judging panel. Their chosen style was ballroom dancing (specifically, they were performing a Samba), and they were dancing as partners. The two did their dance, and then waited for comments and to discover their fates.

Head judge and co-Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe, judge and ballroom professional Mary Murphy and choreographer Sonya Tayeh gave their opinions, all of them at least in general agreeing that they had difficulties with judging and appreciating the performance because the two men were doing a dance traditionally done by a male and female partnership. Mary had trouble with the fact that the two were constantly switching the roles of leader and follower, and that if they had stuck to just one each, she would not have been so distracted trying to follow the dancing. Sonya indicated that by having two male presences dance in that manner, she missed the typical male/female tension typical of the dance style.

Nigel's comments, which are garnering almost all of the ire, were that he believed the concept of same-sex ballroom dancing would "alienate some of [the show's] viewers" and that he personally did not care for the presentation. Lythgoe is being vilified at the moment as a homophobe for these comments. As an ballroom dancing enthusiast and former professional instructor as well as a fan of the show, I have to call the majority of the criticism unfair and reactionary.

Firstly, Nigel was being, I believe, pragmatic when it came to the audience appeal of same-sex ballroom dancing. While yes, the country on the average is growing more accepting of homosexual relationships, the continuing battle over such topics as same-sex marriage clearly indicate that this opinion is not universal. And as a producer, Nigel must also keep in his priorities the possible marketability of those accepted as contestants. Of all the offense being taken by his comments, this one I can at least understand. It's an unfortunate situation that not all people can accept all other people, but it is a fact.

Lythgoe's personal preferences, however, are also under attack, and I have to go on record as agreeing with him. In the recent hours, Nigel has clarified some of his stance, indicating the specific reasons he did not personally care for the performance. Primarily, he has a dislike for what he terms "effeminate" dancing from men. He's stated this numerous times on the show, and I agree. For my money, it's a case of mechanics. The male body, on the average, is to me more suited to graceful demonstrations of power and strength, while the less angular female body lends itself more strongly to fluid, extended movements. This is not to say that female dancers cannot be powerful and males cannot be fluid, only that my aesthetic sense finds them working better in those roles.

On the subject of same-sex ballroom dancing specifically, I also can't fault Nigel's opinion. The dances themselves are originally based on, and so have always been structured around, a male-female couple. By their design and construction, they are intended to take advantage of the presence of either tension or cooperation specifically between opposite sexes. Watching the performance, even though whichever dancer was following adopted distinctly and characteristically feminine movements of arms and hands, I found that dynamic lacking.

So You Think You Can Dance is not a program that shies away from dancers of the same sex dancing as a pair. In the later rounds, two men and two women will dance as teams, either in cooperative or confrontational themes for their dances. In fact, in two instance on that very episode, teams of two men were passed on to the "choreography" round of auditions (or, specifically, one pair-- the "mutation" dancers and a single man who had danced in tandem with his brother who was too young to be accepted as a contestant).

The ballroom couple in question were, I believe, treated entirely fairly as dancers. Technically speaking, their dancing was passable, but not extraordinary, and they did fall during the routine. Deciding that they could not adequately judge their dancing based on the routine, both men were passed to the choreography round where they would be split up and assigned female partners in order to gauge their ability to dance in that mode, as well as deal with other styles of dance that would be utilized. As it turns out, on the basis of their performance in that round, neither of the men were passed on to the final auditions in Las Vegas.

All in all, I have to consider this yet another online tempest in a teacup. Detractors are overreacting to comments made in a specific context, and are both ignoring that context and reading more into the comments than I believe was intended.