Comments for University of Utah Blog: Redthread.utah.edu

Comment on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (SYTYCD) – Elimination round #2 with 16 left/Listen to your judges. by joan

joan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:22:02 +0000

Yes, the judges can be wonderful. Adam is so fresh and funny and honest. He exudes credibility. Sometimes Mary’s critiques are so generous and spot on they make me well up inside with happiness for the dancer. And you can feel the dancers absorbing the words–perceptive, intelligent, informed–that turn the show into something more than “entertainment.” It’s a gift, really, to watch someone who has worked so hard be rewarded by an austere, appreciative, and loving eye.

Comment on Getting Ready for Turkey, Bursa, Turkey, That Is. by audemutah

audemutah — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:44:41 +0000

Ruth and Norma arrived in Istanbul. Stand by for pictures of the Blue Mosque and other sites. Awaiting the arrival of Scott, Mary Beth, Rosie plus Lazi and Adrian from Gonzaga

Comment on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (SYTYCD) –Los Angles. We have the final twenty. Finally. by jpmyers

jpmyers — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:15:54 +0000

SPOILER ALERT (though more like BREAKING NEWS alert):
*******
Looks like Billy had to drop out already because of illness: http://www.givememyremote.com/remote/breaking-sytycd-news-one-dancer-already-out-of-top-20/

Sad, because it would be amazing to see how he would do in this competition.

I’m personally looking forward to seeing how the Krumper and Break Dancer do this year – especially because they both seemed to do so well in the other styles, despite having considerable training in contemporary or jazz.

Comment on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (SYTYCD) – Las Vegas. Athletes, Doctors and Lion Tamers. by audiencemember

audiencemember — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:54:13 +0000

I too wondered why the dancers were suddenly thrown into the roles of choreographer. It may add ratings- dancers in the dark, working late into the night…will they finish?- but the task has other merit as well. SYTYCD is growing up, and perhaps it is asking its dancers to grow up along side. Dancers who create dances that are an orgy of high kicks and body rolls often do not have the artistry to succeed in an increasingly versatile and adult art form. By seeing how dancers created movement to show off their own talents and at the same time understanding that dance is something emotional that should not be taken advantage of (with, say, jazz hands), the judges might be able to discern who has ‘grown up’ enough to join the show.
So maybe the audience should be ready for even more artistically and viscerally gripping pieces in the season to come. It’s time for the audience to mature too.

Comment on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (SYTYCD) – Boston. Egos on Parade. by Stephen Koester

Stephen Koester — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:35:45 +0000

@joan
Thanks for your comments. I do think it is possible to become
transcendent through technique – either that you are so brilliant at
it (which very few are) or you are so invested in it that it becomes
who you are in that moment. Simply showing off technique is not
enough. Showing off technique is ego and doesn’t allow the movement
to speak for itself. Those who have great technique and who capture
me usually also have something else going on. I think Mary and Nigel
want both technique and an authenticity of expression, and beyond
that, a full integration of the two.

Comment on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (SYTYCD) – Boston. Egos on Parade. by joan

joan — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:40:03 +0000

This gets to something that I have felt watching the show: some of the dancers put so much feeling into their movements that you start to feel a transcendent quality that just goes straight to your heart. It’s really powerful stuff. I know for other arts that that is what separates the good from the great. I would assume it’s the same for dance, yet I wonder if somehow in dance if being technically brilliant doesn’t translate into feeling, as it were. I mean, when you think of ballet (and this is just my impression) it seems to be the technique, the perfection, that is awe-inspiring. I do like how Mary and Nigel reward those dancers who bring a certain personal quality to what they are doing that comes from a “larger place”. In fact, I think that they are sometimes willing to overlook “technique” for authenticity of expression…although I might be wrong about that.

Comment on So what’s wrong with the TV show SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE by Stephen Koester

Stephen Koester — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:19:20 +0000

@joan Dear Joan, Thank you for your comments regarding my blog. The Department has many non-majors classes all of which would develop a greater appreciation for dance. There is one class I teach in the Spring titled Demystifying Dance as an Art Form - What the Heck Does it all Mean?, which is particularly geared to provide the tools with which to better interact with dance.

Comment on So what’s wrong with the TV show SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE by joan

joan — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:14:46 +0000

I love this. With this one post, I feel my appreciation has increased ten fold. Kinesthetic, metaphoric, imagistic! Wow. This reminds me of when I started taking literature classes at the U. I always really loved reading, but I just didn’t have a vocabulary to express, hence, appreciate, what I was thinking/feeling. I mean try reading Ulysses on your own and then take a class and see how much more you get out of it. Interestingly, the entry into both disciplines are similar:go with your gut, write down your ideas, let what you like inform what you think. Perhaps the dance department has “appreciation” classes for your average Joan. Again, thank you.

Comment on What’s right with the tv show, So You Think You Can Dance by FargoUT

FargoUT — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:26:56 +0000

So You Think You Can Dance is about the only competition show I can stand to watch. The reason is because the focus is on talent, and not making a mockery of the contestants. While American Idol is more entertaining during the auditions, SYTYCD is far more entertaining when it gets into the meat of dance.

And I’m not a dancer, nor have any real concept of what makes good dancing. I know what I like and I know it when I’m watching if it’s good, but I can’t explain why. It’s usually just the energy that exudes from the performance.

Sadly, with work and school, I rarely get to see this show lately. I do hope to catch them online–if Fox actually airs them online.

Comment on So what’s wrong with the TV show SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE by Stephen Koester

Stephen Koester — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:20:23 +0000

Dear Joan, Thanks for your e-mail and question. I think you answered
your own question beautifully. Simply by watching dance, you begin to
see things and understand things that you would not have before. One
cannot simply tell you what to see. I think that people want to “get
it” on a purely intellectual and logical level, which is not where
dance lives. We need to approach dance from also a kinesthetic,
metaphoric and imagistic sense.

Things that may help you develop a vocabulary/understanding: Try to
describe (put into words) the style of dancing/movement, quality of
movement and what happened on stage? Just by describing we begin to
see deeper. What most stood out to you? What was new for you and
what was familiar for you? Did you like the dance or not, but more
importantly, why? What do you think was the choreographer’s intent?
What was the relationship between the dancers, spatially or
emotionally? What was the dancers relationship to the audience.? Did
they draw you in and why or why not?

For each choreographer, dance is the language in which they interpret
and share their world. Their perspectives are rooted in their
individual life histories and physical stories. We all have our own
life experience (and bodies) to bring to the dance and therefore each
of us in the audience will see the dance uniquely and differently. This is the way it should be. There is no right way to see the dance; one may be captured by the movement, feel the rhythms, see relationships or sense narrative. Be aware of what strikes you the most in the dance. Dance is not simply what we think about it, but is experiential in how we feel it and sense it. It’s been said that art is something the creator begins and the audience completes. Therefore how an audience member enters, interprets and responds to the dance is essential to the experiencing of it. Dance can entertain us, but it can also take us beyond what we comfortably know. It can challenge, provoke and upset, but it also has that amazing capacity to creatively open our imaginations in order to expand our sense of self and the world about us. To allow this to happen, we need only to open our eyes, breathe, clear the mind and listen to our gut instincts.