Last week, I wrote up the week’s So You Think You Can Dance? with a focus on the role of choreography, namely, how bad or indecisive choreography was hurting certain dancers. That made this week’s episode so interesting – everyone dances the same routine? Hmmm. Still, that didn’t keep choreography from sinking Jaime. Sadly. And this week’s episode also revisited an old motif: anxiety about masculinity and sexuality.
First, though, some fan-stuff. I’m always so happy when Cat dresses up as a Greek goddess. So You Think…? is, in the wider context of reality television, such a strange show, so I appreciate the purely indulgent Greek thing Cat does in wardrobe. In terms of goodbyes, I wasn’t entirely surprised to see Kameron go – he really struggled to find a place as a dancer, never standing 
out as one thing or another, even while being good at everything – but genuinely sad to see Jaime leave. I loved watching Jaime dance, both because she was physical so spectacular (strong and graceful) and because she was an utter enigma. How does that quirky personality come out in that dancer’s body? It’s the kind of thing to make you believe in gods and inspiration. She certainly never had that artsy dancer personality presence. To say the least.
Jaime was done in by choreography, bearing out my point in last week’s post. The costuming and whole motif, as noted by all the judges, didn’t match the idea of the waltz. If nothing else, Austria is not Spain, so that was strange. Unfortunately, too, she was paired with Dominic. Dominic’s “thing” is unbelievable. He showed that in his solo on the results show. But he can’t help save poor choreography. Jaime needed help and just got buried in the whole mess of Spain and Austria, and, in the end, I guess folks just didn’t find her likable. Alas. I liked her. It takes two good dancers to elevate mediocre or bad choreography; Jaime couldn’t do it alone, and, to be honest, I think the motif was just so lost that no dancers could have saved it.
The re-pairing thing this week brought anxieties about masculinity and sexuality back into the open. With the previous pairings, because they were kept intact, the talk had shifted (very gradually, really) to individual performances. But re-pairing meant fussing over “chemistry” and the like. I find this so interesting. The critiques (spot on, to my mind) of both Neil and Kameron centered on their very masculine – or at least effeminate-resistant – embodiment. Neil caved and hunched his shoulders too much. Kameron failed to extend out past his hands in so many movements. The judges 
(rightly) asked for exuberant embodiment, flamboyant in its extension and expression, pushing outside rigidly controlled boundaries and toward the fringes on which real beauty lives. And of course that’s just what dance is supposed to ask of the body: be beautiful by leaving yourself. But that’s also where men’s conventionally masculine bodies draw a line. Keeping the body tight to itself, never flamboyant in extension, is a very real matter of conventional masculine comportment.
So, it didn’t surprise me to hear chatter about “chemistry” and “connection,” as if five days of choreography training and practice led to marriage. To my ears, and I admit that I’m reading quite a lot into it, the judges were asking for a lot of effeminate movement and expression, yet tempering any transgression of masculinity with assurances of that masculinity by “connecting” with the woman in front of them. That’s why I’ve called this whole masculine/feminine game on So You Think…? the show’s pharmakon.
On that note, it is also interesting that Danny – surely the most expressively transgressive male body (I’m thinking of how he dances at his very finger tips) – has decided to go shirtless or don a small tank-top at every opportunity. As if to remind us that he’s manly, masculine enough to be a favorite (not just “best”) dancer on the show. Thus, what Mia Michaels called the “sexiest dance of the season.” I agree. Still, that sexuality, that super masculine desire, came from the same man Mia described as dancing and extending beyond the ends of his fingers. Flamboyant and exuberant. Transgressive, really. Nothing a tight shirt won’t correct…at least a little bit, right?
This post would be remiss if it didn’t mention Wade Robson’s choreography and its anti-war sentiment. And the “apologies” from the judges for featuring such choreography. Sigh. That’s all I can say about that. I actually think it is just fine to have ideas in dance (gasp!).
I really liked the method, though, of having everyone dance the same routine. One of the best things about So You Think…? is that you actually learn about dance from the judges’ remarks. I know I have over the past few years. There was so much to learn from the repeated routine. Nigel Lythgoe’s note that some danced “big” and others danced “small” was so insightful, something that is hard to see when everyone is doing different choreography and benefiting or suffering from the particular routines given to them. Repeating the routine, you see how important it is to infuse technical precision with emotional and soulful presence. Danny’s rendering of Wade’s routine was amazing. In fact, I’d say it went way beyond what the choreography actually made possible; Danny was that good and that beautiful. Dancing the same routine, we saw who has soul (Jaimie, Sabra) and who struggles to have soul (Lauren, Kameron, Neil), as well as who is still just struggling with choreography (Dominic and Pasha). We didn’t have to be told that. The shared-choreography motif put it on display for us, right there. I appreciate that.
That said, the shirts were lame. Is the show really on that small of a budget?
Links galore @ sytycd.wordpress.com and bloggingsytycd.blogspot.com
Theorizing about gender while obsessing over SYTYCD– I love your blog! Rock on.
[...] Theory My Culture – A smoking hot picture of Jamie. If Jamie usually looked like this I think she would have done better. [...]
I think that Lacey is what made the dance sexy. Danny was just along for the ride last night.
[...] night’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance (7.26) began with choreographer Mia Michaels apologizing for a jacket she had worn on the previous [...]
You know, I really didn’t see the judges as apologizing– except for Mia, who was in the uncomfortable position of admiting that the she knew nothing about the random “cool” thing she was wearing! I thought Nigel was quite forthright, and Mary just sort of squirmed. As I mention in my post, Wade Robson has issued a statement on the piece, but even he makes a point of saying that he’s not apologizing for the dance.
The apologist in all this (apologizing for art? apologizing for politics? who knows?) is Dan Karaty.
I was in the audience. Myself and a woman behind me spontaneously gushed a BRAVO! when Nigel made his point about “who in the world is PRO -war?” and spoke eloquently on the nature and purpose of artistic expression. But then he backpedaled. He did indeed apologize. That bummed me out. It smacked of the mighty hand of Fox yanking some strings. I was really heartened to read Wade’s statement. A clarification, not an apology. But here’s the problem. I love Wade’s work. A lot. But that piece blew. It was really bad. One of the worst things I’ve seen of his. It makes me uncomfortable to enter into the “they’re fighting to defend the freedoms you seem so intent on taking away” debate over such a piece of milquetoast. And yet, it’s a point that we must continually make, regardless.
As far as Dan the man with no plan Karaty. I could care less what he thinks or says. He’s a hack. And while we’ll never really know, I’d hazard a guess there’s a bit of jealousy fueling his statement.
Now John, I’m always intrigued by your take on gender in this show as to be honest, it’s not an issue that occurs to me whilst watching (aside from those uncomfortable comments Nigel’s made about dancing like a dude). And, having grown up studying ballet and being totally crushed out on Mischa Baryshnikov, those men who are not only comfortable in their skin but can extend outside of it I find to be wholly masculine. So in that context, I’d like to ask you to clarify your point as I don’t really understand it. Are you concerned by what the judges are asking of the men? Is it the language they use that poses a problem for you? Or just the seeming contradictions between “dance like a dude” and “extend outward” Personally, I don’t find those to be contradictory but I think I can see how some would, working with in conventional definitions of masculinity. Then again, lets look at Michael Vick. I don’t think any one would call into question his “dude-ness” but when he takes off from the line of scrimmage, he’s dancer like. He extends well beyond himself. Continuing on with the football connection – the dallas cowboys used to take class with the ballet company where I studied as a kid. Hershcel Walker performed with our star ballerina, Maria Theresea Balough. A strangely stunning performance if ever there was one. I know I’m circling a bit here but really, I’m just hoping for clarification from you as do enjoy your take on these things.
Wow. Post Script. I was just a-googling to see if I could find any old reviews of that Herschel performance. (I was ten, memory is hazy). According to CBS sportsline: “Walker publicly trained with the Fort Worth Ballet during his tenure with the Dallas Cowboys. Many laughed at him for doing so and–after one of his best seasons– he was excluded from the “All-Madden team” because of it. ” Sigh…
[...] So You Think You Can Dance? Week IX (7/26) [image]Last week, I wrote up the week’s So You Think You Can Dance? with a focus on the role of choreography, […] [...]
[...] MORE [...]
Hi Beckyloo, thanks for the ask about clarification…the post shorthanded it, as usual, so that I didn’t make an unreadable something!
The tension – what I call the “pharmakon” (what they need and the contradiction of that need) – is between a common, conventional social construction of the masculine body and the male body dancing beautifully. Since these male dancers are beginners, really, I think we see them between the social construction of their masculine comportment (common, conventional) and the dancerly construction of their dancer’s comportment. Those are two really different things. Dance has to break the male body out of that constriction and construction.
The show is in a funny place. In order to be more than hacks on stage, it needs real male dancers who have broken out of that conventional masculine comportment. At the same time – thus the “pharmakon” – it is mass consumed, and so needs men who “dance like dudes.” That “dude”-thing works conventional masculinity back into or toward the transformed (dancerly) masculinity of beautiful dance.
Just to be clear: I don’t think this dancerly comportment is problematic. In fact, it is beautiful and a genuine expression of our highest expressive possibilities. Along with the voice, the dancing body is, for me, the real uniqueness of each person. What is problematic, or at least unnerving, for me is how the show can’t quite embrace that transgressive body – that body that doesn’t quite “work” in conventional ideas of men and their embodiment.
But that’s just asking a mass culture show to be, in some sense, counter-cultural. And that’s asking a bit too much. Alas.
The example of Herschel Walker is interesting. Sure, he trained in ballet, but that wasn’t much of a threat to his conventional masculinity because, well, he played both the most macho sport (football) and arguably the most macho position (running back). So, his play with ballet was easily instrumentalized: he used ballet, rather than being a ballet dancer. Then again, as you followed up…excluded and ridiculed…alas.
The Baryshnikov example is also interesting. Anecdotally, though I think a lot of men my age would remember the same, I recall his film break-out in White Nights (right title?). All the girls were a-gush about him, but boys in my school had the same refrain: “ballet? How gay!” Leaving the homophobic slur aside (ahem), it says a lot about how we already understood ourselves as boys, to-be-men. Ballet was just not in the cards for “proper” boys.
Yet girls loved Baryshnikov. Could it be we misunderstood girls all along and they didn’t really want this kooky idea of masculinity? Of course. Methinks boys and men have been making this mistake for thousands of years…ha ha.
So interesting. I understand your point clearly now. Thank you for clarifying. I’d like to add a fold. Neither Nick or Benji are conventionally masculine “dudes.” They are, however, non-threatening males. And while I don’t have hard data on this I would suspect that the majority of voters are teenaged girls – those that are most comfortable with this version of masculinity. And I believe this non threatening male is slightly removed from the pure, dancerly male of which you speak. Danny, being the embodiment of that, isn’t palatable in the same way. There’s something a bit dangerous about him. He has the potential to be Baryshnikov-like. And yes, you remembered the name correctly, White Nights. But it was in the Turning Point that he let his dangerous side show. I remember watching it as a young girl and feeling uncomfortable during his extremely sultry and seductive pas de duex. Of course I watch it now and imagine myself as his partner with out an ounce of discomfort, but that came with maturity. So I think this tension you point out results in a synthesis – a third version of masculinity that is neither conventional or wholly dancerly. And it is with this version that the majority of the fans of this show feel most comfortable. Which is why Danny won’t win and why, if a guy is to take it, it will be Neil. (Though as you know, I’m holding out hope for Sabra or Sara.)