One of the things that impressed me the most about my wife before getting married was her dance background. She was trained in ballet and liturgical dance as a child and continued to embrace the art into adulthood. When I saw her do a swivel kick that went over my head during an Easter performance, I immediately rushed out and purchased her engagement ring. On the other hand, when I dance, it looks like I'm making fun of the art of bodily movement. Funny thing though, my youngest son (Zechariah) at age 5 seems to be perfecting the art of dance. Without any formal training, he can do plies and pirouettes for long periods of time without getting fatigued or distracted. Looks like we will be able to sign him up for one of our favorite reality (and performance) television shows: So You Think You Can Dance. Obviously, he wouldn't be able to compete on the show for a while. The good news for us however is that the show will be picked up again for another season. The exciting news of a renewed season was revealed to producer Nigel Lythgoe five minutes before the show went live on Tuesday night. With the hope of continued momentum, Zechariah will have a chance to show off his natural abilities to the world in about 12 years.
Season 10 came to a close placing two more talented dancers in the shows hall of fame. What's interesting and sometimes frustrating about watching the show (especially if you have had formal training like my wife Tracey) is watching a performance get high marks from the judges that unfortunately, really did not meet a high level of dance expectation. Yeah...it can be a bit painful for Tracey to endure watching the next season winner with a lower lever of dance proficiency than another be crowned the coveted titled. That's one of the unique qualities about the show: America, whether highly trained or not in the art of dance, is the one predominately making the decision to elect the next champion.
I embrace watching the show from a totally different vantage point. I view the program from the standpoint of a technical arts director or producer. I'm always looking to see how the show production element is going to add to the performance. Sometimes, it's not the dancing that's off; sometimes we are just not visually intrigued as the viewer because we are placing too much confidence and emphasis in the production elements and not focusing on the most important part of the show, which is the dancing talent of the contenders. Then, Season 10, like other season's prior, produces a legendary performance. One of the newly crowned champions, Fik-shun, and SYTYCD show professional Twitch performed in a routine that only added to the electricity that powered the fantastic lighting design elements for the routine. Some of the more memorable moments throughout the shows history have been performances choreographed by show professional Travis Walls, who literally can retell a story through contemporary dance and technical visual aesthetics. The show has a bright future and is doing something that a lot of performance shows are not able to do anymore: They are turning new talent into better performers. Maybe they would consider letting Zechariah join early. Family road trip!!! We'll start with going to one of the major cities where they host the tryouts. I better start practicing my Harlem Shake.
