#154 - dance again

everytime i go to one of my cousin's 24/7 danceforce concerts i always come home busting with things to say. it's like mystery science theater 3000 with dancing. well, i guess i've been watching a lot of dance stuff recently, with so you think you can dance replacing my american idol fix and that dance crew show on mtv. plus my cousins (actually, there's only one of them now, the other one's off to college) have been dancing practically forever and they're pretty cool so i like to support them. but... their dance concerts are totally gay! haha. well, to give them credit, it's one heck of a production, lighting, video, sound, music mixing, special guests, plus the dancing on top of that, and (also to their credit) their dancing is more than just dancing in a line or group, they do (for the lack of a better term) formations that change rapidly and dynamically, with people coming in and out of their little dancing groups and innovative ways of incorporating people and using the space to create very well crafted performances. so as you can see, as much fun as i will make about them, they are actually very good at what they do.

that being said... it was so gay. the thing that i hate most about it is when i'm watching a performance and i can't tell if there are guys or girls dancing on stage. i think girls should dance like girls and guys should dance like guys. guys don't need to be able to dance like girls in order to be a good dancer, because a few of the guys really do look like guy dancers even when they're all doing the same motions as the girls (okay, i don't know but maybe professional dance types would say that's a bad thing, like they all need to look the same or something, but i disagree, i think it's perfectly fine that they don't all look exactly alike). so in this concert there was a lot more hip-hop and b-boy/girl kinda numbers, which i liked so much more than the lyrical/jazz kind of things (even though, i admit, they're pretty good at that). but what gets me everytime i go to one of these things is how intricate and well-planned all the stage movement is... not the dancing itself, but they way they coordinate everyone to make "formations" and how fast their groups morph and evolve during the dancing (okay, that's residual marching band geek coming out, but stick with me here...), that really makes for interesting things to watch, something to keep all the dads and male cousins (like me) in the audience awake (because we can't think about the skimpy costumes for fear that we might be looking at someone's 15 year old daughter or possibly a guy).

also, i've been watching all the olympics trials on tv (i love the olympics), this weekend they had diving and gymnastics. both of which i do not consider sports. they are "performing arts," just like dance (because "winners" are not determined by objective means, they're all judged, which is subjective which means it is not a sport). anyway, specifically in the gymnastics they do their routines and it's kinda cool, but some of the stuff they do (and people rave and cheer about) are so weak compared to what some of the b-boys/girls can do. example, the pommel horse. so boring right? but think about a b-boy does, kinda like the pommel horse and so much cooler huh? and one thing i really can't stand about gymnastics is when they do the dance-y stuff, like that floor routine, if you're gonna tumble, just tumble, don't try and be a lame-ass white dancer and do your tumbling in between, that's weak. in fact, i think some of those gymnasts should go take some b-boy/girl lessons, i bet they'd pick some stuff up pretty nicely and could actually do some cool stuff perhaps. right? like all those one-arm handstands, those are cool, i'd like to learn how to do those kinda tricks. anyway, i can't wait for olympics this summer... i'm gonna have lots to write about!