Sunday, January 4, 2009

Superstars of Dance--What Were They Thinking?

So, I watched the new NBC show Superstars of Dance, and I have to ask, "What were they thinking?" We never needed another dance show, especially not one of poor quality.

I think Annie Barrett from Entertainment Weekly put it best when she described the show as "a forced SNL sketch." 

First of all, how can you judge so many styles of dance fairly? You can't. Most of these judges have probably never seen all of these styles, so they can't be compared sufficiently. 

Second, isn't it a tad self-serving how Michael Flatley (the show's host) featured his group, Lord of the Dance, for the first Irish group piece? Absolutely. And, unfortunately, it now features a soloist (who also performed by himself for Ireland) with no expression or smooth movement like Flatley himself. Not a great way to start off the show.

Third, why isn’t this a live show like the rest? Probably because there are too many performers to move on and off stage and too many set changes for a two hour production. But this makes the whole show appear awkward, especially in the way it is cut and filmed. While Argentina’s soloist performed a Cabaret piece that lacked in movement and concept, it didn’t help that the camera crew forgot to film her footwork. The crew keeps doing this throughout the show, sometimes cutting off the performers from view completely.

Fourth, shouldn’t this be more of a showcase of styles, rather than a competition? Yes! But NBC thinks it needs its own dance competition show like ABC and FOX.

I must admit, there were a few exceptions to the bad performances, including Austria’s modern group piece that featured strong ballet technique and ground-work, and China's athletic group piece. But besides these few pieces, I was not entertained, informed or able to stay awake. 

What did you think? Could anyone actually like this show?

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