Michael Jackson: An American Dancer

I heard the news when, on the elimination show of SYTYCD, Nigel Lithgow announced the deaths this week of three American icons: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. We expected the passing of McMahon (from age) and Fawcett (from cancer), but not Michael Jackson. When I finally had a chance to flip over to the news, they were focusing on the confusing eccentricities of Jackson’s later life. Since I really detest celebrity gossip, I switched over to MTV where we all discovered the enormity of this man’s talents.

"It wasn’t only his dancing we loved,

but the power of his music to make us dance"

MTV is showing Jackson’s impressive catalog of videos, not just clips but the whole unedited versions.  What a joy it is to see this collection one after another. If ever I had doubts about his dancing talent, they were put finally to rest when I watched the long version of Bad with its lengthy group choreography worthy of Broadway. In Beat It the choreography paid tribute to Jerome Robbins’s West Side Story rumble scene. With his slightly shortened pants and stark white socks he remembers Fred Astaire, who was evidently a fan of Jackson’s. And, like Astaire, his dedication and respect for dance is evident in how his videos where shot: with the whole dancer, the whole choreography unmediated by tricky camera shots or sliced up by over-zealous editors.

But, of course it wasn’t only his dancing we loved, but the power of his music to make us dance. In Black and White we are treated to dancers from Africa, India, Native America, and Russia performing to his song. His moves are a part of the world dance vocabulary now. The choreography from Thriller and Beat It are the most well known pieces in the history of dance. I suspect all of us can recall at least one movement from Thriller.  Boys from across the globe learned and performed these choreographies at weddings, parties, in the streets. It a way, Jackson helped make it possible for men to dance with pride and freedom, the effects of which we see today on shows like SYTYCD and America’s Best Dance Crew.

He was generous with his music which never failed to make us feel its power. Whether it was for sheer enjoyment, as in Jam in which he attempts to teach Michael Jordan to moonwalk, or for global healing as in We Are the World, for which even Musak paused its programming. And how can we forget his tender voice in his tribute video for Ryan White. That song, Gone Too Soon, expresses what many of us feel today. What a tragedy that we will not hear from the mature Michael, who was in rehearsal for a new concert tour.

This is the Michael Jackson I morn today; the American artist, the American genius. May he rest in peace.

Are Dance and Competition Natural Enemies?

With the increased interest in competitive dancing on television (and especially after the dismal failure of Superstars of Dance), some of my friends have wondered if dance as an artistic and social form could be compatible with the competition formats. Competitive dance is often criticized for damaging the artistic integrity and the communal power of dancing. There is some truth to this, tho it doesn’t tell the whole story.

When a dance form moves out of its original social context to become a competition form, it must undergo regulation in order for dancers and judges to know what criterion are being employed in their analysis. This often means that dances are standardized by regulatory organizations, innovation is limited, and local variations are lost. In addition, steps and routines become more dramatic—faster or flashier moves get the attention of judges. There may be a loss of the subtle aspects of dance as technical virtuosity takes the spotlight. Separate categories for styles, genders, and age-groups are created, diminishing the communal aspects of the dance. And sometimes entirely new forms are created by these changes: the samba of Latin Ballroom competition bears only a passing resemblance to the native sambas of Brazil. But they each exist and are appreciated within their own contexts.

Does competition necessarily engender athleticism at the expense of aestheticism? Is this always the case or are there competitive contexts that can support both? I think the later is true, that there are competitions that leave room for innovation and individual expression as well as advanced technical skill. There are many such examples, but for now lets take a look at the history of competition clogging.

I first encountered Appalachian clogging when I was an undergraduate student at Livingston College in New Jersey around 1973. A group of us drove an old VW van down to western North Carolina for a bluegrass festival which featured a new team of dancers, the Green Grass Cloggers. Tho I didn’t know this at the time, this group actually represented a change in traditional, old-time clogging: they fused traditional precision clogging with square dance sets and figures, added taps to their shoes, and invented new steps such as the high kick. Their energetic, up-beat style was criticized by traditionalists, but it won competitions which helped establish them as leaders in modern clogging.

Competition team clogging began to appear in 1928 and the intensity of the competitive form increased with each generation. Previously, competition took the form of playful tests of skill between soloists in social settings. With the establishment of team competition, traditionalists worried that the sociality of dancing was in jeopardy. “What was being lost,” old-timers complained, “was the individuality and spirit of old-time buckdancing and freestyle clogging that comes from the heart.”

Last season, on MTVs America’s Best Dance Crew, we witnessed the latest iteration of clogging. Dynamic Edition, 7-time national champion cloggers, fused the exciting, high-spirited steps of clogging with hip hop formations and sounds. Competing against hip hop and street dance groups, these young Alabamans introduced something fresh and unexpected to the mix. On the final night of the competition, Dynamic Edition, Quest Crew, and Strikers All-Stars created a large group choreography that incorporated clogging with hip hop and stepping. And it was as exciting a moment as I have seen in modern choreography.

So, Does competition engender athleticism at the expense of aestheticism? Certainly, athleticism is a dominant element in competitive dancing, but not to the complete diminishment of aesthetic values. In fact, the spirit of MTVs competition dance program produced a new variant of clogging, profiting from both traditional and contemporary genres of dance, and expressing our present globalized communities.

Source:
Communities in Motion: Dance, Community, and Tradition in America's Southeast and Beyond. Susan Eike Spalding and Jane Harris Woodside, eds. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 1995

See also my post of 3/9/09 "Quest Crew IS Americas Best Dance Crew"

Quest Crew IS America's Best Dance Crew!

The final episode of ABDC Season 3 was an outstanding display of dance, choreography, and team cooperation. The competition all season was tight and several crews could easily have come out on top. The final two, Quest Crew and Beat Freaks, tore up the stage last week with their final competitive performances. Quest Crew won the day.

Since the winner was decided ahead of time by viewer votes (and the announcement delayed until the last minute of the show), the producers arranged for all the crews to return to the stage for the finale. And instead of working as separate teams, three crews worked together to create unique choreographies that celebrated the strengths of each group.



The opening group choreography included my favorites, Quest Crew, Dynamic Edition, and Strikers All Stars. The choreography was terrific, but when the whole team broke into a sequence of Appalachian clogging, I got chills. Honestly. It was a gorgeous display of American dance traditions and their future in the emerging 21st century fusions. I so admire these young dancers. They are technically and creatively superior AND they have a strong sense of integrity. They show great respect and honor for one another, for other teams, for their judges and teachers. At least on this program, they exhibit what anthropologists call "communitas": the spirit of group solidarity that is created whenever a group of people shares an intense struggle.

Thank you dancers, Randy Jackson, the producer, and all the judges: Shane Sparks, JC Chasez, and Lil Mama (whose 40s inspired wardrobe reflects the old-in-new sensibilities we saw in the dancers).

Watch for Taking the Stage, the newest performing arts reality program from MTV, which begins March 19th.

The new season of So You Think You Can Dance begins tonight on Fox.

ABDC Finals: Hip Hop Decathlon

Its the next-to-the-last episode of America's Best Dance Crew. This week the final three groups were challenged to a decathlon of hip hop styles and steps. They each had to incorporate house and crump style while performing waves, threading, and tutting. Since I know so little about hip hop history, I personally found this challenge illuminating.

Beat Freaks opened with an excellent routine: tight synchrony, great formations, dynamic changes. Unfortunately, once Quest Crew finished dancing, it was all over.

This was some of the best contemporary dance choreography I’ve ever seen and QC performed to perfection. It finished with one dancer doing a back flip from sitting to standing! No hands! It was astonishing. Even their final number, OrQuestra, which featured head spins on the top of a grand piano while another dancer played it, was brilliant. Congratulations, Quest Crew. Right from the beginning, you stood above the other groups. Heck, I’ve been cheering for Hoc since his first appearance on SYTYCD!

Tune in next week for the big finale. They’re bring all the crews back.

Postscript: I can never resist passing on these cultural nuggets: Shane Sparks was complementary of Beat Freaks “King Tut” section. Stacked in one ascending line front to back, they wave the arms on either side creating the look of a multi-armed goddess. But the image is not Egyptian; it is decidedly Hindu. I pulled out my reference books and could only find one, six- to eight-armed Hindu goddess: Durga. She’s an insubordinate warrior goddess, protectress of the cosmos, slaughtering demons and answering to no man, human or god. Her potency is not for nurturing but for doing battle. She’s a perfect model for hip hop women. They should name the step after her.

Judging the judges on ABDC

Last week on America’s Best Dance Crew, Lil’ Mama reprimanded the studio audience for hissing at judge JC’s comments about Quest Crew’s performance. “Sometimes ya’ll just need to like quiet down so they [the dancers] can get the message that he’s trying to give these young men up here,” she said. “Because they might be able to use that next week to help them out…You’re crowding our words of wisdom that can shed light onto these crews.”

And these judges—award-winning choreographer Shane Sparks, boy-group phenom JC Chasez, and hip-hop choreographer and singer Lil Mama—obviously have some wisdom to impart. Listen closely to what they are telling these dancers. In addition to specific comments on the dance, they express surprising sentimentality towards family, friends, and the art of dance marking them as the highest priorities in life. They espouse a clear set of ethics including cooperation and peaceful resolution to conflict. And they believe it the power of dance to impart these values.

Most dancers never have a chance to be critiqued by professionals, let alone by critics with a civil tongue. ABDC’s judges always offer constructive commentary on the choreography, performance, and the degree to which the task was satisfied. They compliment the performers when they honor their dance traditions and ancestors as well as when they demonstrate fresh innovations.

Its clear that the competitors themselves appreciate and respond to the judges’ commentary. Indeed, the increasingly high levels of professionalism, creative choreography, and personal expression in the dancers may be attributed to the judges commentary. So listen up, audience. You might learn something too.