Jive really..... - Page 2

Also posted here

The opinion is divided on the jive performance. Dabulls23 says it wasn't true to form at all, while return_to_hades says that it was authentic. I'm not dancing expert, so cannot say much on the technicalty of the jive. However, I want to say a few things about JDJ and judges. Please bear with the long post.

I think when they adapt a show for each country, the dancing exposure and sensibilities of the majority as well as the participants is also kept in mind. Most indian film dance sequences are a mish-mash of different styles of dancing. Facial expressions and adaas, not just attitude while dancing, is given much more prominence in traditional Indian as well as bollywood dances. The choreographers will have to be cerebral enough to use their celebs intelligently (some do a good job, while some are bad at this), hiding their flaws well, bringing out their strengths.

Madhuri has maintained that she'll be judging contestants more on their improvements, potential, expressions. she has said the technical details are for the choreographers to see.

If you've followed madhuri, you'll know she never criticizes anyone severely, and she's maintaining the same in jhalak. in fact, i'm confident if she was stern, there would be a few posts saying she's a rude person. you can't always please everyone. i think she judges from the viewpoint of a performer, and is informative in a her comments, whenever she talks about indian dances.

To those who say things like Madhuri and Malaika don't even have the knowledge to be the judges, I'd say that they may not be aware of the finer technical nuances, but they have performed on stage, in films, on shows, so they can definitely share with a celebrity contestant the anticipation, enjoyment, difficulty in process of learning, and see how the contestant has improved as the show goes on. majority of the performances are similar to what these choreographers and actors will be doing in films and on stage. if there is need for a specialized dance form, they would probably bring in the experts for it. that certainly doesn't mean they shouldn't attempt anything new ever, however i feel that we should make a few concessions for them to make mistakes and not always keep them in the crosshairs for precision (probably not a good time to use the term, given the antics of sarah palin )

one rough week on an international format doesn't mean that the judges are incapable and have to be dismissed. i think they are mostly doing what i had expected them to do (though i do agree that remo should give more constructive criticism). they had sandip soparrkar as a technical choreographer for 1st 2 seasons, maybe they should have someone for this seaosn too (or maybe they already do, and we just don't know yet).

I've said this in an earlier post as well (Madhuri's AT), and will say this again - I can't think of many current bollywood stars who are that knowledgeable about our culture and our language, she's wonderfully different from the mind-blowing/ superb/ awesome/ fantastic/ fantabulous brigade. i like when she talks about kathak or laavni (how it comes from laavanya), etc.

across many shows, we have technical and non-technical judges. if the choreographer judges bring to the table their dancing expertise, the actors/celebrities bring on their experience as a performer. we could have had 3 choreographers judging too, but if one of the participant is a celebrity, it's fair that a judge is a celebrity, to showcase another point of view. I really prefer this to meaningless TV editing and hyped controversy route that shows usually take.

please see my post here (it links to a critical article on celebrity dance shows).