Posted:
Hey,
Myself Amal. A newcomer to this forum but an quite an oldie on IF. Basically a dance lover, I watch a lot of dance shows. I am making this post to share a few things that's been on my mind for a long time. Before that, let me say that all the giver below opinions are strictly mine and if you don't agree, you can either tell so politely or if that's impossible you can walk away.
The first dance reality show I watched was a South Indian one. Then my interest went into the various dancing with the stars oriented ones for obvious reasons. I have also followed Just Dance. But what I have got to say has got nothing to do with how much I saw. Frankly, whatever people consider dancing today is NOT dancing. Audience today want to go "Oooh aaah" after every performance and it is clear fact that its almost always given by smooth lifts or anything to do with fluidity and flexibility of body. Yes, I too am a person who would enjoy such a performance but that's only what I would call it - Just a performance. Dancing for me is grace, expression, flexibility depending only on the style you are performing, enjoying the song, song selection and concept. And Madhuri is to me the perfect dancer someone who has charisma and the grace to carry anything. But like I said before, acrobats and gymnastics has entered the minds of people too hard and that's the reason I could never ever connect with Just Dance.
I wouldn't say that JDJ is a hard core victim of this because I really have seen a wide spectrum of good dances in here. But what I also noticed is that if the dance is completely about grace and expression essentially, its not recognized. If it has something to do with awesomeness in the language of lifts, its a much better performance. I am beginning to hate this tradition. For example - Just an example of one of my many disappointments - Rashmi's performance, I would say was a refreshing change and if the round was called 'kuch hatke dikha jaa' then the performance that suited it best was hers. However, as an overall audience, classical dance forms are more enjoyed as shows and when it comes into competitions they are sidelined. WHY? I am not a classically trained dancer and more into Western dancing but I love the beauty of a well executed of a classical dance be it any form. I know changing minds of so many people is not that easy but it's almost like you can't enjoy what Indian dancing actually is. Have you ever seen a trained Kathak dancer winning over a trained acrobat in any dance show? Its impossible here but down in the South even though its voting system, people understand and recognize all dance forms.
But apart from that, every other show stands for gymnastics or acrobats or atleast the judges almost always are. I think it's time reality shows take up the responsibility of being good natured and supportive of ALL art forms equally.
Anupamaa
