TV dance show makes peace with U.S. gay community (So You Think You Can Dance)

[Kadie]

TV dance show makes peace with U.S. gay community

By Jill Serjeant Jill Serjeant – 1 hr 24 mins ago

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Popular reality TV show "So You Think You Can Dance" has made peace with America's gay community by putting a same-sex Latin ballroom couple into a new round of competition and appointing an openly gay judge.

Producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe caused a furor in May when he told another gay couple he thought their samba routine would "probably alienate" a lot of the show's five million viewers.

Lythgoe later wrote a Twitter message saying he was "not a fan of 'Brokeback' Ballroom," alluding to the 2007 gay romance film "Brokeback Mountain." His message prompted a call for action by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a meeting with Lythgoe and executives at the Fox network, as well as an apology.

The Emmy-award winning "So You Think You Can Dance" currently in its 6th season on Fox, uses a format similar to singing contest "American Idol" to chose America's favorite dancer through a mix of judges' decisions and public votes.

On Wednesday's episode, Jason and Willem De Vries danced an emotional audition routine, causing choreographer and judge Mia Michaels to tear up and drawing a compliment from Lythgoe.

snip...
Lythgoe, who started his career in Britain as a dancer, told the pair; "Thank you for showing me that same-sex ballroom dancing can be very strong and very good."

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_dance


here is the video clip of the dance...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3euGxoJZJ6k

[imdjh]

1. I'm glad they did it.... but I don't get the choice of the slow song.

They really needed a strong fast song which lets them show off what two men can do in couples dancing when you are liberated from the skirts and single lead style of traditional dance.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Bravo!!

[Kadie]

3. .

[caffefwee]

4. Isn't Tom DeLay a contestant?

This should be interesting.

[Jennicut]

5. That is Dancing with the Stars.

This show is about amateur unknown dancers.

[Kaylee]

6. No, that's Dancing with the Stars.....

[caffefwee]

8. Oh, hard to keep track of all these "reality" shows

Wait a minute.

Tom DeLay is a star?

[Jennicut]

9. LOL! Only on a reality dancing show!

[caffefwee]

11. found these rehearsal pics

[Forkboy]

7. The last quote from Lythgoe tells me he actually learned something.

He could have been pouty and negative at being pressured, but instead it seems he learned why the pressure was there, and why he was wrong.

[HamdenRice]

10. What utter nonsense!

The idea that real dance fans would be alienated by gay men dancing together is preposterous.

Here's my confession: Back in the Jurassic era (the 70s), I was a very serious participant in the partner dance scene -- Hustle, Latin/Salsa/Mambo and Merengue. Lots of dance nights out, but even contests, etc., dancing the circuit from Boston down to Brooklyn and the Bronx. My nickname was "Hamden the Hustle King." (Hamden is not my real name, though.)

Anyone who did lots of partner dancing (or knows about it) then or now knows that most men dancers learn how to dance by dancing with other men. Women dancers generally can't teach you how to "lead," because they have rarely done so, so you have to learn how to dance from other men. (In Salsa/Mambo, women dance together a lot, with one woman leading, but they're generally not as practiced at leading as experienced male dancers.) There were lots of gay men in the Hustle and Latin dance scene so of course, us straight guys learned to dance being taught by gay men, but also by other straight men. Yup hours and hours of guys dancing arm in arm!

Then in the NY break dancing scene of just a few years later, there were lots of routines with young men doing very acrobatic moves with each other.

The idea that anyone who is a fan of dance could be alienated by two men dancing together is borderline delusional.

[LostInAnomie]

12. Gay dancers or not...

... that show sucks hot wet shit.

[Orsino]

13. Nineteenth Century Fox forced, once again, to update its schtick. n/t