Success!

[alonewiththemoon]

Last night we got M's new laptop online, so it appears that I successfully set up the router and home network.  Though apparently I needn't have bothered, all our neighbors have unsecured connections all over the place.

Superstars of Dance has been interesting.  It seems to be structured like the Olympics of dance, but I like that because soloists and duetists can get their own glory even if their countries don't fare well over all.   I find I tend to agree with the South African judge most of the time; he's tough, but the judges should be tough.  Sometimes I think the US and Russian judges are in their own competition to see who is the bigger softy.  (The Russian judge is an odd one, seemingly bent on confirming every stereotype about Russians.)  One issue that has struck me with the judging in general is the issue that was raised by the US tap dancer last night--how can the judges judge a dance style that they know little to nothing about?  But I think there are some relatively objective standards common to all dance performances, things like conviction, making it look easy and seamless, emotional content/connection, synchonized movement in the case of duets and troupes, that indefinable yet obvious air of a seasoned pro, and so forth, and the judges can and should score on those things.  I was also glad that last night they tackled the issue of needing to have dance in a dance performance last night, though I still think that they gave the Shaolin monks an easy pass on that one, especially given how hard they came down on the Argentinian team.

At any rate, I'm enjoying seeing the different performances.  The South African woman's afro-modern fusion number was the best thing of the night as far as I was concerned.  I choked up watching it.  The Australian contemporary dancer was also very good, though I hate those godawful adult contemporary rock ballads the contemporary dancers all seem to use.  I thought the US tap dancer was under rated, as was the Argentinian soloist.  The Bharatanatyam dancer was very good, but the Bollywood troupe was pretty second rate.  The coach proudly announced that they were all college students, and that's exactly what they looked like, college kids putting on a show.  And I have to say that the US hip hop troupe really did rock the house.

Trying not to be all mama bear about something that is really none of my business, but it's hard.  Note to self: none of your business means none of your business.

Both weasels climbed into bed with me last night and we all fell asleep together.  Yay!
 

Comments

[atalanta.livejournal.com]

I was really excited about the show, but after watching the first night I had no interest in continuing. The judging made no sense to me, and something about the whole thing fell flat. I liked a few performances but they weren't nearly a good as I'd expected them to be (also - some terrible camera work!)

I think they can't decide if they want real traditional dance styles, or poppy crowd-pleasing versions of those styles, and the indecisiveness is hurting the performances.

[alonewiththemoon]

Definitely agreed about the camerawork--it's very annoying and always seems to be focused in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I think in Monday's show they did some refining of what qualities they are looking for in the performances.

[phoenixdancer.livejournal.com]

I watched the first night as well...and there were some performances that got very high scores but where I was like..."UH .... HUH????" and some that I thought were really well done that got 6's or 7's. I think the South African judge has it in for India and the US :-) and the Australian judge has no clue what works and what doesn't. Ugh! :-) I stopped watching after Sunday.
Although I've always loved the Shaolin performance...I really don't see it as dance.