Amanda (was Aziyade)
Well-known member
I have seen some belly dancers at the auditions, but they have not been able to show the essence of their technique and dance soul in this short amount of time and hence not convinced the jury to send them to the next level.
SYTYCD is not looking for dancers; it's looking for drama. BUT, given that -- the judges also know that some artists might be great dancers but won't be able to compete in the other categories of dance.
On top of THAT, they have NO idea how to judge ethnic dance.
You can say one dancer or another is entertaining, but only someone with some training in the actual ethnic dance form would know if it truly represents the form.
The question of why no belly dancers seems to get through were once asked in a class I attended. The teacher said "it is because the belly dancers who auditioned aren't really dancers" (i.e. in a classical way).
Well, I think it's because the belly dancers don't "Cross train" in theatre dance. This show is ALLLLLLLLLL about theatre. A professional ballet dancer -- who focuses all her time and energy on ballet and doesn't cross train in jazz and ballroom -- won't get through because she isn't also competent in modern dance, hiphip, ballroom, swing, etc.
But what defines a dancer (genre not specified)?
There have been some AWESOME break dancers on that show. But my husband doesn't consider them to be dancers because their movement isn't dependent upon the music. (You could argue the same thing about modern dance.)
I won't go there. I say it's all dance because it's a physical response to music or rhythm. Some of it I really like; some of it I don't ever care to see again in my life. Some of it is more entertaining than others, and some of it is more artistic and challenging than others. But in the end it's all dance.