Diversity seemed to be the name of the game in this recent round of auditions. There were some dancers auditioning for a second time, as well as newcomers. One highlighted duo from New York danced in a style that I had first encountered with the Ringmasters dance crew on America’s Best Dance Crew. The two who auditioned for SYTYCD painted their faces green and called themselves The Mutation. They certainly put their own spin on the bone-breaking, flexing, contortionist style of this popular dance from the streets of Brooklyn. They seemed to present a certain challenge to the judges, who invited them to head for a choreography round to see if they would fit into the competition. I would have loved to see if the two dancers could do the choreography, but they opted out at that point. They were, of course, grateful for the opportunity.
Another example of diversity from Thursday night’s show was a dancer from New York who had only three vertebrae. While her back and neck never grew, her limbs had developed normally. She spoke of the pain she had to endure growing up, both physical and emotional, and her story was meant to inspire. Unfortunately, while the judges applauded her bravery in auditioning and the fact that she chose dance as the way to overcome her obstacles, she was not accepted into the competition due to her lack of technical prowess.
The most controversial example of diversity came in the form of Misha Belfer and Mitchel Kibel, a male ballroom dance team. Only one of the dancers is gay, but they were the show’s first same-sex ballroom duo. They danced a spirited samba, which ended unfortunately in a failed lift. However, it was the judges’ response to the couple that was the most unfortunate of all. Nigel Lythgoe said, “I think you probably alienate a lot of our audience. I mean, we’ve always had the guys dance together on the show, but they’ve never really done it in each other’s arms before.” Nigel went on to suggest that both of the men in the group go into the choreography round and dance with women. Neither of the duo made it past the choreography.
When I first heard Nigel’s remarks, I thought, “Uh oh… that’s going to get him in trouble,” and sure enough, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) was outraged and demanded an apology. It seemed to me that Nigel had not given any thought to the portion of his audience that would be alienated by his comments. Nigel compared the duo to the film Blades of Glory, and fellow judges Mary Murphy and Sonya Tayeh seemed confused about who was leading whom and about the male/female role that each of the partners typically assume in a ballroom couple. Instead of applauding the duo for challenging the status quo in ballroom dance, the judges could not get beyond their notions that ballroom couples should be male/female. It was an unfortunate and embarrassing incident for the show and for the dancers who took a calculated chance in being different and had it backfire.
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