Shut Up and Dance

Of Fancy Footwork and Straightforward Strides

A Media Shmedia column

by Scott Patrick Wagner

American Idol and Dancing with the Stars are now over. One could argue that they've been "over" for at least two seasons, but that's a whole other debate. Anyway, who cares? My attention is now focused on something far more consequential: the return of So You Think You Can Dance?! (It is unsettling to put the exclamation point of my excitement after the question mark of the show title, but my unchecked glee demands it.)

Biding my time in anticipation of this momentous event, I have vacuously occupied myself with another reality series about dancers, Bravo's Step It Up and Dance, which is having its euthanasia — I mean, season finale — this week. Like the family pet who has been found chewing on the sofa, I feel sheepish admitting to having watched. Step It Up is a desperate mix of dance-competition program and interpersonal loser-drama; though the dancers have some talent, it is clear that most were cast because they would put on a spectacle offstage. In latter episodes, at least the producers have deigned to show us complete performances instead of just snippets of dance, but it's still manipulative crap and I'm deeply ashamed. My dance jones got the best of me.

I don't mean to imply that So You Think You Can Dance? is not without its faults. In its early weeks, it can be annoying as it goes through the try-outs in a parallel to American Idol's audition weeks. And in season three, an injudicious amount of time was spent on up-close-and-personal backstories to the exclusion of some of the wild talent that walked through the doors (season two did a significantly better job of presenting impressive dance stunts at the auditions). This past Thursday's debut was thoroughly satisfying; in fact, the dancing was so engaging that cutaways were downright irritating. (Note to the show's director: reaction shots of the judges that last longer than one second make us hate you. A lot.) It is after the audition phase that the show hits its stride — or, more accurately, jumps to creative warp-speed. The combination of explosively talented kids and inventive choreographers makes for some of the most honest artistic expression on television.

The salient differences between Step It Up and SYTYCD lead me to ponder a certain Presidential campaign going on these days. Maybe you've heard of it? Perhaps you've also noticed how our weekly newsmagazines have been spinning things. Newsweek presumes we want to hear how Karl Rove thinks the Democrats are doing; I'm sure Luke Skywalker wanted some fathering tips from Darth Vader also. Looking at the campaigns themselves, though, there is one aspect that exemplifies the differences between the two dance programs. (Yes, I'm comparing our Presidential election to dance reality programs. Shut up.)

Two of the candidates are mostly going about business-as-usual, stooping to the lowest-common-denominator sound byte. The third candidate (the Kennedy-esque one with the extra melanin) has been consistently doing something different. Like the honest smack of talent I get from watching the concentrated creativity of So You Think You Can Dance?, there is invigoration in the moves of Barack Obama, as he insists on elevating the discussion to the adult level and treating us as thinking beings. Time quoted Mr. Obama with this: "I didn't get into this race thinking I could avoid this knd of politics, but I am running for President because this is the time to end it." The hooplah over Reverend Wright inspired him to make a thoughtful speech about racism in this country. Mr. McCain's comments about Obama being the favorite candidate of Hamas — as well as Bush Junior's speechifying in Israel that alluded to Hitler — were all met with precise and eloquent repudiation by Obama, with an undertone of "grow up." And while Hillary Clinton goes even more profoundly into debt with the Campaign That Wouldn't Die, Mr. Obama's coffers are flush from the support of coalescing Americans. I realize that Ronald Reagan felt it was appropriate to lead us into huge debt — a tradition continued by the current Bush-war spending plan — but financial solvency is revealing, not to mention revelatory.

I have tolerated Step It Up and Dance for the moments of dancing, and tried to inure myself as much as possible to the debasement. I think we have all been doing a lot of inuring over the past few decades, trying listen for the real issues in spite of the onslaught of spin and sensationalism. For those of us who earnestly crave the actual debate, the authentic conversation, there seems to be someone championing it. And he's not just a commentator or analyst — he's running for President. It's enough to make me want to get up and, um, DANCE.