grenade fishing

By Jim Cyr 

America had a love affair with “dancing” in the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s - the Broadway musical had its Golden Age, and so did the Movie Musical …

In the 1960s “reality” and the paradigm shifts of society made dancing seem “trite” “contrived” and the public’s appreciation for dance went the way of the Dodo through the 80s and 90s into the 21st Century.

Oh, sure, there were a few “exceptions” (Saturday Night Fever, Footloose) but for the most part clunkers like Can’t Stop the Music and Xanadu were the rule and the disappearance of the Variety Show from the TV schedule meant that dancing had fallen ‘out of favor’ in the public eye - heck, even the Academy Awards fazed out the big production dance numbers that were once the hallmark of the broadcast ceremonies.

A couple of years ago - in this day and age of “reality” TV (and with the runaway success of American Idol) - ABC took a chance with B, C, and D list celebrities and launched the no-budget show “Dancing With The Stars” - shortly thereafter came “So You Think You Can Dance”

Each season of both shows has “upped the ante” CONSIDERABLY - so much so, that I was utterly blown away by the QUALITY of the dancing and the choreography on last night’s season premiere of Dancing With the Stars.

The dances are considerably longer than in the past and the demands far greater - sure, some of the “stars” are pretty obscure, but they are working hard to deliver the dance - it shows and makes for VERY entertaining television.

Even MTV spent last weekend rerunning this summer’s So You Think You Can Dance (and, yes, I ended up watching most of it again (in between football and baseball) - it was that good !!)