So you think you can dance (S.Y.T.Y.C.D) can be considered a popular pedagogy of gendered identity. To the extent that different dance styles require varied performances of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ traits. Choose the ‘story’ of one of the contestants on the most recent series of S.Y.T.Y.C.D. Tell us how their gendered identity has been shaped in relation to their style of expertise. Then analyze at least one example of a judge’s feedback on the dancer’s engagement with a ‘new’ dance style in terms of the production of gendered identity. In what ways might the judge’s comments be read as a public pedagogy of gendered identity?
This is an American television dance show which is been aired on Fox in the United States. It is the flagship series of the international So You Think You Can Dance television franchisee. The show was started on July 20 2005 which had over ten million viewers. This show is considered as one of the top rated dance show in the television. The American idol producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe created this show basically. The main production channels involved are by Dick Clark Productions and 19 Entertainment. This show was first hosted by famous American news personality Lauren Sanchez. This s how is been rated as the No.1 rated summer show and it has viewers from adults aged in between 18-49 years. But with the number of seasons it has declined its ratings since its inception (Baird, 2013).
For this show an open audition was held where the dancers were asked to showcase their talents in a number of dance styles that were new and unique every year it was held. After the first round of audition there were additional rounds held if the candidates could move forward and cut across that particular round. The additional rounds of auditions were held to check the ability of the candidates if they could adapt to different styles. At the end of the audition process a limited number of dancers were chosen as the final contestants. There were variety of dance styles which varied from solo dance performances to duet dance performances and this also included group dance numbers with a variety of styles that the contestants had to accomplish. Judgment was being done through a panel of expertise members and also opinion was taken through the audience by voting their favorite contestant from the lot. This judgment allowed the dancers to move from week to week. There are a variety of dance styles that are been featured in this show which includes contemporary, classical, ballroom, belly dancing, hiphop, jazz and also include other subgenres that is represented in the show (Boyd, 2012). The winner of this show was nominated with cash prize and the title of America’s favorite dancer as well.
Ricky Ubeda was the winner of the 11th season of this show. He had won the competition and received the cash prize of $250,000. He also got the chance to see himself in the cover page of the magazine Dance Spirit. Now he is a successful choreographer and he also choreographed the musical on the town. He was a contemporary dancer but he also performed other dance styles as well. On July 2 2014 he was paired up with Jessica Richens which was the first live show of the season. They danced on a contemporary dance number and got high appraisals from the judges as well as from the other contestants as well. Ricky was also famous for performing of jazz dance form as well (Elswit, 2012).
When Ricky Ubeda fell into grounds for dancing each and every time his moves were flawless. His first inspiration to dance was fox reality competition. In the finale performance he danced a staggering six full length routines which began from hip hop and ended with contemporary.
There are certain obligations which are being raised in an educated and civilized culture of today. There are still gender indifferences that are been notified in accordance to the various styles of their expertise. It is really insane to judge a particular work of art with relation to gender representations. Even there are certain impositions being laid as to being a women dancer or a girl being involved in such type of dance form. There are critics imposed saying that a women is only expected to learn classical form of dances rather than focusing onto modern dance forms. But there should not be any such discriminations or impositions being laid upon because it totally depends on the individual choices and preferences that which art form one can choose. For eg if a girl learns belly dancing then it is said that she is exposing her body parts which is not the fact actually. Therefore no such personalized comments should be given if an individual is choosing to any particular dance form. The various representations of femininity represent supporting to feminine. Femininity today must be taken as a positive and inspiring concern in the dance forms that are involved today (Hanan and Hill, 2012). Today’s dance forms mainly involves lifting patterns like girls lifting boys or boys lifting girls, various breaking patterns and changing dynamics are also involved but this should not bring any kind of gender discourse or differences into the dance form. It must be taken more of as learning rather than any criticism. In terms of gender roles, modern dance is been treated as coming out from the classical traditional rules (Lepecki, 2012). The traditional vocabulary of dance dynamics represents the men as enablers, carriers and restrictors of the female movements but the guidance and support from women are restricted. Though today we can see a number of women are actively involved with all forms of dance and they are also taking up dancing as their profession. Critics have imposed that femininity was represented majorly as something that could be pulled, pushed, caught and hold and lifted as well. On the other hand masculinity was referred to dominating and controlling the feminine all the time.
The term public pedagogy was first coined in the year 1894. This is basically been associated with education research that mainly focuses its concentration on the sites and processes of education that is beyond formal educational system. Public pedagogy is based on empirical research and studies that have developed over the years and this also helps in developing the learner’s objectives and behavior as well.
Dance education is an important form that needs to be adopted according to the presence of varied cultural framework that is also present in the society as of today. There are a lot of gender differences that are been seen to exist in the society today. This also includes scarcity of male student’s dancer’s body and there are issues related to the self esteem of individuals as well. There must be appreciation in each kind of work being done that includes in its techniques and performance as well (Phillips-Silver, 2014). The gender issues in dance pedagogy also make a clear representation that states that a social analysis and creative study must be done in order to represent any particular dance form. Women and western dance forms have always been criticized no matter how good she performs in her own related domain of dance form. Sometimes the choreography is termed to be misleading and this builds upon foundations for critical thinking also.
An example can be taken to support this viewpoint that there should be no role of any gender inequality that could affect the dance form. We can see the example of Scottish dancing along with the patterns of gender identity. There are various gender identity patterns that are to be highlighted to various traditional dance forms based in Scotland. Here the focus has been mainly led to how they perceive dancing reality and the various patterns that are involved into it. Taking a view on the various dance forms there must be a gap that is necessary to be maintained in terms of age, gender and other related factors as well (Van der Merwe, 2011).
IN Scotland there are two summer schools involved that are associated with various dance forms and also give lessons on dancing. They are Men’s Highland Dancing and Ladies step Dancing. Thousands of dancers come here every year to practice and learn Scottish country dancing. From the name it can be depicted that it is more of a male dancers that are involved but this actually wrong perception because a large number of female dancers gave their best performances here. In the school previously ladies were not allowed to enter there and learn the dance forms but to the surprise it has been found out that the male classes were conducted and taught by female teachers. In highland form the majority of the competitors are girls here. Even research has been found out that attempts are been made to encourage boys to dance or rather to join varied forms of dances.
Apart from this in Scottish country dancing every person needs to be aware of the fact that performing a dance needs to have a bit of music added on to it. Sometimes it is also difficult to imitate the steps of dancing for women specially the steps that male dancers need to perform. It is also a fact that a man always leads a lady in dancing. It do not require any specific training that needs to be imparted but there must be a sense of friendship, socialism and romance that is being reflected through their dance form. Also side by side there must be passion that is there in the dance or their particular dance form. It should not be realized that they are been forced to conduct those particular dance steps. There must be an inner drive or self motivation factor that plays the majority role in this case.
Today gender is constantly been changing despite of that fact there is a need of a male as well as female dancers at some point of time. Also if a male dancer is dancing any ladies dance form or the vice versa happens then also it must be kept in the mind that once they finish the dance they will always remain ladies only. Identity plays a role in distinguishing an individual with particular dance form along with an individual’s family or personality background.
From the research being done on gender identity it can be understood that gender acts as a category that a person is differentiated in terms of his or her sex. This highly affects the various art forms and one of them is dance. There is an association of different roles, expectations and identities that is been displayed along with the norms of the society that plays an important role. In broader perspective we can also say that gender identity is more of a person’s belongingness and it has nothing to do without any particular dance form that one likes. So there should not be any kind of criticisms being done.
References
Baird, T. (2013). Crossing Cultures: The French Style in Germany. Dance Chronicle, 36(2), pp.280-284.
Boyd, J. (2012). “Hey, We’re from Canada but We’re Diverse, Right?”: Neoliberalism, Multiculturalism, and Identity on So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 29(4), pp.259-274.
Elswit, K. (2012). So You Think You Can Dance Does Dance Studies. TDR/The Drama Review, 56(1), pp.133-142.
Frijters, J. (2011). So you think you can dance, hm?. PODOSOPHIA, 19(4), pp.5-5.
Hanan, M. and Hill, E. (2012). Embodying Identity: A Qualitative Case Study of Dance/Movement Therapy for People Transitioning Genders. Gender Medicine, 9(1), p.S100.
Lepecki, A. (2012). Dance. London: Whitechapel Gallery.
Mack, L. (2012). Dance. London: DK.
Phillips-Silver, J. (2014). So You Think You Can’t Dance? (The Mysterious Case of the Guy with Two Left Feet). Frontiers for Young Minds, 2.
Tillberg, E. (2012). Forms of vitality, by Daniel N. Stern. Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy, 7(4), pp.305-308.
Turco, C. and Zuckerman, E. (2014). So You Think You Can Dance? Lessons from the US Private Equity Bubble. Sociological Science, 1, pp.81-101.
Van der Merwe, F. (2011). Sports heroes and national identity: The role of Paul Roos in Springbok rugby. Af. J. Phys, Health Edu. Rec. & Dance, 17(2).
오선명, (2010). Research in the Forms of Expression and Aesthetic Change in European Contemporary Dance. The Korean Journal of Dance Studies, 29(29), pp.27-46.
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