Live to Dance: This is Living?
I’ve tried to be patient with this new dance competition show on CBS. And my complaint isn’t with the dance talent, some of which is quite wonderful. (Hello, White Tree Fine Art…I LOVE you!)
And I’m not particularly daunted by Paula “Screwy” Abdul. Even though her “serious” act isn’t much more understandable than her “medicated” act used to be on American Idol.
What is bugging the H-E-double-hockey-sticks outta me is what Mr. Technical Effects Man is doing behind the poor dancers. I know that all artists deserve an opportunity to express their creativity. And I suspect there’s been a mandate from the Suits at CBS to make this show as visually exciting as possible. But, holy crap, y’all…let the dancers DANCE! I can barely track what they’re doing with all the pyrotechnics jumping around on the LED screens, not to mention all the smoke and strobes they’re ejaculating all over the stage itself.
It is downright insulting to these dancers and their choreographers that the production does not let their work speak for itself. They are being chronically and cacophonously upstaged by a whole other show going on with the technical effects. Knock it the fuck off, dudes. I don’t know how much longer I can tolerate the crapshow taking place in the background, as I try to focus on the real work going on downstage.