Reality Ravings

Michael Boyd the 29 year old dancer/choreographer who missed out on making the top 20, but was given a life line by So You Think You Can Dance by being given a choreography role says in an article in the Sun Herald that while dance has never been so in vogue in Australia, gifted young choreographers were being overlooked because the industry was dominated by 40-something choreographers who felt threatened.

"It is really important that we encourage the young ones. They have got the freshest ideas. I would be the first one to promote someone younger than me."

Boyd said that dance choreography in Australia tended to be formulaic and promising teenagers were likely to be sidelined because of an alleged lack of experience and maturity.
He also called for another division to be added to the Channel Ten series to include talent younger than 16, currently the cut-off for entrants.

"There are definitely some freak kids about - 11- or 12-year-olds - and they are better than some of the professionals I have worked with," he said.

"The problem with the industry is that it is not big enough to support the talent coming out. The more you have stuff like [So You Think You Can Dance], the better it will be."

I have to confess I thought neither of the two routines he has choreographed for So You Think You Can Dance have stood out. It will be interesting to see if he continues to get work on the show.

With all this discussion about the standard of choreography on the show (I wonder if this is what happened in the US Season 1) maybe we need a dance show that canvasses choreographers only!

Also I think his idea for having a competition for under 16's ridiculous, what damage to young teenagers self esteem would occur with the rigours of weekly competition, plus the criticism from judges, and "internet experts" eg bloggers and forum users.

Speaking of teenagers and reality TV here is an article from Cleveland.com asking the question does Reality TV for teens induce bad behaviour? The article gives no definitive answer to this conundrum.