Wednesday, July 20, 2005
So...
Did anyone see the debut of the new Fox show So You Think You Can Dance? I'll admit, I sat through the whole two hour debut watching hopefuls twirl their way to Hollywood and British judges praising and throwing punches. It got me thinking a bit about who goes where and why.
What struck me so much, along with my recent experience in the movies (FYI I went back another day and it was a complete 180!), is how fickle success can be. Certain people with power can make or break an opportunity for you, and whether those so called judges or power-brokers worked hard to be where they are or whether the jobs somehow fell in their lap is sometimes debatable.
You see people with the most amazing talent get rejected and some people get selected because they're "unique" or fit whatever mold the show is looking to cast. Then there are clashes about how things are and how things should be. In one case tonight, a guy who was trained in ballet and whose talent was not questionable got bashed by a judge for not dancing "masculine enough." The dancer fought back, questioning who is to judge what is "masculine" and what isn't. Is it fair to prescribe who should dance how?
What I'm sensing is that in the business where dreams come true perhaps connections and luck along with being who others want you to be plays a bigger role than we'd like to admit.
What struck me so much, along with my recent experience in the movies (FYI I went back another day and it was a complete 180!), is how fickle success can be. Certain people with power can make or break an opportunity for you, and whether those so called judges or power-brokers worked hard to be where they are or whether the jobs somehow fell in their lap is sometimes debatable.
You see people with the most amazing talent get rejected and some people get selected because they're "unique" or fit whatever mold the show is looking to cast. Then there are clashes about how things are and how things should be. In one case tonight, a guy who was trained in ballet and whose talent was not questionable got bashed by a judge for not dancing "masculine enough." The dancer fought back, questioning who is to judge what is "masculine" and what isn't. Is it fair to prescribe who should dance how?
What I'm sensing is that in the business where dreams come true perhaps connections and luck along with being who others want you to be plays a bigger role than we'd like to admit.
