Lighting Up the World from the Dance Floor

If you knew me, you’d know that I studied dance intensively for six weeks at Harvard at the grandmotherly age of 30. I was the oldest one in the program. I thought if I studied Ballet, Modern, and Jazz for 6 hours every day I’d get this “dance star” thing out of my system.

Not.

But I was the fittest and leanest I’ve ever been. My posture was never better. And I loved it. I’m as passionate about dance as ever – that is if you call watching dance from the comfort of my own sofa a passion.  My joy for this art has reawakened thanks in great part to the emergence of one of the best dance programs on television, a show that airs on Fox-TV called So You Think You Can Dance.

The dancers you see on the show are insane. As in insanely talented. They radiate a unwavering dedication and joy for their art that is infectious. What makes them so good is that they can master in three hours any routine they’re given – even if they’ve never been formally trained in the genre. A Hip Hop artist will dance a Viennese Waltz with silky elegance, a classically-trained ballerina will Tango like a Argentinian native, a Ballroom dancer will contort and jingle-jangle to an intense Bollywood number and make it look easy.

Liquid bodies I call them..

The choreographers are equally brilliant. When you put raw talent in the hands of movement poets and teachers like Mia Michaels, Wade Robeson, Tabitha and Napoleon, Shane Sparks, Tyce Diorio, for example, you get insanely gorgeous magic. Their routines make me laugh, they make me cry. They transport me.

The panel of judges, though quirky, are an impressive bunch as well. Their capacity to evaluate and critique dancers on the spot with the tough-love knowledge of a master is not something you see much on these types of reality shows. They openly cry when they are moved. Their feedback is as heart-felt as it is valuable – even if Mary Murphy does shout out her praises a little too loud.

Maybe that’s another reason why this show melts my heart so much. It is as much about teaching as it is about dancing. High level. High quality. Showing us that with passion and dedication, and everyone doing what they love, they are lighting up the planet.

With millions of people watching…

…adding their own frequencies of joy.