October 20, 2009

The Michael Jackson Tribute on Dancing with the Stars

Written by: Princess Heidi
Sign up to receive all the latest Dancing with the Stars 2010 News, Rumors and Updates.
Filed under: add to del.icio.us

Wow. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel, but I really, really liked it. Nice mixture of true MJ (Derek, Mark, Lacey) and ballroom. This was a tribute to the man’s music as much as it was his dance. His music was beautifully represented in the dances – kudos to all the choreographers.

Another, clearly misguided, blogger at E! made the crack that the professionals weren’t cool enough or young enough to represent MJ adequately. HELLO???!!! Michael Jackson was a year older than DONNY OSMOND when he died. OLDER. Therefore, it stands to reason that the older pros have just as much a clue about MJ as the younger ones. I hate stupid cracks like that – admit your bias, people. I admit mine – and I don’t care for SYTYCD. There, I said it. Others prefer SYTYCD. They are two completely different shows and shouldn’t be compared – I think I wrote a blog about this a while ago. John, find me a link. :-)

Speaking of bias – seeing lots of comments on twitter about Derek as the blond MJ. Yes indeed, my favorite pro was front and center for a reason. :-) While I generally prefer Derek’s dancing to the other pros, I thought they all were fantastic tonight – great job!!

    • Tags: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

    Look for similar articles under these categories: 
    • I loved it...it was beautiful to see all of the dancers together.
    • Amanda
      Im glad you posted this...I missed it because I was at the SYTYCD tour. Its great to see all the pros dance in any style and having fun.
    • Couldn't agree more with you about Michael being the "father of dance", Katrina! While he was intrumental in helping dance to evolve (and seemed to raise the bar on performing both live and in music videos), I think some of the pros were giving him a bit too much credit. A lot of the moves that are credited to Michael really evolved from the teachings of Fosse (hello, hat choreography!), Astaire (partnered dancing in the "Smooth Criminal" video), and many others. If we are going to give Michael credit for a really helping dance to evolve, I feel like we should credit people like Paula Abdul (she was a video choreographer before there were really even video choreographers!) and even Tony Basil (the first woman ever to do choreographed dancing in a music video) as well. Yes, Michael was a genius; but should we give him credit for "fathering" every genre of dance that is performed today? I (respectfully) don't think so :-)

      And Heidi, I gotta say - Derek was ON POINT last night in the tribute. I watched with my boyfriend (who is a pro), and the only pro he was really impressed with was Derek...he didn't believe me when I told him that Derek was recovering from the flu! He even made a comment like "Mark is spazzy...but Derek is really good." Very wise move putting him in the front of the Thriller section :-D
    • I agree with Courtney and Katrina on the "father of dance" comments - but I guess a someone who is strictly a club dancer (or should I say "was" since this is Nashville where there is a tendency to listen intently to music as opposed to dancing to it :-) ) I didn't get all that worked up about it.

      Derek on point indeed. He's fantastic. Reminds me of a young Fred Astaire only cuter. :-)
    • Phillipe
      this dance has some real chances of getting a emmy nomination next year.
    • As I already commented earlier, who made the crack that MJ is the father of dance and choreography needs to be smacked upside and schooled on dance history. He is not and will never be! Yes he did influence dance but he is definitely not the father of dance and choreography! There have been several dancers and choreographers who have influenced the world of both pop and ballroom before MJ was even born! Fosse, Kelly, Astaire, Rodgers, VALENTINO! I mean come one!
    blog comments powered by Disqus
    Top - Home