With the return of So You Think You Can Dance Australia hanging in the balance and Got to Dance Australia pulled from FOX8 (auditions were cancelled and all evidence of the show were removed from the FOX8 website with no explanation just last week), the only reality TV representation of Australian dancers currently on our Aussie screens is Channel 7’s Dancing with the Stars.
Ahem.
Now, being a television programmer myself and possibly being a little hyper-critical of terrible TV, I have my own feeling about this show in general (everything about it makes me want to projectile vomit). Despite this show’s popularity, I hope I speak for the rest of Australia’s dancers and dance lovers when I say I think there needs to be more dance on our screens. Gritty, hardcore, sweaty, REAL dance, including Latin and ballroom, but not necessarily always dripping with sequins and spirit fingers.
I know arts programming does not work traditionally with Australian audiences, but with the gamete of dance-based performance activities now more colourful and accessible than ever before – think pole, lira, silks, acro, belly dance, highland dance, krumping – there’s no reason why someone out there can’t find a way to make dance larger than life and appealing to people in Australia.
I am currently at my desk viewing Masterchef Australia (being the good TV programmer that I am, I have to stay across all big FTA properties - ‘slash’ - I am paid to watch TV at work and I have some guilty reality TV pleasures) watching what they call a ‘Master Class’ but what I call ‘Slicing Fruit and Using a Food Processor’. Now, when I stop and think about it (and if I drew this to any Masterchef fan’s attention they would no doubt agree), the mundanity of this ‘entertainment’ is quite overwhelming. And yet, viewers come in their hundreds of thousands and even millions to what is a daily show to exercise their square eyes.
Advertising (read as: money) plays a big role in whether these things go ahead. Viewers might love something, but if there’s not an obvious opportunity to hock people the latest cheese grater, digestive aid or stool softener, advertisers don’t pay up and these programmes just don’t get made. Where there is big advertiser interest, the most terrible excuse for a show is served up and shoved down our throats week after week and because there’s not too much choice, we gobble it up so we don’t get left behind at the water cooler or on Facebook.
Being absorbed in television everyday professionally and also being a massive TV fan, this is a subject that is on my mind all the time, especially now in the thick of the hot ratings period. It’s a personal qualm I have with Aussie TV but I thought I’d share it with you guys today because, as dance lovers, I'm sure you’ve all felt the same at one time.
Now that I’ve had my rant, I also thought that you’d appreciate this – low and behold it’s a dance programme in development for Network Ten, Everybody Dance Now.
Once upon a time the only opportunity for pole dancers to show their skills was on talent shows like Australia’s Got Talent, but the auditions for Everybody specifically call for aerial artists and pole dancers so I'm sure we’ll see some familiar industry faces popping up. With the ultimate prize being a cool $250,000, you might even consider auditioning yourself! You no longer need to have trained for 20 years or be a Brent Street Alum to have a shot; apparently you just have to be an entertainer with each performance being for the audience and not a judging panel.
Also on my radar is I Will Survive: another Ten programme that was originally pegged to chronicle the journey of a male triple threat (singer, dancer, actor) from the audition through to starring in Priscilla: Queen of the Desert stage spectacular (cue divas, egos and MAJOR jazz hands). But, now that Priscilla has closed on Broadway, this may open the auditions up to more performers for a different show...stay tuned.
Well, I am intrigued. As long as my only choice isn’t watching three fat middle-aged men slopping food around in their mouths, I'm HAPPY!!
I just hope dance is here to stay on Australian TV because, as we all know, dancers work incredibly hard with their bodies and put so much on the line to do two very simple things – to express themselves and to entertain people.
Now isn’t THAT worth celebrating?
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