So You Think You Can Dance Salutes Breast Cancer
I am a Story Consultant and I love nothing more than when a story moves you to tears. This happened last night when I was watching the reality show, So You Think You Can Dance when the brilliant dancers, Melissa Sandvig and Ade Obayomi, gracefully told the story choreographed by the undeniably talented, Tyce Diorio.
In the last two years, I've had four friends, beautiful and vibrant women in their thirties, deal with breast cancer while being at the top of their game. One described it to me as feeling pure anger towards this presence in her body that her spirit could not overcome, leaving her with the limited choice of having to go through chemo. One of the many things she said to me was, "Jen, I just want to keep dancing; don't let me stop dancing." Another friend found out while she was seven months pregnant, she went into a cave at first because she did not know how to deal with the enormity of it. My third friend with breast cancer is a mother and the rock in her family, the idea of leaving her children at such an important time in their development, made her reach for strength she didn't even know she had. I recall marveling at her wearing her bald head without a scarf and living her truth as a way to help and encourage other women to do the same. My fourth friend wrote a book on it, Pretty Is What Changes.
The dance, so beautifully choreographed by Tyce Diorio, embodied the stories and the feelings of helplessness and frustration expressed by these women. Melissa so poignantly danced the part of a woman who is fighting cancer in her body and seeking solace in the arms of Ade while throwing herself into the mercy of it and finally succumbing to the idea that she needed to be carried. It was television at its best. It was a celebration of the spirit.
Seeing the judges express their feelings as the tears openly flowed and recognizing the monumental shared experience by millions of viewers was beyond moving.
I applaud FOX Network, the Producers, the talent and courage of Tyce Diorio and the soulful performances by Melissa and Ade for bringing this story to life.
At a time when everyone could benefit from the idea of being lifted, I encourage you to watch this show, tonight is its 100th episode, it will excite your senses and make your heart happy.
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I'm not one to ever go on the internet and chat about much at all. However, the performance about cancer on So You Think You Can Dance, I have watched over a dozen times and am brought to tears each time I see it. It was so well danced and performed words cannot describe. Much Hope and many blessings to everyone who is dealing with cancer or knows someone who is!
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i remember putting my hand to the top of my head. i think i saw monkeys do that. it means "no, no hurt hurt".
I just sat there and sobbed for the longest time. It was truly an extraordinary piece.
I just love the show. I love the way the routines tell a story and I love the camaraderie amongst the dancers.
I think the dance was magnificent, as were the dancers. It truly spoke to me of a woman fighting against and suffering hardship and her man supporting her and suffering along with her. It was about so much more than breast cancer. It was about every awful thing that people experience and the way our relationships help us survive those awful things. It was brilliant and brilliantly performed.
Right on. It was heartwrenching and heartwarming all at the same time.
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It was a beautiful dance, magnificently performed, but I have to wonder: if we hadn't been told in words before the dance began that it was about breast cancer, would we have known, would everyone is sight have been sobbing so hard? Wouldn't it have just been a generic emotional dance by a lady in a head scarf and a breathtakingly gorgeous man who forgot how to button his shirt? (And Ade, never remember how to button your shirt please.)
Also, it's location within the show line-up was, well, unfortunate. They should have performed it last, rather than follow-up a dance about facing a serious death with a comic piece on zombies, which in that spot within the show was, to put it mildly, in questionable taste.
But I would have gotten that the last dance was about zombies even without being told. I'd never have known the breast cancer dance was about cancer without being verbally informed.
However, SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE again shows itself to be the best reality competition show on the air, despite the gratuitous non-contributions of Ellen DeGeneris on the judging panel. Even she seemed to realize she had no business being there and had nothing to contribute besides tepid jokes and praising every single piece.
Maybe we wouldn't have thought about breast cancer per se but would have (at least I would have) felt the love and the intensity of emotions in the dance. Also We would have felt hardship(any kind) can bring 2 people together in an extraordinary closeness.
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I could see where the dance, sans introduction, communicated love and intensity of emotion. I don't see how I would have extracted "hardship" from it. Again, it was a beautiful dance wonderfully performed, but without the intro, it would have been generic, and would not have reduced the panel to tears.
And the panel all see the dances at the dress rehearsal, which is what the excerpts we see seemingly instantly extracted for clips come from (which is why the clips often don't match the performance we see), so their emotional reactions are also somewhat rehearsed, as they are not seeing the dances for the first time when we do. It's a tad disingenuous. A work of art should be complete in itself, not require having its subject pre-explained.
Without question, the work itself was sincere and moving, but it was not free-standing nor self-sufficient.
Respectfully, I disagree. Choreography is a language unto itself. Watch without sound and you will see universal gestures - shock, grief, rage, despair, acceptance in Melissa, frustration, helplessness, strength, support in Ade. When performed, there are many interlocking elements at play -- the name for the dance (must Swan Lake now forfeit its name?), music, costumes, lighting, program notes, props, etc. All are in interplay in this very unique art form.
Without the preamble segment, you might not know for sure that this was about breast cancer specifically, but you sure would know it was about a woman in deep distress, in a deeply personal crisis involving loss, a man doing his best to support her through that emotional arc. The headscarf alludes to cancer, and maybe not everyone would get that marker, but certainly they would get more than "a generic emotional dance".
On performance vs. rehearsal, I’ve seen many rehearsals of music, theater, dance, and then the actual performance with audience -- the moment when the proverbial rubber meets the road. In rehearsal, you get a sense of the thing, but when it is created "live", something special can happen in that moment – the channeling of art - and that's what happened that evening. That's why rehearsal is practice and performance is, well, performance.
Personally, I found Ellen's participation on the panel to be refreshing and fun. I do agree that it was unfortunate that any other dance should follow Melissa and Ade's performance.
I have been watching "So You Think You Can Dance" since season 1. My daughter loves the show and of course "American Idol", so I was "forced" to watch with her since she also has to watch my NFLl and NBA games.
I have to admit last night was one of the best nights of "SYTYCD" as far as I can remember. The one with Melissa and Ade was very impressive and moving. I was just amazed at the two dancers and the rest of the top 8 for giving us their best dance moves every week, and considering that they're not even professionals yet!
I applauded FOX Networks for their excellent job for giving us viewers quality programming; I wish I could say the same thing to their sister company called "Fox News" with the slogan "Fair and Balanced."
Definitely my favorite show. Just terrific. Dancing with the stars seems so lame compared to the caliber of SYTYCD.
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I agree 100%. SYTYCD is miles above DANCING WITH THE HAS-BEENS, even if they embarrassed themselves a bit this week, first with Ellen's useless presence on the judging panel, and then with Katie Holmes thinking she can dance, and merely proving that she is NOT Judy Garland.
These do not take away from season after season of the excellence of this fine show.
This was an incredibly moving piece; so well choregraphed and danced. This show continues to to bring so many issues to the viewing audience as well as educate what dance/art is all about. Bravo! Truly a showcase for dancers who may not otherwise have any chance at all in a normal audition.
Both my 20 year old daughter and I were in tears watching the dance, it was so moving. I just wish my grandmother could have seen it - she lost a breast to cancer, but lived fully and joyfully for another 20 years.
I sobbed and I needed that kind of intense emotions. I am so grateful for that routine and to SYTYCD.
I don't have an emotional bone in my body, nor do I know anyone who's suffered from this disease. Yet, last night I was mesmerized. I've literally watched it close to 50 times, and get misty with each and every viewing. Absolutely brilliant.
I'm sorry I missed the show. My sister died of breast cancer two years ago after battling the disease for 10 years. So it is a very sensitive subject for me. I'm sure I would have been moved to tears too. What strikes me is the power of the arts: the dancing to music and the writing you shared. It is one way of expressing the inexpressible.
I have been hesitant to get involved with breast cancer events because I am still raw from having lost my sister. However, I'm sure the support and love expressed by survivors and family of those lost and those still coping is very powerful.
I am very sorry about your loss. I've lost a brother 2 years ago and I understand how we tend to avoid things that remind us of our loved one.
I completely agree. That was an unbelievable performance, and a genuinely moving TV moment. It's just one of the reasons I love So You Think You Can Dance. Once in a while, you see greatness, and last night was one of those times.
i think tears carry poisons out of the body.
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