Homophobia on So You Think You Can Dance?

[leelan]

So last night, I was watching my favorite summer show (Grape laughs during the summer she can't reach me two nights out of 7 lol) and for the first time ever, there was a same sex couple performing (male) a latin routine. they did not have a lot of experience under their belt or technical training, and during it you could not tell who was the male or female in it.

I logged into Perezhilton.com today and found this:

We don't watch this crappy ass show, but we've been getting A LOT of emails about some homophobic trash talk that went down on So You Think You Can Dance's premiere last night on Fox.

So we went to investigate.

Apparently, while the show was holding auditions in Denver, a pair of male Latin partner dancers, Misha Belfer and Mitchel Kibel, came to the show.

Two dudes dancing together?

HOT!!!!!!!!

This was a first for the show and they were decent dancers, even though they fell in their last moments. But they never stood a chance anyway! The judges were more concerned that they were a same-sex dancing couple than with their actual dancing.

Rocket scientist Mary Murphy didn't feel it worked because there was constant flip-flopping between the men and "Who led the dance?" Though she admitted it may add difficulty to the performance, she would have rather they taken the time to define themselves as one male partner and one female.

But it was Nigel Lythgoe who pulled the rug out from under these guys, who only one of was gay, by the way. He likened them to the Will Ferrell movie Blades of Glory and told them to try dancing with girls next time as they "might like it."

The disrespect continued when the judges agreed that their partnership would alienate audience members and ultimately, they did not put them through to the next round.

What…bullshit!!!!!!!!!!

First of all, if homosexuality is the problem, then they would have no show. We all know that 90% of the male dancers are going home with another dude at the end of the night.

And, if they think a same-sex partner dancing team ALIENATES people, then they are not considering the homosexual community. By embracing this new art form, they might actually open thier show up to a whole new audience. And we can bet the show doesn't get half as much viewership as it could.

So ya'll just kind of fucked yourselves over! You could have made headlines.

Now, you'll just remain a crappy summer filler show!

Did U watch last night? What did U think?


Do you agree with Perez? I put my opinion up which was this:

Perez i'm a former dancer of 16 years and while I will admit Nigel was a bit harsh, they were all correct. Within a dance couple you see the strength of the male and the grace of the female, when they switch off it becomes difficult to anticipate who will lift and who will not. Also…these men did not show a lot of masculinity in their dance, now granted they probably didn't plan to do that, but during the choroegraphy round they showed BOTH of them doing the dance and neither were masculine. I love you Perez but if you dont watch the show you can't judge it. Every male on that show, even gay ones, have to show a full masculine edge when dancing with the females, and those two would not have done so without stepping out of their comfort zone.
Don't judge until you've taken the time to watch what you're judging Perez.

I want opinions and comments! Seriously do people who watched this feel the judges were rude or off? Did they purposely keep them off? Or did they stay true to the technical forms?

[Oniya]

It would be interesting to see how they would react to a) a two-female couple, b) a mixed couple that didn't keep one 'leader', or c) a mixed couple where the female 'led'.  (I know a couple of females that could pull off any one of these situations - if they felt like being on the show.)

[Trieste]

While I don't know a whole lot about traditional dancing (my forte was figure skating which, while it incorporates dance, is not dance), I will make a comment on the tone.

"Dance with girls next time. You might like it." Uncalled for. Out of line. Irreverent, homophobic, and asinine.

The criticism leveled at these men was not just for their dancing skill, but for their choice of gender. The judges should be suggesting ways to improve, not blasting these people with vitriol.

Then again, I cannot stand the culture that gives Simon Cowell lots of money to be an asshole, so none of these shows are very nice in my book. I watch none of them, and would rather tear up my money than spend it on them.

[Serephino]

I agree with Trieste.  First of all, I do not watch that show, Dancing with the Stars, or American Idol, and never will.  I loathe reality shows of any kind.   

But yeah, saying 'try dancing with a girl' was asshole-ish.  If you want to comment on their role confusion... fine...  But not having a male/female partnership is not a reason to reject a couple. 

[leelan]

Well just to put in this...I don't remember Nigel saying that. My husband thinks it was one of the females, I really can't see Nigel saying it considering most of the men he's loved throughout the last 4 seasons were gay. Perez has a tendency to say things that didn't happen so just putting that in.

[Risa]

The thing is, that if it was two girls dancing together, they would probably change their tones.

[leelan]

The thing is, that if it was two girls dancing together, they would probably change their tones.

If the two girls had the same technique I doubt it. They were given a second chance by doing choreography and neither of them pulled that off on their own. That is one thing Perez didn't speak about was the fact that they were put through to the choreography round and neither of them manned up.

Sorry I get a lil defensive when it comes to the technical side of dance. As others said, this IS a reality show, and people tend to forget its about the beauty of dance, so this was where the debate came in for me lol.

[Rhapsody]

He said it, though I think it was completely taken out of context.  I read it to be that he didn't mean it as "don't be gay", but that he'd like to see a traditional male/female stage pairing on the basis of each individual's strengths as a dancer, not as a person. 

I searched for the clip, and found it here.
Fox: So You Think You Can Dance - Nigel Lythgoe Criticizes Male Dance Partners

[LaCroix]

 I don't really have an opinion on this one way or the other as I'd rather scrape out my eyes with a grapefruit spoon than really watch the show but I do have to admit that "Dance with girls next time. You might like it." really made me laugh. Sure its a horrible thing to say but a lot of the best humor comes from inappropriate things. At least for me.