Dancing with the...Stars?

Oh, color me happy...tonight Paul sat down with his new issue of Rolling Stone and read this article aloud. Made my freaking night.

I really can't stand Dancing with the Stars. Never have been able to. And this article so aptly captures my own disdain as well as my questioning awe at how and why so many people love the show. Really? REALLY?!? I just don't get it.

Sheffield makes solid points that definitely resonate with my own experience - the fledgling, on their way out (or already a long time gone) celebs making one last desperate grasp for fame are sad enough, but the obnoxiously cheesy choreography and poor dancing is what really gets to me. Back when the wave of reality dance shows hit the scene, I originally swore them all off, believing they made a mockery of trained dancers. It's hard enough to convince the greater audience of people out there that dance is an art that takes a tremendous amount of skill, and such television shows don't do much to help the cause. Grrr. I have since become a convert to So You Think You Can Dance, but the contestants on that show are at least talented, skilled, and generally somewhat technically apt dancers. Not so much the case on Dancing with the Stars. Case and point: Bristol Palin.

WTF? Seriously. It's bad enough that Sarah is parading her family around in her new TLC Hit - Sarah Palin's Alaska, and now Bristol as the next dancing celeb star? (Note - let's talk more later about how people could possibly still think that Sarah Palin is fit as a presidential candidate - as if there weren't enough cards stacked against her, she is now a former governor who quit in order to be a Fox News anchor and star in her own TLC reality show. Um. No.) Back to Bristol. You might be wondering - when did Bristol Palin become a "star?" Well, as Sheffield points out in the article, she was introduced on the show as "teen activist Bristol Palin."

(Inserting time here for shock and laughter)

So not only is Bristol the saddest activist ever, in addition girlfriend CAN NOT dance. Oh, seriously painful. I am so sorry honey. And yet, somehow, she ended up in the top three final contestants. Incredible. I am convinced that people kept voting for her either out of pity or just for their own amusement. I dunno.

Anyhow, I won't bore you with my rambling any longer, these are my main complaints. Check out the article for a few good laughs and seriously solid points about the sadness of this new American obsession.

And then do yourself a favor - go see some real dance. Leave your couch and hit up a theater for authentic inspiration - a sinewy, gut-wrenching, sweaty modern dance performance in a hole in a wall theater that will remind you that good dance takes your breath away. It also takes an immense amount of skill and training and is indeed an ART - not merely a good excuse to make a mockery of stars who are long past their prime. So sad.