So You Think You Can Dance Gender Representation
Since approximately the early 2000s, reality television has been a staple on most networks in many countries. There are numerous categories within this genre, including docu-soap, competition, makeover, and paranormal. While not all series are the same, most share one identical principal: they are not truly reality. Many edits go on behind the scenes, actors are cast to fill specific roles, and sometimes scripts are written in order to enhance the “storyline”. This may seem contradictory, but it is necessary in order for the shows to remain on the air and for the networks to earn more revenue. So You Think You Can Dance is a Fox-produced competition style reality TV show in which the viewers vote to choose “America’s Favorite Dancer”. Contestants audition and must go through various rounds in order to prove they have what it takes, allowing the audience to get invested in their backstories and progress through the season.
In order to examine to examine the various cultural codes found within So You Think You Can Dance, I looked primarily at season 12, the most reason season. Since the format was “Stage versus …show more content…
Street,” there are many instances of routines and clips that centered around race, class, and gender. In addition, I focused on other well-known routines from past seasons that are familiar to the general viewing audience that would show both the positive and negative stereotypes portrayed on the show.
During season 12, the producers chose to switch the format of So You Think You Can Dance to “Stage versus Street”. Just at first glance, this title appears to give off a derogatory connotation, as generally white middle to upper-class dancers fall under the “stage” designation and minority contestants are often of the “street” category. However, this was only the beginning of the controversy that lasted throughout every part of the season. First, during the audition stage, Fox aired two promotions describing the new structure of the show. The one featuring Team Stage consisted of a very number of female dancers practicing their ballet and contemporary technique while waiting in line to try out (“Team Stage”). Contrast, the Team Street commercial contained male dancers performing hip-hop in the streets of the city (“Team Street”). In addition, this emphasized the difference in classes between the two groups. Generally, those from a middle or upper-class background are able to afford stage-style training and take years of lessons, while those from more urban, poor communities pick up their moves from the streets to save themselves from crime or substance abuse (Robinson).
Primarily though, the Stage versus Street format paved the way for much discussion surrounding race. Many of the members of Team Stage were white, while those on Team Street tended to be of a variety of ethnic backgrounds. This was highlighted numerous times throughout season 12, particularly in the choreography of several routines. One example of this is Kate and Neptune’s contemporary piece from the “Top 18” episode. It showed the struggles of being in an interracial relationship and can sometimes affect how a couple interacts with each other (“Kate & Neptune”). Also, during the finale, Neptune and eventual winner Gaby, wearing a black and white costume, performed a contemporary routine to represent his ability to overcome adversity and discrimination by other members of the dance industry (“Gaby & Neptune”).
When examining the gender representation in So You Think You Can Dance, it is interesting to note that there are are variety of routines that express positive views, yet some that are more negative.
First, during season 12, Hailee and Jaja performed a jazz pieced centered around women’s’ empowerment and embracing femininity. It went very well with the chosen song, “Endangered Species” by Dianne Reeves, which says that women have a voice in society and should not always be given the “victim” stereotype (“Jaja & Hailee”). In contrast, JJ and Kate’s routine about the sexy pin-up girl persona consisted of revealing costumes, immature choreography, and was degrading for the female dancers to perform. The song, “A Different Beat” by Little Mix, may have been discussing independence and freedom from conformity, but the dance showed anything but that (“JJ &
Kate”). Outside of season 12, there are many other examples of routines centered on ethnicity and racial stereotyping. First, during season seven, African-American hip-hop dancer tWitch Boss teamed up with ballet dancer Alex Wong for a routine that focused on the idea that “white” classically trained dancers often struggle with the hip-hop dances. It was very well-received for concentrating on this stereotype and eventually revealing that dance has no racial boundaries (Bui). In addition, during 2014’s season 11, eventual Top 2 dancers Ricky Ubeda and Valerie Rockey performed a hip-hop routine centered around the Haitian Voodoo religion and culture. While it did not necessarily portray the religion in a negative light, both contestants are white and do not practice Voodoo, so there was some controversy surrounding this type of cultural appropriation (Ferguson). In addition to those from season 12, there have been a variety of different examples of gender representation over the entire series. One instance was Lauren Froderman and Allison Holker’s Broadway piece from season seven based on the play Damn Yankees. As Allison stated, “typically, people would think that the girls would be dancing sexy. But this number is like being strong women.” It was tasteful and an excellent representation of female empowerment that showed that women do not have to dress sexually to perform a great routine (“Lauren and All-Star Allison”). On the other hand, in season five, Randi and Evan danced a contemporary piece centered around her behind. While wearing an extremely short dress, Randi got into character in the end, but clearly felt uncomfortable about the nature of the highly sexualized routine during rehearsals (“Randi and Evan”). Numerous, if not all, reality shows are produced in such a way as to cause controversy boost the ratings, and earn more revenue from advertisers. Besides the injuries and actual dancing itself, much of So You Think You Can Dance is strategically planned out ahead of time and is not as unexpected as it appears to be. It is important to learn the inside secrets about the production of reality series such as So You Think You Can Dance to truly understand the reasoning behind so many of the controversial and “shocking” decisions that are made during a specific season. In addition, there are numerous cultural codes found within SYTYCD that can either defy stereotypes or stir up controversy in the media world. As a Bachelor producer once said, “it is pretty satisfying to watch the kids go to crazy town,” so viewers most certainly need to be able to distinguish the “real reality” from the “producer-created reality” (Pozner).
In order to examine to examine the various cultural codes found within So You Think You Can Dance, I looked primarily at season 12, the most reason season. Since the format was “Stage versus …show more content…
Street,” there are many instances of routines and clips that centered around race, class, and gender. In addition, I focused on other well-known routines from past seasons that are familiar to the general viewing audience that would show both the positive and negative stereotypes portrayed on the show.
During season 12, the producers chose to switch the format of So You Think You Can Dance to “Stage versus Street”. Just at first glance, this title appears to give off a derogatory connotation, as generally white middle to upper-class dancers fall under the “stage” designation and minority contestants are often of the “street” category. However, this was only the beginning of the controversy that lasted throughout every part of the season. First, during the audition stage, Fox aired two promotions describing the new structure of the show. The one featuring Team Stage consisted of a very number of female dancers practicing their ballet and contemporary technique while waiting in line to try out (“Team Stage”). Contrast, the Team Street commercial contained male dancers performing hip-hop in the streets of the city (“Team Street”). In addition, this emphasized the difference in classes between the two groups. Generally, those from a middle or upper-class background are able to afford stage-style training and take years of lessons, while those from more urban, poor communities pick up their moves from the streets to save themselves from crime or substance abuse (Robinson).
Primarily though, the Stage versus Street format paved the way for much discussion surrounding race. Many of the members of Team Stage were white, while those on Team Street tended to be of a variety of ethnic backgrounds. This was highlighted numerous times throughout season 12, particularly in the choreography of several routines. One example of this is Kate and Neptune’s contemporary piece from the “Top 18” episode. It showed the struggles of being in an interracial relationship and can sometimes affect how a couple interacts with each other (“Kate & Neptune”). Also, during the finale, Neptune and eventual winner Gaby, wearing a black and white costume, performed a contemporary routine to represent his ability to overcome adversity and discrimination by other members of the dance industry (“Gaby & Neptune”).
When examining the gender representation in So You Think You Can Dance, it is interesting to note that there are are variety of routines that express positive views, yet some that are more negative.
First, during season 12, Hailee and Jaja performed a jazz pieced centered around women’s’ empowerment and embracing femininity. It went very well with the chosen song, “Endangered Species” by Dianne Reeves, which says that women have a voice in society and should not always be given the “victim” stereotype (“Jaja & Hailee”). In contrast, JJ and Kate’s routine about the sexy pin-up girl persona consisted of revealing costumes, immature choreography, and was degrading for the female dancers to perform. The song, “A Different Beat” by Little Mix, may have been discussing independence and freedom from conformity, but the dance showed anything but that (“JJ &
Kate”). Outside of season 12, there are many other examples of routines centered on ethnicity and racial stereotyping. First, during season seven, African-American hip-hop dancer tWitch Boss teamed up with ballet dancer Alex Wong for a routine that focused on the idea that “white” classically trained dancers often struggle with the hip-hop dances. It was very well-received for concentrating on this stereotype and eventually revealing that dance has no racial boundaries (Bui). In addition, during 2014’s season 11, eventual Top 2 dancers Ricky Ubeda and Valerie Rockey performed a hip-hop routine centered around the Haitian Voodoo religion and culture. While it did not necessarily portray the religion in a negative light, both contestants are white and do not practice Voodoo, so there was some controversy surrounding this type of cultural appropriation (Ferguson). In addition to those from season 12, there have been a variety of different examples of gender representation over the entire series. One instance was Lauren Froderman and Allison Holker’s Broadway piece from season seven based on the play Damn Yankees. As Allison stated, “typically, people would think that the girls would be dancing sexy. But this number is like being strong women.” It was tasteful and an excellent representation of female empowerment that showed that women do not have to dress sexually to perform a great routine (“Lauren and All-Star Allison”). On the other hand, in season five, Randi and Evan danced a contemporary piece centered around her behind. While wearing an extremely short dress, Randi got into character in the end, but clearly felt uncomfortable about the nature of the highly sexualized routine during rehearsals (“Randi and Evan”). Numerous, if not all, reality shows are produced in such a way as to cause controversy boost the ratings, and earn more revenue from advertisers. Besides the injuries and actual dancing itself, much of So You Think You Can Dance is strategically planned out ahead of time and is not as unexpected as it appears to be. It is important to learn the inside secrets about the production of reality series such as So You Think You Can Dance to truly understand the reasoning behind so many of the controversial and “shocking” decisions that are made during a specific season. In addition, there are numerous cultural codes found within SYTYCD that can either defy stereotypes or stir up controversy in the media world. As a Bachelor producer once said, “it is pretty satisfying to watch the kids go to crazy town,” so viewers most certainly need to be able to distinguish the “real reality” from the “producer-created reality” (Pozner).