Comments on: The Queer Life of Dancing With The Stars http://theoryculture.com/23/the-queer-life-of-dancing-with-the-stars/ Just another WordPress site Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:17:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Shirley http://theoryculture.com/23/the-queer-life-of-dancing-with-the-stars/#comment-36 Shirley Sat, 20 Oct 2007 20:46:01 +0000 http://theorymyculture.wordpress.com/2007/05/22/the-queer-life-of-dancing-with-the-stars/#comment-36 I love seeing queer and ballroom in the same sentence. Appreciate your fresh view on the pairings and the performances. Dance is mesmerizing for so many reasons. How exciting dance will be when the lead/follow of social dance can be negotiated based on something more than gender. All this 'Floorplay" may lead us into new perceptions of the current roles. I love seeing queer and ballroom in the same sentence. Appreciate your fresh view on the pairings and the performances.
Dance is mesmerizing for so many reasons.
How exciting dance will be when the lead/follow of social dance can be negotiated based on something more than gender. All this ‘Floorplay” may lead us into new perceptions of the current roles.

]]> By: sarah b http://theoryculture.com/23/the-queer-life-of-dancing-with-the-stars/#comment-35 sarah b Fri, 25 May 2007 05:51:35 +0000 http://theorymyculture.wordpress.com/2007/05/22/the-queer-life-of-dancing-with-the-stars/#comment-35 Emily, not a sport? Dance is so a sport! Haven't you seen ESPN's coverage of the National Dance Team Championship? I mean come on. And, trust me, it's so queer. Emily, not a sport? Dance is so a sport! Haven’t you seen ESPN’s coverage of the National Dance Team Championship? I mean come on. And, trust me, it’s so queer.

]]> By: Kate http://theoryculture.com/23/the-queer-life-of-dancing-with-the-stars/#comment-34 Kate Thu, 24 May 2007 15:51:55 +0000 http://theorymyculture.wordpress.com/2007/05/22/the-queer-life-of-dancing-with-the-stars/#comment-34 The regularly professed desire to win is a necessary part of increasing the supposed tension on the show, in getting us invested in it as viewers. It is, after all, just a dancing show. We watch it to watch good dancing, skimpy costumes, the occasional fall. I think you are right that part of making the show sport, and thus acceptable for straight men to care deeply about it, is this goal of winning. In one of the "man-on-the-street" interview clips, a man says that if Emmitt Smith can dance, maybe men can dance without being sissies. He is as man as you can get, right? If he wants to win, and he did want to, and did win, that we can all dance. I think this is part of the de-sissification of dancing that the show needs to secure a largely straight audience. The regularly professed desire to win is a necessary part of increasing the supposed tension on the show, in getting us invested in it as viewers. It is, after all, just a dancing show. We watch it to watch good dancing, skimpy costumes, the occasional fall. I think you are right that part of making the show sport, and thus acceptable for straight men to care deeply about it, is this goal of winning.

In one of the “man-on-the-street” interview clips, a man says that if Emmitt Smith can dance, maybe men can dance without being sissies. He is as man as you can get, right? If he wants to win, and he did want to, and did win, that we can all dance. I think this is part of the de-sissification of dancing that the show needs to secure a largely straight audience.

]]> By: Emily http://theoryculture.com/23/the-queer-life-of-dancing-with-the-stars/#comment-33 Emily Wed, 23 May 2007 12:55:38 +0000 http://theorymyculture.wordpress.com/2007/05/22/the-queer-life-of-dancing-with-the-stars/#comment-33 And what did you think about the finale? I watched only the last few minutes, but was interested in the repeated request by the producers that Anton and Joey testify to their desire to win, to be the best. Triumph in competitive sport seems distinctly masculine, but ballroom dancing isn't a sport, and winning would seem to make a kid queer, no? And what did you think about the finale? I watched only the last few minutes, but was interested in the repeated request by the producers that Anton and Joey testify to their desire to win, to be the best. Triumph in competitive sport seems distinctly masculine, but ballroom dancing isn’t a sport, and winning would seem to make a kid queer, no?

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