So you think you can dance… in the shower?

Nigel Lythgoe (someone I’m not a fan of, by the way) trying to explain why a lot more people audition for American Idol than for SYTYCD, said: “More people think they can sing than think they can dance;” and then added: “You can sing in the shower; you can’t really dance in the shower. A lot of people know they can’t dance; it is amazing how many think they can sing.” I dare to disagree. In my experience, a lot of people are also delusional about dancing, thinking that they can dance or that they know how to, or that they can differentiate between a good and a bad dancer when they really have no clue. And, I also think that you can dance in the shower. As a matter of fact, I’ve done it more than once. And when I do dance in the shower, I’m the best! …or should I say instead “America’s favorite dancer”?

Actually, there may be some truth to Lythgoe’s statement regarding the mass appeal of singing over dancing. It is definitely more likely that a common mortal will know the lyrics of a popular song than know the steps of a particular dance. Follow that tune? How many songs do you know? With songs, you know the lyrics, you’ve heard them a hundred million times, you may have even heard several versions of the same song a hundred million times. Now, how many “popular” dances do you think that the common mortal would know or recognize by heart? Besides the Macarena and the Chicken dance, maybe the Hokey Pokey, I don’t think there are many specific dances that will come to mind immediately. Unless, like in my case, you are a balletomane that has seen some classical pieces a hundred million times, but that’s not the common mortal.



Of course, many people can improvise dancing (salsa, hip-hop, popping) and move their body along with the music, but the point is that not many people would be able to have a choreographed routine in mind as easily as they could come up with a song to sing. We grow up listening to songs and singing, wonderfully or badly. Music and lyrics are part of our daily life: in the car, at work, at home, at the restaurant, and in the shower. Hence, Nigel is partially right in that more people know a particular song and think that they can sing it than people know a particular dance and think that they can dance it. However, I am not so sure that Nigel is correct in his assertion that more people “know” that they can’t dance than people know that they can’t sing. I think that more people think that they can sing because more people are interested in singing than in dancing. Hence, with more people wanting to sing you expect to have more delusional people wanting to sing, thinking that they can, when they can’t.


I have heard so many people saying that dance is easy, that it is just for girls—furthermore, that dance is just for little girls—that I doubt that people actually realize how difficult it is to actually dance well. Just a few days ago, a mother and her thirteen year old daughter came into my dance shop asking for Pointe shoes. The girl had never, ever danced but the mother wanted to enroll her in a dance program during the summer and thought that the way to start her off was buying Pointe shoes (even before actually finding a dance program). When we explained to them that she should first find an instructor and that it was very likely that the instructor would require her to have ballet training before actually doing Pointe, the mother replied: “well, it’s not that serious; what she’ll be doing is just going up on her toes and doing a little twirling, you know”. Yes, we know. Her words just reflect what we, unfortunately, know many people think when they see an excellent dance performance: if it looks so effortless, it must be easy… furthermore, it is quite frustrating that sometimes the cleaner and flawless it looks, the easier people may think it is!

Finally, to wrap this up (obviously, we have a lot to talk about!) our points above highlight some of the things that we love the most about shows such as SYTYCD and DWTS:
1) They bring dance to the living room, making more people entertained by dance;
2) They create original pieces that may become part of the popular arts knowledge (i.e., Neil and Danny “two princes”);
3) They show male dancers as strong, masculine and elegant; as well as dancers of many ages, shapes and backgrounds.

Let’s prove Nigel wrong. Let’s go dance in the shower now… I think we can. Love, peace and dance!!!!

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