Dance troupe Diversity's Black Lives Matter performance receives 24,000 complaints

[8ball]

This a more than a tad patronising. I’ve seen plenty of modern dance, award winning stuff,and the diversity piece was just as good, technically, as many of them. Yes it’s flashy and too much acrobatics for my taste, but that is, to a large extent, because it is a consparatively mainstream piece for a mass audience, not one aimed at the middle class dance aficionados.

I am an ignorant oik when it comes to dance and I approve of this message.

 

[Reno]

This a more than a tad patronising. I’ve seen plenty of modern dance, award winning stuff,and the diversity piece was just as good, technically, as many of them. Yes it’s flashy and too much acrobatics for my taste, but that is, to a large extent, because it is a consparatively mainstream piece for a mass audience, not one aimed at the middle class dance aficionados.

The invocation of class always wins here, doesn’t it ? I know plenty of people who are working class and who appreciate and even make genuinely great art. As this is the right forum for it and this has gotten nothing but fawning praise till OUs post, why not evaluate its artistic merits ? Thumbs down from me.

 

[krtek a houby]

The invocation of class always wins here, doesn’t it ? I know plenty of people who are working class and who appreciate and even make genuinely great art. As this is the right forum for it and this has gotten nothing but fawning praise till OUs post, why not evaluate its artistic merits ? Thumbs down from me.

Here's the thing, though. What makes something great art, as opposed to mediocre etc? All very subjective, surely.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

The invocation of class always wins here, doesn’t it ? I know plenty of people who are working class and who appreciate and even make genuinely great art. As this is the right forum for it and this has gotten nothing but fawning praise till OUs post, why not evaluate its artistic merits ? Thumbs down from me.

I would never have watched this had it not been for this thread, and it certainly reminds me why I never watch shite like bgt.

Acts on that kind of show have little space to demonstrate artistic merit tbh, because to have artistic merit normally means to present some kind of a challenge to an audience, to show something new. These Saturday night shows are all about being as unchallenging as possible, to present only what is already familiar. It's brain rot really. I don't think it's patronising to point that out.

Tbh I thought the most challenging, and political, bit about the routine wasn't about blm so much as the line about the government telling us to stay inside.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Here's the thing, though. What makes something great art, as opposed to mediocre etc? All very subjective, surely.

Yes and no. It is subjective, but it isn't arbitrary.

 

[belboid]

The invocation of class always wins here, doesn’t it ? I know plenty of people who are working class and who appreciate and even make genuinely great art. As this is the right forum for it and this has gotten nothing but fawning praise till OUs post, why not evaluate its artistic merits ?

?? That’s exactly what we are doing.

Artistic and technical merit are different things too.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

The invocation of class always wins here, doesn’t it ? I know plenty of people who are working class and who appreciate and even make genuinely great art. As this is the right forum for it and this has gotten nothing but fawning praise till OUs post, why not evaluate its artistic merits ? Thumbs down from me.

The “artistic merit” of the routine is utterly irrelevant.

 

[8ball]

The “artistic merit” of the routine is utterly irrelevant.

Yeah, this complaint is a “someone is wrong on the internet” diversion.

 

[maomao]

It is

Doesn’t matter what genre, if it’s genuinely great modern dance, you’ll see it at Sadlers Wells. What you won’t see is talent show dance acts who tell you what to think and feel via loudspeakers

Surely 'street' dance means urban vernacular dancing rather than royal academy graduates anyway? Sadlers Wells stuff is better produced but Diversity are genuinely popular (even with the kind of people who probably objected to this particular dance) because they're talent show winners from East London rather than ballerinas in jeans. I've never met them but they were long time clients of mine in my last two jobs and they're very nice people who seem to work very hard at what they do.

 

[Reno]

Surely 'street' dance means urban vernacular dancing rather than royal academy graduates anyway? Sadlers Wells stuff is better produced but Diversity are genuinely popular (even with the kind of people who probably objected to this particular dance) because they're talent show winners from East London rather than ballerinas in jeans. I've never met them but they were long time clients of mine in my last two jobs and they're very nice people who seem to work very hard at what they do.

Did you even bother to look at the Sadlers Wells link before you wrote this ? They have been running a major street dance/hip hop festival since 2004, that means some of the biggest acts from that scene appear there, not "ballerinas in jeans" and way more credible than some overproduced ITV talent shows act. I don't doubt Diversity are nice and have many fans, the same same said about Susan Boyle.

Breakin' Convention - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[maomao]

Did you even bother to look at the Sadlers Wells link before you wrote this ?

Don't be silly.

 

[Reno]

Don't be silly.

Huh ?

 

[scifisam]

This a more than a tad patronising. I’ve seen plenty of modern dance, award winning stuff,and the diversity piece was just as good, technically, as many of them. Yes it’s flashy and too much acrobatics for my taste, but that is, to a large extent, because it is a consparatively mainstream piece for a mass audience, not one aimed at the middle class dance aficionados.

I also doubt the performances at Sadler's Wells include children.

The Sadler's Wells dancers probably are better - it'd be surprising if they weren't, after years of intensive professional training compared a troupe of mechanics and builders who dance for fun (I think only Ashley Banjo is full time) - but that doesn't mean everything not at Sadler's Wells is shit. That's weirdly binary thinking.

 

[maomao]

Huh ?

It's not the politics forum. Knowledge and research are not prerequisites for participation.

 

[Reno]

I also doubt the performances at Sadler's Wells include children.

The Sadler's Wells dancers probably are better - it'd be surprising if they weren't, after years of intensive professional training compared a troupe of mechanics and builders who dance for fun (I think only Ashley Banjo is full time) - but that doesn't mean everything not at Sadler's Wells is shit. That's weirdly binary thinking.

They are not "Sadlers Wells dancers". Sadlers Wells is not a dance company. They are a performing art venue that hosts acclaimed choreographers and dancers from all round the world. Including street dancers.

It's not the politics forum. Knowledge and research are not prerequisites for participation.

I believe some degree of knowledge is the basis for any subject matter you insist on discussing. You don't need to educate yourself, you just need to click on the link I provided before making a statement that's totally wrong.

 

[scifisam]

They are not "Sadlers Wells dancers". Sadlers Wells is not a dance company. They are a performing art venue that hosts acclaimed choreographers and dancers from all round the world. Including street dancers.

And the dancers that perform there can be called Sadler's Wells dancers. Are you seriously trying to correct my English??

I don't understand this whole diversion. None of the people making complaints were doing it because they thought the dancers aren't as good as dancers at Sadler's Wells. If you didn't like the performance for artistic reasons, that's fine, but it's not the only valid opinion.

I like both opera and pop music; opera singers are far more technically skilled, but that's not the only criterion that counts.

 

[BlanketAddict]

Why do I keep thinking about Legs Akimbo from The League Of Gentlemen when I'm reading this thread?

 

[Reno]

And the dancers that perform there can be called Sadler's Wells dancers. Are you seriously trying to correct my English??

No, they cant be called "Sadlers Wells dancers". They are called the dancers of whatever dance company or dance group they belong to.

 

[scifisam]

No, they cant be called "Sadlers Wells dancers". They are called the dancers of whatever dance company or group they belong to.

And when they're performing at Sadler's Wells, they can be called Sadler's Wells dancers.

Why does the distinction matter to you anyway? This is a really weird argument.

 

[Saul Goodman]

And the dancers that perform there can be called Sadler's Wells dancers. Are you seriously trying to correct my English??

Indeed, just as my mother could be known as Miss Blackpool, because she once went there

 

[scifisam]

Indeed, just as my mother could be known as Miss Blackpool, because she once went there

Well, if there was a tradition of naming people after places they've visited, yeah, sure. There isn't, so it's not the same. Diversity, SuBo, etc, are Britain's Got Talent performers, but that doesn't mean BGT owns them. I don't get why the distinction is apparently important, but anyone trying to correct my English can fuck off.

 

[Reno]

And when they're performing at Sadler's Wells, they can be called Sadler's Wells dancers.

Why does the distinction matter to you anyway? This is a really weird argument.

At best you can call them dancers who have performed at the Sadlers Wells, but the dance companies and groups who perform there already have names. So no, you can't call them "Sadlers Wells dancers", nobody would know what the fuck you are talking about and it has nothing to do with "correcting English". The discussion is weird because it would help if you had the tiniest bit of knowledge about the subject matter you insist on carrying on a discussion about. I will leave it here as this is pointless.

 

[maomao]

It's not even ambiguous because there's no capital D. If it were the name of the troupe it would be capitalised and the stress would be on Dancers. With the stress on Wells it just means the dancers that were at Sadler's Wells as opposed to the other ones we were talking about.

 

[Reno]

It's not even ambiguous because there's no capital D. If it were the name of the troupe it would be capitalised and the stress would be on Dancers. With the stress on Wells it just means the dancers that were at Sadler's Wells as opposed to the other ones we were talking about.

You've already made enough erroneous statements in this discussion, let's leave it here. The main point being that the street dancers who perform at Sadler's Wells not being "ballerinas in jeans" as you claimed but genuine hip hop dancers with way more credibility than a talent show act.

 

[two sheds]

This is a rubbish argument. You're all wrong

it should be Sadler's Wells' dancers

 

[Reno]

When Arsenal plays Wembley stadium, it obviously makes sense to refer to them as the "Wembley football players"

 

[maomao]

When Arsenal plays Wembley stadium, it obviously makes sense to refer to them as the "Wembley players"

I have a degree in linguistics not dance.

And I could easily contrive a sentence where the Wembley players referred to Arsenal and the team they were playing as opposed to The Wembley Players a light entertainment band from North West London.

 

[Orang Utan]

Sadlers' Well's Hoofers

 

[Reno]

I have a degree in linguistics not dance.

And I could easily contrive a sentence where the Wembley players referred to Arsenal and the team they were playing as opposed to The Wembley Players a light entertainment band from North West London.

Sure, you can contrive that for the sake of scoring a point, but who talks like that ? In the end this isn't a discussion about linguistics but about dance routine and street dance.

Surely 'street' dance means urban vernacular dancing rather than royal academy graduates anyway? Sadlers Wells stuff is better produced but Diversity are genuinely popular (even with the kind of people who probably objected to this particular dance) because they're talent show winners from East London rather than ballerinas in jeans. I've never met them but they were long time clients of mine in my last two jobs and they're very nice people who seem to work very hard at what they do.

I also doubt the performances at Sadler's Wells include children.

The Sadler's Wells dancers probably are better - it'd be surprising if they weren't, after years of intensive professional training compared a troupe of mechanics and builders who dance for fun (I think only Ashley Banjo is full time) - but that doesn't mean everything not at Sadler's Wells is shit. That's weirdly binary thinking.

This is what I took issue with, the claim that the street dancers who appear at Sadler's Wells have an advantage because of years of professional training or that they are ballerinas who are attempting street dance. The street dancers who appear at Breakin' at Sadler's Wells learned their skills on the street, they are not professionally trained dancers as both of you claimed. They learned their skills just like Diversity, they just haven't pissed away their credibility on overproduced stadium and tv routines. I just found the on-the-nose quality of the number cringemaking

 

[maomao]

You're the one who started a grammar fight.

is the mistake: the claim that the street dancers who appear at Sadler's Wells have an advantage because of years of professional training or that they are ballerinas who are attempting street dance. The street dancers who appear at Breakin' at Sadler's Wells learned their skills on the street, they are not professionally trained dancers as both of you claimed. They learned their skills just like Diversity, they just haven't pissed away their credibility on overproduced stadium a tv routines,

So Sadler's Wells performers are exclusively amateur street performers? Where do the Royal Academy graduates perform?