I had such high hopes for NBC’s new show, Superstars of Dance, but in the end it was a disappointment. There were a few nice moments, but ultimately, I turned the TV off before the show ended.
Superstars of Dance is billed as an international dance competition, with categories for solos, couples, and groups. It is hosted by Michael Flatley (aka The Lord of the Dance) and Miss USA Susie Castillo. The executive producer is Nigel Lythgoe, which explained why the whole thing felt like a sort of second-rate So You Think You Can Dance reunion.
Countries represented in the show are the USA, Russia, Argentina, China, South Africa, Ireland, Australia, and India. There is a judge from each of those countries, who must sit out on the voting when their own country performs. I was frustrated that not all the judges were introduced. I would have liked to know what their dance background was. A friend mentioned this morning that it felt like they were trying to make the show into a faux Olympics, complete with the conversation with the dancer and the “coach” afterwards.
A lot of the dancing was sort of ho-hum. Some of it was spectacular but more for a “wow” factor than for artistic quality. For example, a modern/hip hop group from Australia had fantastic tricks and rhythm but it wasn’t anything close to a revelation– more like pandering to people whose ideals of dance are formed by MTV and SYTYCD. Robert Mourain, the one-trick pony we saw doing contortionistic popping and locking on SYTYCD was back representing the US in the solo category; why? Also, talk about perpetuating sterotypes…why are Riverdance-type dances the only ones representing Ireland. Could it be because of Michael Flatley’s role in the show? It was so cheezy.
The two high points for me were the couple representing the US (Eric Luna and Georgia Ambarian) whose partnering skills I really admired, and the Argentine tango. Despite the horrible camera work and mediocre production format, they managed to keep it together and show viewers a peek into their art.
The low points were pretty much all in the solos. In particular, China. The woman danced with such long scarves it was hard to see any body movement. It was supposed to be a traditional folk dance, but it was set to a euro dance beat. The “Zulu” dancer representing South Africa looked more like a Rockette with all the high kicks than any African dance I’ve ever seen (feel free to call out my ignorance here if I am totally off the mark).
Too bad that another dance show has come up short. I’m glad to see so much dance on TV now, but we definitely need a quality increase. Some new faces would be good too. Nigel Lythgoe changed the face of TV with American Idol and SYTYCD, but it’s time for some fresh ideas. On the upside, my Monday nights are still free so I can go to dance class.
A Time to Dance 
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January 5, 2009 at 11:41 am
tinkcrzy1972
Glad to see I wasn’t the only one that hated the camera work! They were driving me nuts during the paired dances and large groups. If it is a partnered dance, I’d like to see both partners, if you please. I’m watching again tonight, but if the show is to return, I hope they look at some changes in format. It is a step up from the fiasco that was Dance War, though.
Keep Dancing,
Ballroom Dance Channel
January 5, 2009 at 1:53 pm
akbhat2
I agree. I was so excited for the show, save the name, because that’s just bad to begin with. It was a new concept that if done properly could really show how fabulous dance from around the world is. All the dancers were so-so and did not represent their country well. For example, I have seen many Kathak dancers that blew my mind, and the girl on Superstars of Dance was ehhh, although she was beautiful. The Russian girl who studied at the Bolshoi Ballet – I didnt see an ounce of Bolshoi training come through. And then we have the Cabaret American couple with some impressive lifts, but no quality to their dancing. Any given number of modern companies could completely outshine them.. I hope all the dancers are just saving themselves for later episodes, because as of yet I am so not impressed.
January 5, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Selly
Amen, sister friend. Show sucked.
January 5, 2009 at 5:11 pm
danceadvantage
Well, I just communicated some of my thoughts on this at Selly’s blog. But, I have to say that I totally agree with you on every point… another disappointment. I also found it really unfortunate to find many groups (and the show in general) indeed “pandered” to the mtv sensibility with their musical choices. How much more interesting would the Australian group (no idea what their name was) that did all the floor work have been with some other song… ANY other song? I just find it sad that these tv shows feel they have to “dumb it down” for their audience – they’re not doing the viewers (or artists) any favors.
January 6, 2009 at 10:37 pm
tinkcrzy1972
I’ll finish covering the show and keep watching because I am committed to do so for our site, but it isn’t what I had hoped it would be, and I’m looking more forward than ever to America’s Ballroom Challenge. When are they going to see that it isn’t about the flashy camera angles, the faddish music, or the drama, and just let us enjoy actual DANCE?
There have been a few bright spots, but they are seldom seen, and I was saying last night most of the night that there was a lack of content, before the judges were giving comments.
Another thing…why, why, WHY are they allowing discussion between the judges and the contestants? It just doesn’t seem right.
January 6, 2009 at 11:42 pm
myra36
I wholeheartedly agree with everything that has been said. This show is not up to par with SYTYCD or DWTS. I hope Nigel takes a serious look at this and does some major re-tooling.
January 13, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Treasa
I think I know why Ireland is falling back on dances from “Lord of the Dance” for every single thing they’ve done so far, and it’s not just because of Flatley. Bernadette Flynn and her husband, Damien O’Kane, both perform/performed major roles in LotD. Flynn was the original Saoirse (the leading female role on the “good” side) in LotD and also performed the role in “Feet of Flames.” O’Kane was also part of the LotD cast and has apparently taken over Flatley’s role in one of the troupes. Ireland’s coach is the Dance Director and Associate Choreographer for LotD and Feet of Flames. The Irish judge, Daire Nolan, was the original Dark Lord for LotD and also performed the role in Feet of Flames. I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out that most of the other dancers for Ireland have had some kind of official involvement in one of these shows too, but so far I can’t find any info on the rest of them.
I make a fuss about this because, while I’m no dancer, I know there’s more to Irish dance than this and I’m extremely disappointed in how Team Ireland has decided to represent Irish dance to the world. And of course, I echo a lot of the complaints others have mentioned.
January 16, 2009 at 12:05 am
Why Superstars of Dance Was Not So Super « Dance Advantage
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