So you think you can dance: a fashion perspective

(This is a guest blog from my friend Simon Shear – he is quite taken with the subject so I think he should speak for himself.)
In an NYRB podcast about, among other things, the place of the professional critic in the era of the weblog, Daniel Mendelsohn stresses (amusingly) the importance of expertise. The case might be strongest regarding literature, where personal expression is in this instance not so much a counterweight to the hegemony of the academy as public opinion run amok, but perhaps less persuasive in terms of pop, where the rousing of the masses is the whole point. This is why pop music criticism tends to succeed or fail (on its own terms) according to slickness of prose and insider knowledge.

Which got me thinking of So You Think You Can Dance (M-Net Series, 7pm, last night), the best tv show, like, ever. There are several reasons for its excellence: the likeability of the host and judges, the personalities of the dancers, and the innovative choreography (big up Napoleon & Tabitha). But also, it has found the perfect medium. What can the panel of experts say about someone singing a pop song? There are a couple of technical variables – notably pitch
– but even these count only insofar as they deliver the wow factor. Whereas SYTYCD is about realising the yowza effect through technique. And the judges are themselves perfectly balanced about evaluating the technique (which they qualified to do) with expression (which they are also qualified to do).

More importantly for our purpose, judge and producer Nigel Lythgoe’s wardrobe is exemplary. It’s a lesson to the GQ crew – usually tasteful without being bland, sometimes flash without being tacky. This is what Ryan Seacrest can aspire to when he grows up. In fact, the stylists on SYTYCD rarely fail to impress. Still, it’s a show of substance as well as style. I admired Jamie’s shirt, tie, jersey, hoodie combo on the opening show. But viewers didn’t dig his moves, and he was booted off.
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