Spicing up Dancing With the Stars
I’ve watched Dancing With the Stars for a season or two a few years ago, and haven’t viewed it in ages. But I’m well aware of the brouhaha around the fact that execrable dancer Sean Spicer, former press secretary of none other than Donald Trump, is still on the show while far better dancers have been voted off.
Earth to critics: this is one of those shows where audience votes call the shots completely. It’s not a meritocracy about dance skills, although there’s some of that. But the audience is given complete power, and therefore the show represents an example of that much-abused word, democracy. And as such, right now the voting reflects the populist nature of Trump’s own support.
All of this is apparently driving a certain segment of the population stark raving mad. Or maybe they’ve been that way for a while.
Reader “LeClerc” called my attention to this piece by Gia Kourlas in the NY Times by asking:
Do you agree with Ms. Kourlas that Spicer’s green shirt was “scary” ?
Do you agree that Spicer exhibited a “cold brutality” ?
Thanks in advance for your assessment.
The headline to Kourlas’ piece is “No, Sean Spicer Really Can’t Dance.” And indeed, he cannot dance at all well. Simply put, he’s a terrible dancer, although I’ve seen much worse. He’s wooden and his movement has no flow or grace. But he seems to be having a good time, and he’s game and a good sport, which I think is worth something. After all, it takes guts to dance in front of the world when you are quite bad at the activity, or to appear in costumes that make you look more than a tad foolish after having been in public life previously as a serious person.
Kourlas, on the other hand, sees the Spicer she wants to see: a scary, brutish figure:
He hides behind an egregious smile, parting his teeth to make it look as though he’s been caught mid-laugh. That smile seems meant to distract from his plan of attack: never actually performing a dance, but conquering it…
Watching Mr. Spicer try to wipe away some of his disgrace through dancing hurts. Yet here he is, week after week, using dance as a way to redeem his character. Giving the public the chance to laugh with him — dressed as a buffoon in that scary green ruffled shirt, dancing to “Spice Up Your Life” — and not at him comes off as a calculation, on his (and probably the show’s) part. And Mr. Spicer’s later performances have been scary in a different way, like his militaristic Paso Doble, which had a cold brutality to it.
I watched a couple of Spicer’s offerings and saw none of that. I saw a guy who is an awkward dancer – as are a lot of people – trying his best to do a good job. All awkward dancers look stiff and uncomfortable, and Spicer’s body language is nothing unusual for a bad dancer. But he puts on a good face and has a lot of upbeat energy.
Koulas also writes:
Bad dancing by a nonprofessional can be disarming. It allows you to see the truth within the body that reveals character. But Mr. Spicer, the former White House press secretary and communications director for President Trump, is something worse: an untruthful dancer.
But if dancing reveals truth within the body, then there is no such thing as an “untruthful dancer.” And I actually agree with Koulas that dancing reveals a sort of “truth,” but I don’t think it’s a global truth, it’s merely a dancing truth. Nor does that “truth” reveal character in general.
For example, there are smooth and relaxed and open dancers who are nothing of the sort as people in real life. And vice versa. And I’ve noticed time and again that there are wonderful athletes, full of grace and ease in their movements while doing their favored sports, who can’t dance worth a dime.
So give it a break, Spicer-haters.
And I give Spicer extra points here for bongo playing, and for the knee-slide at the end. That last move would lay me up for weeks (trigger warning: I believe this features the aforementioned “scary” green shirt):
That article says more about Koulas than it does about Spicer’s dancing.
Sharon W is correct. Even if I hated Spicer and Trump as much as Koulas, I can’t imagine myself writing such an essay and publishing it- to do so just invites proper and deserved mockery. The lack of self-awareness in this is just inexplicable to me.
He is not an “untruthful dancer,” but a good sport. He is no Fred Astaire, but not so bad a dancer that his partner ends up on the floor. He kept up with her, which is about all you can ask. As he kept up with his partner, my judgment is that he didn’t do that bad a job of dancing.
No, you can’t assess character from how well or how poorly one dances.
His lime green shirt wasn’t “scary,” but it was out of character for a grey-haired, balding,overweight white guy. But that may have been the point. Look at this fat,grey-haired balding overweight white guy try to dance!
That the NYT would so condemn a guy’s dancing, when he was just being a good sport, shows once again that the NYT prints all the lefty-biased drivel that it can print. “All the news that’s fit to print:” hasn’t been that way for quote some time.
Speaking of “out of character” or incongruous, the Brit announcer really mangled his pronunciation of “salsa”- “sowsa.” Doesn’t surprise me. I never met a Brit who could speak Spanish with a halfway decent accent. I’m sure they exist, but I never met one in all my time in Latin America.
Old Hollywood used to pull actresses from the world of song and dance routinely. Not so much these days. Imagine my surprise when I looked up an actress because I thought she had an interesting face, and got this:
https://www.imperiodefamosas.com/Fotos/Amanda_Schull/Amanda_Schull_033.jpg
I’m told Steve Wozniak, inventor of the Apple II, also known as “Woz,” had a decent run on Dancing with the Stars.”
Another older, overweight, not a good dancer, white guy in a scary pink shirt:
https://dancingwiththestars.fandom.com/wiki/Steve_Wozniak?file=SteveWozniak-Promo8.jpg
My friends told me he was popular on the show because he was likable. Of course. Who doesn’t like Woz?
According to the web Woz complained at first because he thought the judges had scored him too high to keep him on the show!
Voting for someone only because you agree with their political / religious or cultural point of view is as bad as voting against someone because you hate their political / religious or cultural point of view. Although the voting for someone in a positive sense is a form of political correctness. The left does it often. The right isn’t far behind, apparently. But what the heck, it’s just a TV show.
I just watched An American in Paris the other day and that filled my dancing needs for the moment.
Montage:
DWTS is a TV show (as you point out).
Entertainment. Fun. Not a morality play.
I was in the 90s Swing Revival. Took lessons, showed up at the Saturday night dances. I gave it a good try.
I won’t brag about how hopeless a dancer I was, because I wasn’t. I just wasn’t very good and no matter how many lessons I took or how much I danced, I never got beyond mediocre. I could do the steps and not injure my partner, but that was about it. I did manage to learn the Lindy and that’s trickier than it looks.
Well, we all have our gifts and dancing isn’t one of mine. But I do admire dancers and enjoy seeing dance done well. Maybe in another life.
Earth to critics: this is one of those shows where audience votes call the shots completely.
I think they’re ranked according to some formula for combining the public votes with the judges’ scores. Two of the judges have complained about his persistence. Liberal twittertards made such a fuss when he was invited on the show that they built a constituency for him. Heckuva job, Democrats.
Voting for someone only because you agree with their political / religious or cultural point of view
Fun guy, aren’t you?
Who doesn’t like Woz?
The three women who’ve been other party in a divorce suit in which he was a plaintiff or defendant. Steve Jobs, nasty piece of work, died married to his first wife. Bill Gates is still married to his first wife, his BO problem notwithstanding.
Art Deco: Fun guy, aren’t you?
When you turn everything into politics. You have little room to complain when it turns against you. I have never once watched Dancing with the Stars. So I wont speak to the merits of Spicer’s dancing, But I seem to remember a campaign to keep Spicer off the show because he worked for Trump.
And what do you know, not only did it not work. But seems to be backfiring spectacularly.
This is a problem with the left. They cant help but try to rig the rules of polite society. And then when that same society sends them a message back. They double down on the mistake. Convinced that they…and only they have a monopoly on truth.
Art Deco: Fun guy, aren’t you?
I don’t dance.
This is entertaining:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5QrGD0oUgY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHQ8wI6BlVE
See Jerry Lewis steal Mike K’s girlfriend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CowekQq6kY8&t=75s
A former press secretary clearly has no rightful place on a televised
popularity contestdance show.No, clearly a former press secretary should be playing scandal-goalie on a Sunday morning talking-head news show, like li’l what’s-his-name on ABC.
My wife at the time commented on Wozniak: “His partner obviously told him that she’ll wear as little as possible to distract the audience, and he should do his best and try not to stab her with his walrus tusks.”
A few years back, the comedian Adam Carolla discussed his turn on “Dancing With the Stars” on his podcast. He emphasized the point that he did it to challenge himself, to get out of his comfort zone, even though he had no particular talent with any sort of dancing. Adam has a large set of regular guy skills, with sports, construction & home repairs, and car racing. As expected, he did not last long, but that wasn’t the point. It was about doing something very different from what you usually did, and having fun with it.
A ‘Kourlas’, is what happens when the morally insane analyze trivial social phenomena.
Tommy J wrote:
Wow- I didn’t know she came from the world of dance. I loved her in the SyFy series “The 12 Monkeys”.
I am not sure pineapple cups were a good idea for her leotard.
@Tommy and Yancey — I saw her in “Center Stage” way back when, playing as a ballet dancer trying to get in the the American Ballet Company in New York. It wasn’t a great movie, but she was, as Peter Gallagher’s character noted “very pretty.” i next saw her in “Suits” a few years ago before it got old and I stopped watching it. Sounds like i might need to give 12 Monkeys a look….
Yankee on November 6, 2019 at 6:36 pm said:
A few years back, the comedian Adam Carolla discussed his turn on “Dancing With the Stars” on his podcast. He emphasized the point that he did it to challenge himself, to get out of his comfort zone, even though he had no particular talent with any sort of dancing. Adam has a large set of regular guy skills, with sports, construction & home repairs, and car racing. As expected, he did not last long, but that wasn’t the point. It was about doing something very different from what you usually did, and having fun with it.
* * *
Carolla keeps on getting out of his comfort zone — or maybe he is just enlarging it.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/11/documentary-no-safe-spaces-adam-carolla-dennis-prager-fight-free-speech-bans/
Good for Sean. Good for the peeps (undoubtedly deplorables) who keep voting for him. The country needs to lighten up. It’s just a TV show..
I am not a fan of Reality Television, but I do recall that there was a season of American Idol in which a shy and awkward Indian teenager drove Simon crazy for surviving far longer than his talent warranted. At some point, I think people were voting for him just so they could see Simon Cowell become apoplectic about it. Sometimes, things just take on a life of their own.
mythx
Disagree about the left thinking they have a monopoly on truth. They think they deserve, and will do anything no matter how foul, total power.
I haven’t watched in years, but sometimes it’s the whole package.
Buzz Aldrin danced almost as bad as Spicer and myself, but when he danced to Sinatra’s “ Fly me to the Moon”, he charmed the entire nation.
I’m a good dancer, and love dancing. But I’m less keen on seeing most “professional” competitions, because even tho the dancers often smile, it doesn’t look like they’re actually enjoying themselves.
Fred Astaire DID look like he was enjoying himself.
If Sean is enjoying himself, while trying to keep up with a pro, more power to him. If the PC BS folk hate him, just because he worked for Trump, that’s a good reason for Trump supporters to support him, even if others might be dancing better.
The Dems are making everything political — which needs to be fought against. Unfortunately, having surrendered the colleges, the fight against the PC drones is now much tougher.
But there’s something amusing at how the Dems beclown themselves in their spiteful hate of Reps. And it’s good to note that they hate essentially all Reps who do or have worked with Trump. But they’ll be hating Reps in the future, too.
Only losing, massive politically losing, will make more of them wake up stop their foolishness.
So, without watching, I’m in spirit supporting Sean. And all who put Fun, and Life, before PC BS.
Richard Aubrey,
At the upper levels, I think you have it right. The lumpen simply believe the propaganda and are smug in thinking that they know the truth. The leaders of the Establishment Left are more complex. They are the new Aristocracy of America and they believe themselves to be that by right. They do not believe in democracy or rights for the plebes. They are a privileged and protected class and they would destroy the country in order to remain in power.
Buzz Aldrin danced almost as bad as Spicer and myself, but when he danced to Sinatra’s “ Fly me to the Moon”, he charmed the entire nation.
The gleichschaltung wasn’t quite so consuming in 2010, so a Republican like Buzz Aldrin or Bristol Palin could appear on the program without arousing the ire of the liberal twitterverse.
I find the program…garish. The production values are migraine inducing and the announcers are bloody LOUD (as is Bruno Tonioli). The human interest snippets are meant to appeal to some sort of sensibility (just not mine). I have no clue why liberal Twittertards fancy this is a piece of territory to defend against the depradations of we deplorables, but I stopped being able to make sense of liberals quite some time ago.
Only losing, massive politically losing, will make more of them wake up stop their foolishness.
I operated for some time under the illusion that the quality of public discourse and the quality of institutional life might improve some when Gen-X types replaced Boomers in upper management, since most such types were Republican voters in their youth. Stupid me. That replacement’s largely happened as we speak and things got worse. I cannot imagine how hideous it will be when the Millennials take charge. Maybe some day the actuarial tables will work in favor truth, justice, and beauty. That will, I suspect, be in the Keynesian long run for all of us participating on these boards.
I have always claimed that if you search for the word, “Caucasian” in a dictionary you’ll find a picture of my brother in law. After watching that video I’ll have to claim it’s an image of Sean Spicer going forward.
Ouch! But kudos to him for having the guts to try, and not give up!