The controversy over whether and why (American) black guys are just natural "movers" on the dance floor compared to white dudes can look at this for a bit of evidence. (Yeah, sorry, they just are. Wakanda and the secret deployment of vibranium into black communities probably has something to do with it.)
Update: further, perhaps better, evidence along the same lines:
This has also brought up a memory, but I forget which movie it's from: the one where some older white guy - an authority figure - unexpectedly and in overt racist stereotype fashion tells the black guy to dance, it's in his blood. What movie am I thinking of?
how many black dudes do ballet?
ReplyDeleteWas Gene Kelly black?
sounds like the basketball fable to me
I know there are reasons to debate its validity. But I think the fact that white guys can be excellent at dance after a lot of practice, that doesn't address the matter of why it seems so many black guys from a very young age can appear so un-selfconsciously into what can loosely be called dance movement in a way so many white guys aren't.
ReplyDeleteballet is very different from the sort of dancing that actually appeals to most people (sorry I find ballet a big yawn)
ReplyDeleteRe ballet: yes, totally agree with Jason. Has anyone ever studied why the audience for it seems so heavily female, too? I presume it has to be something to do with the air of, um, "not straight-ness" that pervades not only the classic costuming of the men, but the style of moves too.
ReplyDeleteI have also long noticed that there is something about male dancer in American TV or movies that routinely, for want of a better term, looks "straight", whereas when Australian males are dancers in movies or TV, it often seems to have a bit of a gay, or at least camp, vibe.
Assuming that in fact dance schools in America and Australia have roughly the same proportion of gay and straight students, perhaps it's the influence of African Americans in the USA that makes their choreography and dance generally seem more natural than ours? It's a theory, anyway...
yeah I am not into Ballet either
ReplyDeleteRelevant: https://youtu.be/N8ZULUwLd20
ReplyDelete