Simple Man Entertainment

Most of you already know that I’m a sucker for anything related to dance. I’m a fan of the arts – especially music and dance. When a show combines the two, you usually get some form of magic that is incredible to watch (unless of course you have to watch David Hasselhoff on Dancing with the Stars).

One new show that just premiered this past week is “Live to Dance,” headed up by Paula Abdul. Since it was related to dance, I decided to give it a watch and see if it was any good. Along with well known Abdul (you’ve seen her on American Idol trying to keep Simon in line and never succeeding) two other judges are a part of the show. Travis Payne is another dance expert that sits as a judge, and he definitely has the credentials to judge dancers with his history of being a professional dancer and choreographer to none other than the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. The last judge is Kimberly Wyatt, singer and dancer with the well known Pussycat Dolls.

This show is all about dancers who truly “live to dance.” Dancers are encouraged to show off their talents in the “dome” and there is no age limit or particular type of dance required. From tango, to tap, to hip hop, or ballet, anything goes in this competition. Auditions were held already in New York City and in Los Angeles and judges sent many home and kept a few around to compete for chance to be in the semi finals and later the finals. Up for grabs is the title of “Live to Dance” champion as well as $500,000, which isn’t a shabby prize at all.

So, the question is, was I impressed? Actually, I was impressed and it surprised even me. I was expecting the show to be a lame version of American Idol (as you can tell, I’m not a fan), but I was pleasantly surprised. What really caught my attention was the huge diversity of dancers that showed up to audition. From 5 to 90+, there were dancers of every age. Almost every style you can think of was represented as well.

Of course, some of the dancing was laughable. Then, there were dancers that were stunning. Several of them caught my attention. Probably one of the most inspirational was a hearing impaired teen who really brought the house down with her b-girl style talent. While she didn’t make the cut, she definitely grabbed the hearts of everyone in that audience.

Another group that caught my attention was a family of five kids, with the smallest of the five introducing herself as “B-Girl Precious Moments.” Their dancing was incredible, “Precious Moments” was adorable, and their story was heartwarming. This family lived in their car for some time and when they did get a house, they actually converted the entire house into a dance studio/community center to teach dance to kids in the community. This family definitely lives to dance!

A popper performed one act that was truly magical. His moves were fresh and crisp. However, what really grabbed me is that his moves were telling the story of the music. I believe he created a new style of dance – Lyrical Popping (no doubt someone will steal my term in the next few months…so remember, you saw it here first).

These are only a few of the incredible dancers that were seen on this show. Some routines made you laugh, others made you hold your breath, and some almost brought tears to your eyes with their beauty. When dancers can touch your heart, something special is happening, which makes me wonder why so many people have a problem with dancing (but that’s a topic for another blog).

I’m looking forward to seeing what else “Live to Dance” has to offer in the future. In any event, it should give me a dose of dance until “So You Think You Can Dance” comes back this summer.