Swan Lake Samba Girl - Latest Comments in SYTYCD, Desmond Richardson, Claudia LaRocco & Dance Criticism, and Blasted TAC Headaches! at Swan Lake Samba Girl

Re: SYTYCD, Desmond Richardson, Claudia LaRocco & Dance Criticism, and Blasted TAC Headaches! at Swan Lake Samba Girl

Taylor — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:47:12 -0000

Sorry about your head pain Tonya!

About criticism...I agree that the field inherently includes judgement in some form, but I think it's important to back up such statements (overtly good or bad) with reasons...evidence for your argument. I become annoyed when I read a strong comment in a review and it just stops at that instead of explaining why the critic felt the way they did.

However I think the problem here is that in arts criticism today there just isn't the print space to have that luxury of explanation.
Maybe that's where bloggers fit in, with endless time and space online (though will anyone bother to read lengthy details?)

I sometimes find it harder to defend a positive judgement rather than a negative one. If a piece didn't work for me I can usually pinpoint what about it I didn't like, but when a dance works it's more difficult to "judge" it as good. This seems to be when I rely more on description rather than a judgement call in my writing.

Just some thoughts :)

Re: SYTYCD, Desmond Richardson, Claudia LaRocco & Dance Criticism, and Blasted TAC Headaches! at Swan Lake Samba Girl

SwanLakeSambaGirl — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:29:51 -0000

Thanks so much for your thoughts, you guys. Glad to see I'm not alone in my thinking! I agree Meg, I think there can be two kinds of writing about the arts; I think we need both. I enjoy criticism with well-reasoned judgments that teaches me something too. I wish there were more like that though, especially with dance crit. Like with A. Macaulay, for example: sometimes I learn from him, sometimes a great deal, and sometimes I can't figure out what he's saying; whereas with some of my favorite film writers, like Anthony Lane, I always understand his viewpoint (even if I don't always agree with it), he often makes me laugh, and oftentimes I even learn a bit about film history and other arts from him.

Joanna, thank you for the nice compliment! I'm so thrilled people like my blog. But it does really unnerve me how papers and magazines are cutting back on their critics. I don't know what the future holds for criticism. I don't think it can be left up to bloggers to cover the arts -- there are too many things going on and too few bloggers to cover it all; and then everyone's covering the same things. It's not organized at all; and how could it be with everyone blogging on their own. And there are other problems... but that's for another day!

Oh and I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw potential in Gev-- I thought he was really quite good, far better than the judges made him out to be. At least he'll be on tour.

Re: SYTYCD, Desmond Richardson, Claudia LaRocco & Dance Criticism, and Blasted TAC Headaches! at Swan Lake Samba Girl

Meg — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:45:24 -0000

I'm glad you're feeling better now. The head pain sounds absolutely awful. :(

When we talk about criticism, I do think that judgment is inherent to the form. I think if there's no judgment in the writing than it's not--by definition--criticism. And the kind of criticism I most enjoy reading contains clear, well-reasoned judgments from which I can learn. That's not to say that there can't be enjoyable, valuable writing about a subject, particularly the arts, that isn't criticism. Even then, though, I think it's quite difficult, if not impossible, to strip writing of any judgment. The viewpoint of the writer inevitably comes out, if only in subtle ways, in the words the writer chooses, the decisions the writer makes about what to say and what to leave unsaid, etc. The viewpoint of the writer can certainly be more ambiguous, harder or even impossible to decipher depending on the way they write about a subject. But what a person thought and felt about something they saw (or heard or read) is inevitably going to influence the way they write about it and I do think that involves a kind of judgment.

Re: SYTYCD, Desmond Richardson, Claudia LaRocco & Dance Criticism, and Blasted TAC Headaches! at Swan Lake Samba Girl

JoannaOC — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:45:20 -0000

I'm so sorry you've been waylaid by pain this week. I live with my own chronic pain condition, and the hardest thing sometimes is the unpredictability. My hope is that more research and sharing experiences will give us all more resources to cope.
Thanks for your lovely recap--I'm commenting here instead of over at HuffPo because I'm too lazy to sign up and log in.

I truly appreciate your informed perspective on each dancer, especially since you are so generous in recognizing how insanely hard it is just to do the basics of ballroom right. I also thought Gev shone in the jive in ways that show his enormous potential. Same with the two-step; it's so unfortunate that two people with almost no lead-follow experience were not given more room to play to the audience.
I was underwhelmed by Tyce's choreo, especially the piece for Mark and Kherington. The end was : walk walk walk lie down? what excitement!
I can't decide if Mark or Josh is my favorite guy, but I guess I don't have to; I'll just appreciate them both.
I've thought about the idea of reviewing and critique, as someone who works in that area but not for a wide audience (ie: as an academic!). It seems to me that the critic provides basic description and analysis (what happened and how) but also the opportunity for education (how does this relate to the bigger picture?), expressions of taste, and critique (which does not have to be sneering or dismissive). A reviewer may decide not to privilege judgment, but it is inevitable to some extent: some people simply won't review something they don't like in order not to say anything negative, but then how will the general public learn if those who have access and expertise are stingy with their views?
The best dance critics (or cultural critics of any kind) give me enough information so that I can also evaluate their position.

Rather long-winded, but I think that with dance critics losing their newspaper jobs, along with film, food, and other arts critics, we the readers will be impoverished if this work does not reappear in venues like this.