Monday nights are filled with hot-sweaty bodies, hair flipping, strutting, dancing and working it for the camera. It is undeniably becoming the guilty pleasure of many as they wonder and finally come to know the people that frame the stages of Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado and Ashlee Simpson.
MTV’s new reality series, “DanceLife,” is true to its title, showing the lives of six aspiring dancers. It accurately lets viewers see what it is really like to struggle in the commercial dance business.
No, it does not show what it is like to be a ballerina or a member of a dance company. This is not about high art. This show is about dancers auditioning for music videos, television shows and movies.
Respect the work or not, anyone watching will see that a dancer’s life is extremely rough.
The show focuses on six dancers: Kenny, Celestina, Jersey, Nolan, Blake and Staci and their struggle to balance work, friends, family, money and of course their love lives.
Nolan Padilla probably shows viewers the worst possible situation for a dancer. He has no car, a low-paying job at a clothing shop and keeps getting cut at the last second at auditions for artists such as Mary J. Blige.
Blake McGrath is the complete opposite. At 18, he landed a spot on Britney Spears’ Onyx Hotel Tour and was assistant to choreographer Brian Freidman. He then joined Fox’s hit television show, “So You Think You Can Dance,” and has recently come out with his own DVD, “Dance Driven.”
Driving around in his BMW, some fans say McGrath does not exactly show what a real struggling dancer goes through.
“I mean some of them are like already professional. I don’t think it realistically shows what someone starting out would go through,” said Ohio State dance major Laura Carter.
Cast member Kenny danced in Nelly Furtado’s music video “Promiscuous,” Celestina in Prince’s “Black Sweat” and “Musicology,” and Staci was once a member of the Pussycat Dolls. Carter might have a point – these dancers have had their fair share of work.
Regardless of the impressive resumes some of the cast members have, local dancers are still excited that dance is getting some more exposure.
“It is cool because my friends are always like, ‘What is it that you do?’ and I can say, ‘Watch DanceLife,'” said OSU dance major Aubrey Bailey.
Shows such as this only increases the public’s knowledge of the arts and creates more buzz about dance. The more television shows and the exposure it offers, the more jobs for dancers.
“With more shows like ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ and now this, dance is becoming much more popular,” Bailey said.
Moving to Los Angeles and trying to break into the dance business is extremely difficult. Thanks to this show and these dancers, dance has a bright future. Studios will remain packed with inspired students because of it.
Erika Gee can be reached at [email protected].
