BET’s ‘Born to Dance’ Is a Disappointment

By JAMIA JORDAN and SHANITA MITCHELL

“Why are we watching this again?” Half of the time, this is my response after investing an hour of my life each week watching a show with my friend that we both thought would be a notch up from other dance competition shows. Instead, to the trained dancer, it only disappointed.

The season finale of BET’s “Born to Dance” aired on Sept. 20 at 10 p.m. Hosted by famous choreographer Laurieann Gibson, the show aimed to give an opportunity to an untrained dancer who would in return earn $50,000 and a foot into the professional dance world. We will just have to wait and see how much recognition the winner, LaTonya, will actually receive based off of this show. Only time will tell.

Like most competition shows, there was no lack of the dramatic use of suspense when approaching elimination period, as well as the endless flow of tears between the competitors and Gibson herself.

Our main issue with the show was that the challenges never seemed to escalate in difficulty. The combinations, routines, and challenges seemed to be all on one level and never intensified as weeks progressed. Gibson constantly sent home the good dancers, having to keep the bad ones for the purposes and intent of her show.

Jazz and hip-hop were the two main dance styles portrayed throughout the competition show. Dancers learned a ballet combination at the beginning of the competition as a means of initial elimination.

This seemed ironic because she was not looking for trained dancers but instead “talented persons” of this art form. Why, then, ask competitors to dance in one of the most technical dance forms there are while clad in tight pink leotards? She was trying to humiliate them. She tried to humiliate the dancers on numerous occasions, not only by putting them in skimpy attire but belittling them by showing up over two hours late for a dinner party that she had arranged. The entire season seemed like a tired combination of a reality show and a bad dance competition.

No one honestly wants to see untrained dancers attempting to dance on national television, and getting paid to do it, at that.

Producers have not announced whether or not another season is in our horizon.

Image courtesy of mtv.com