30 replies to this topic

[dirac]

Second episode aired last night. The cast struggled valiantly but sank into what I’ll call quirksand and Sherman-Palladino launched another monster curve at the audience in the last minutes. The dead guy called his lawyer while on the road from Vegas with a blacked-out showgirl in his car to change his will? Very forward-thinking of him. Plainly, there were some mother issues Episode 1 barely hinted at. Sticking with the show for the present, but it's not coming easy.

[Natalia]

OK, folks. There was some inclusion in last night's episode: At about the 44-minute mark, the camera panned through a group of students warming up in the studio and at least one African-American girl was very visible and a couple of other young ladies 'of color' (Latinas?). There were even two young boys in the class. Perhaps, in future episodes, these young 'extras' shown in the studio will come to the forefront in the drama? "Paradise, Oregon" now reflects a cross-section of society.

So far, ballet is a peripheral element in the big picture.

[Andre Yew]

I also appreciated the dance they showed at the end because it was entirely classical, they showed it in its entirety, and it was shot sensitively.  Unlike the crass commentary put on top of Petite Mort in Breaking Pointe, they let the dance speak for itself and subtly showed the effect classical dance can have (yes, I was a bit moist-eyed at the end). Amy Sherman-Palladino loves dance, and it shows.  I can't say the same thing about the producers of Breaking Pointe.

Those teen girls are definitely trained dancers even if many of them don't have the body type classical ballet asks for.

[Brioche]

It "kills" me that I find this show more honest and appealing then the "real" show featuring Ballet West.

[Jayne]

I think it's pretty natural for a European art form to have a heavy following of European descendants in the New World.  Do we hold other dance styles to the same standard as ballet?  If Disney made a TV show about Vietnamese Americans performing in a traditional dance school - would she twitter that there are not enough white or black people participating?

[Helene]

I missed the first episode (I think) but have watched the next two, and for me the relationship between Sutton Foster and Kelly Bishop is the most interesting.  The girls and the dancing, I could take or leave.

I much prefer the Sutton Foster character so far to Lauren Graham's, but Alexis Bledel's to any of the girls so far.

[Marga]

Helene, I watched the pilot episode online. We don't get the channel here that broadcasts Bunheads, so J and I got caught up last week while in NY. I really liked it! J and were huge Gilmore Girls fans, so it was almost a given we would love this, ballet or no ballet. That it does concern ballet is the icing on the cake!

[Natalia]

Tuned in on Monday to watch what should have been the 4th episode....but no Bunheads to be found. Early cancellation?

[Helene]

In the coming attractions, they said the next episode would be 9 July.

[Natalia]

Ah, so they're skipping a week. Thanks for the clarification.

[Kerry1968]

Natalia, on 14 June 2012 - 06:22 AM, said:

The story is set in a little Northern Calif coastal town where the real-life demographics are properly portrayed. Have we become such a 'PC crazy' nation that we have to shoehorn people of all colors into scripts just to meet a quota?

The initial scene with the Las Vegas showgirls included women of color...as women of all colors do get jobs in Vegas.

The geography is kind of weird. In episode 4 Fanny says that Ojai is "that slum" 30 miles to the north. In the same episode, Fanny and Michelle visit Oxnard (also to the north of Paradise). There are passing references to other southern California towns (Montecito, Carpinteria). Culturally, Paradise reminds me vaguely of a town like Carpinteria, although the geographic hints would place Paradise closer to Point Mugu.

I know this area pretty well, having lived in Santa Barbara for many years. TBH, these beach towns are not terribly diverse, if by diverse one means having significant numbers of African American families. Ventura County as a whole is about 2 percent African American. So I would agree that the demographics are accurately portrayed.

[Buddy]

This season is just going into it's forth performance. It's the first time that I've watched it. I think that it's charming so far and has some interesting takes on dancing. For me, like "Glee", you have to look into every corner for one liner visuals as well as verbal ones. Like "Glee" I also have to watch it at least twice to understand what they're saying, although my daughter has been hinting for at least 30 years that I should go to an ear doctor.

[Jayne]

I watched the Jan.30 show on Xfinity with my mom.  Honestly this show could be about the sport of lacrosse and it would still be the same show, with the same banter, setups, etc.  It just happens to be about ballet.  That said, I liked this episode because it was a miniature version of board members' attempts to influence artistic directors in less than appropriate ways.

[Buddy]

Hi, Jayne.

Although the plot line doesn't necessarily apply to dance, the inclusion of choreography, for me, does have a lot of significance. Not only are the ladies fine actresses, but they do quite commendably as dancers.

The choreography is often very interesting. It can be commentary on the art form and it can be highly inventive. For instance, last Monday's show began with a very respectable ballet performance, containing a very clever, ongoing verbal dialogue between several of the lead dancers. I don't think that I've ever seen this before.

[Buddy]

Anybody else think that the Billy Elliot Coal Miners Dance last night was Absolutely Cool ?!