I’ve made a goal to write 500 words a day and this may be a way of finding a loophole/avoiding the short story I’m working on – but if, as they say, writing is a muscle, consider this flexing. Even if I’m flexing one muscle while lying in bed watching TV with the rest of them.
And in this scenario what I’m watching (unless there’s a gymnastics competition, preferably with either a competent or ludicrous commentator) is almost definitely the Australian teen ballet show Dance Academy, which has been on my Netflix list for years and which I’ve blasted through the first season of (the second and third are NOT on Netflix for inexplicable reasons, but if after reading this you’re DYING to watch, you can find it on YouTube!) It’s every comforting thing you could ever want in a series, down to the voiceovers at the beginning and end of (most) episodes that tell you what the theme and lesson of the week (or of the, um, hour, if you happen to be watching several many in a row) is.
I’m going to pose a few questions which are based on very little data (that is, mostly this show + Center Stage) and on ignoring the elements that don’t further my case. Such as: Why is the protagonist in every performing arts show/book/movie the one with the bad technique/lack of experience? Why never the one who has the drive and experience even though her natural abilities aren’t as strong (that dancer tends to end up in the villain role and also occupies the eating disorder storyline), or the super naturally talented one with the lackadaisical attitude (hello wild best friend to the protagonist, the role that tends to nearly self-sabotage by means of carelessness before coming around in the end). I understand that there’s a storied history of rooting for the underdog, but underdog doesn’t have to translate to “new kid.” Why not mix it up a bit? Maybe throw in a supernaturally talented best friend who haunts the studio.
I’ve found that in dance books for middle grade or YA readers there doesn’t tend to be a love interest, but in my sample size of two data points (Dance Academy and Center Stage), the initial love interest is the older blond choreographer/playboy, and the *true* love interest is the fellow new-ish dancer. Fortunately the constraints of the two-hour format forced Center Stage to avoid a lot of tedious back and forth/love triangles, while Dance Academy’s episodic mode has led to some very tedious intersecting love polygons.
The Dance Academy theme song is very reminiscent of Degrassi: TNG, though there are far fewer characters to introduce. It seems like the budget for series 1 of Dance Academy didn’t provide for minor characters, such that literally all of the lines spoken by the young dancers were spoken by the six main characters, unlike Degrassi’s cast of multitudes.
Thank you for indulging my flexing/attempt at minimizing the feeling that all 500 words a day must be FANTASTIC or they don’t count/excuse to watch more Dance Academy.
