I watched this episode of SYTYCD, and was really disappointed that the judges weren't able to appreciate these same-sex dancers. Nigel said several times, "If I just look at the dancing ..." - which is EXACTLY what the judges are supposed to look at.Read this guy's opinion and judge for yourself.
I've written before about So You Think You Can Dance's Nigel Lythgoe and his cretinous attitude toward what he terms "effeminate dancers." Well, that condescending attitude was on full-blown display during last night's auditions in Denver as the show returned for its fifth season.Read to the bottom of the article for an interview with one of the participants.The show featured its first same-sex couple — Misha Belfer and Mitchel Kibel — who were introduced with incredibly condescending dramatics including a clip of "It's Raining Men" and many "dramatic" shots of the two swirling about.
During the couple's audition (Misha is gay and Mitchel is straight), Lythgoe and fellow judges Mary Murphy and Sonya Tayeh kept exchanging bemused looks, and at one point Nigel covers his eyes as if he's too horrified by what he's seeing. Then when the two guys take a tumble, Nigel laughs at them.
Okay, much of the above can be expected during auditions when you get folks who aren't always great. But what came next definitely shouldn't have happened.
After the two dance, Nigel comments that it's the first time they've had two guys do a Samba and he says he doesn't really know what to say. He notes their styles were good, if he just "sticks with the dancing" and ignores their gender, but that the pair would probably alienate a lot of the SYTYCD audience. Nice way to assume your audience is as intolerant as you are, Mr. Lythgoe!
Nigel also shares that that he "likes to see guys be guys and girls be girls on stage."
