The Salt Lake Tribune asks each of the top 6 two questions:
If you could dance with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
What is the greatest dance movie of all time?
I don't know about you, but I gotta love an article that mentions Fred Astaire, Justin Timberlake, Elvis, and You Got Served.
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We learn a lot about Sabra Johnson in Nancy Van Valkenburg's article at Standard.net:
Kandee Allen, owner of Bountiful's Dance Impressions, remembers her first impression.
"Sabra came in with a friend who was in our senior company, and she really hadn't danced before," Allen said. "She was flexible and determined and hardworking. She danced with our senior company for two years. It's truly unusual for someone with no experience to do what she did here."
Most students had parents easily able to afford the price of classes.
"Sabra waited tables at Village Inn in Roy to pay for her car, so she could get to classes," Allen said. "She did anything she could here to pay for classes. She taught classes as a substitute. She put rhinestones on costumes. She cleaned toilets. Her mom didn't have a great job, but Sabra wanted to learn, so we always found a way."
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We have come to rely on our friends at Theory My Culture to put the show in cultural perspective.
What would any candidate tell us about ourselves, as a national culture? How each dancerly Self expresses aspects of American culture and its (our) obsessions? That’s fun speculation. How Lacey might reveal our national obsession with girliness. How Lauren might embody our obsession with speed and precision. How Sabra might express our admiration for genius and the naturalness of beauty (has she REALLY only been dancing for four years?). How Danny might be our aristocratic class, whom we’ve always held to a different standard. How Neil plays the role of exemplary idol with white-boy cuteness and untouchable “something.” How Pasha is the immigrant par excellence, both himself (undeniably Russian) and “us” (ballroom as nostalgia).
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Speaking of perspective, that's something we should keep in mind this week. It's a TV reality show. Every single one of the dancers we'll be discussing are talented, hard working people, committed to their art. Let's celebrate and enjoy our personal favorites, and remember that no one here deserves anything less than respect for their dedication. It's highly unlikely we'll ever hear of any of these people going into rehab, making a fool of themselves in public, dog-fighting, etc. Let's all try to keep that in mind.
