Dish Of Salt: ‘Dance’ Mania (June 14, 2006)

I’m counting down the days until “Dancing With the Stars” returns in September.Sure, I know it?s cheesy, but having covered the backstage trials and triumphs of the dancers for the last two seasons, I feel a strange connection to the show. Don’t think I didn’t march myself right down to the local dance studio for some lessons.

Unfortunately, my penchant for never letting the male actually lead has made me the instructor?s least favorite student.So, I guess I’ll just stick to watching others do it on TV.

Right now, I’m getting my dance fix watching Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance.” Now in its second season, the show comes from “American Idol? Executive Producer, Nigel Lythgoe and pits hip-hop, street, ballet, ballroom and lyrical dancers against one another to vie for the top title. The show certainly hasn’t been getting the audience ?American Idol? sees, with just around 10 million viewers tuning in regularly. All things considered, that’s a good audience for a summer show, though.

This season the winner receives 100 thousand dollars and a one-year contract to dance in Celine Dion’s Las Vegas show.I spoke with the Top 20 dancers, who begin performing tonight, and was surprised to learn that most of the finalists have no interest in dancing for Celine. If you have ever seen the show (which is amazing, by the way) I guess I can understand why a ballroom dancer or a hip-hop dancer wouldn’t want the gig. Dancers in her show stick to more ballet and lyrical choreography. Let’s face it, most of the dancers are just on the show to be discovered.They pretty much all have aspirations beyond dancing. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard some finalist on a reality show talk about how they want to break into the industry in all aspects of entertainment from acting to hosting.Inevitably, they all want my job.Who wouldn’t? Let me tell you though, I didn’t get here by way of some reality show granting me 15 minutes of fame.I put in years of hard work to get to this point.So, back off people! I kid. I kid.

Tonight, the Top 10 girls and Top 10 guys perform in a two-hour episode and then America (ala ‘Idol’) gets to vote for their favorites.

Also, tonight ABC throws back on the air the Geena Davis as President drama, “Commander in Chief”, giving the show the opportunity to finish out its run since being pulled earlier this year.The show started off with a bang with around 16 million viewers tuning in but dropped rapidly eventually pulling in just over 5 million viewers. ABC put the show on the shelf and officially left it off their fall schedule for next season. When questioned about the show last month, in front of a room full of TV journalists, ABC Entertainment President, Stephen McPherson, admitted his disappointment in what happened to the show, but said it was officially cancelled.

Fans however will get the chance to see the show?s series finale tonight. It’s rare, when a show gets cancelled, for its small fan base to get any closure. I’m still waiting to find out who the murderer was on Fox’s “Reunion.” I’ll be waiting forever on that one, but at least Madame President gets a sendoff. If, for some reason, the ratings are gangbusters tonight, though, then a talked about 2-hour movie that McPherson mentioned may be in the cards.So, if you are a fan, you better watch and tell all your friends, co-workers and family members to pitch in!

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