Sometimes it takes a widely publicized protest recreating a dance by a “German dancer who’s pretty popular, they tell me” to remind me that most people have no idea what I’m talking or writing about, most of the time. It’s quite possible more people read my recent story on Joann Fabrics stores closing than have ever read a dance review I wrote. That used to make me mad. Now, it just is. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. This thing we call dance is niche and sometimes obtuse.
And beautiful.
The Daily Show certainly isn’t the first to poke fun at Pina Bausch’s Nelken Line performed in Washington D.C. in objection to President Trump’s apparent takeover of the board and programming at the Kennedy Center. But every criticism was followed by a “You know what? Go on with your bad selves,” or some variation thereof.
Too bad the Washington Post laid off their full time dance critic, one of two left in the country. The paper didn’t even cover the protest.
As Jeff Bezos thankfully pours money into maintaining an important totem of the fourth estate, he simultaneously degrades its integrity by refusing to keep his hands out of the editorial cookie jar. At this point, The Daily Show might be a bigger and more influential platform.
So go on with your bad selves, dancers.
Lauren Warnecke 