‘Star power in the house’ in Vail Saturday
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Kent Boyd, the runner-up on season seven of FOX’s “So You Think You Can Dance,” believes dancing is about making people feel something, deep inside.
“People aren’t really used to being moved by something other than someone’s words or voice,” he said. “There’s a tool America’s missing, and it’s your body.”
But the popular dancing shows on television, like “So You Think You Can Dance” and ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” he said, are educating more and more people about the fundamentals of dance and its power to move the audience.
A lot of people don’t know how you can be moved by movement, but it’s a mind-blowing experience when you witness and experience it yourself, Boyd said.
“Dance is getting so hot right now,” he said. “All these dance shows on TV are opening the eyes of America to teach people what good dancing is. Connecting with singing is easy because people know what sounds good and what doesn’t. But people don’t always know what good dancing is like.”
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These popular dance shows on television are coming alive on stage at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in “Dance TV” Saturday at 7:30 p.m. as the final 2011 Vail International Dance Festival performance.
Damian Woetzel, the director of the Vail International Dance Festival, has been dancing since he was four years old and has spent his life on stage. He said it will be fun for the audience to see how the dancers’ performances translate from TV to the stage.
“There will be a lot of star power in the house,” Woetzel said. “You’ll be able to see the stars up close. People are used to admiring them (on TV), but they’ll be right in front of you, which is fantastic. (A program like this) has never been done before. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate the dance festival.”
Boyd is one of the many dancers that will be featured in “Dance TV.” He will be joined by Charles “Lil Buck” Riley, the festival artist-in-residence who’s performed his street dance “Memphis Jookin'” throughout the festival and was seen on “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
Quest Crew, the season three winner of MTV’s “America’s Next Dance Crew” will add “Dance TV” to its list of appearances, including “American Idol,” “So You Think You Can Dance” and the movie “Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel.”
Anna Trebunskaya and husband Jonathan Roberts have both appeared on “Dancing with the Stars” for multiple seasons each. Trebunskaya’s partners have included actor Steve Guttenberg, football player Jerry Rice and now boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard on the show’s current season. Among Roberts’ seven seasons on the show, he has been paired with entertainer Marie Osmond, supermodel Rachel Hunter and singer Macy Gray.
New York City Ballet dancer Tiler Peck, who appeared on “Dancing with the Stars” last year, will also perform in “Dance TV,” along with fellow New York City Ballet dancer Robert Fairchild.
Boyd will also be reunited with fellow season seven “So You Think You Can Dance” participants Allison Holker and winner Lauren Froderman.
“It’s always amazing to get back with some of the people that were on the show,” Boyd said, referring to Holker and Froderman. “I love sharing dance because I enjoy it so much. Getting out there and doing what you love is probably the best thing to do.”
For Boyd, who has been dancing since the age of eight, dancing is an escape from the world.
“I can go inside of a song and not have to think about anything else. It’s kind of like my little sanctuary that no one can touch,” he said. “It’s physically and emotionally demanding. Everything about it is an amazing thing.”
For Alex Wong, the producer of “Dance TV” and a season seven contestant on “So You Think You Can Dance,” dancing serves as a creative outlet to express himself through.
“It’s just me. It lives within me,” he said. “I’ve always found it best to express myself through my body.”
More people are becoming interested in this mode of expression and want to try it for themselves, and the popularity of dance shows on TV are at least partly responsible for that, he said.
“Dancing on TV has revived dancing. It has brought a lot of awareness to the general public,” he said. “Now you see dance classes in gyms more. People are just dropping in to take them.”
The shows on TV allow viewers to relate to dance and feel like they can be a part of it.
“There’s a lot of dancing going on. People are really starting to catch on,” Wong said.
When people see modern dance companies perform, they don’t know the faces of the dancers, which is why “Dance TV” is such a special program, he said.
“There will be recognizable faces,” Wong said. “I think it’s so different from most of the performances in Vail. How often do you get to see something on TV and then see it live? It’s like seeing someone in concert.”
Courtney Riley is an intern at the Vail Daily. Email comments about this story to cschnell@vaildaily.com.
