Proposed  TV show for Dancing
A Few Thoughts
Years ago, Ali Bacher the cricket administrator saw how thousands of Pakistanis jammed the cricket stadiums to watch the sport which the English foisted upon these Asian people. He said, "AH, HA! Big bucks, big future here" and started his grass-roots' development scheme, and he is still trying to wedge blacks into a sport which they have little or no natural passion for. Recently, Ali contrived another R100 million sponsorship to make it a R200 million merger between Castle Lager and MTN for his UNNATURAL development plan.

I just can't imagine a South African black family sitting in the stands of a cricket stadium, tanning and drinking Castle all day long watching cricket, or sitting watching cricket on TV all day - it is just not their style, or their way of life, no matter how great the commercial temptation might be. Meanwhile cricket keeps raising millions through sponsorship for their unnatural development plan. And the rugby administrators are doing the same, but the worst part is that the government, with its affirmative action plan, is forcing rugby development onto the majority who prefer soccer, boxing and dancing. And even soccer is a horrid English hand-down which the oppressed people played in defiance, as a rebellious alternative to rugby, the game their oppressors raved about in the dark ages.

Michael Flatley and his foot-tapping troupe pulled traditional Irish dancing out of the closet into spectacular fame and fortune with Riverdance, without radically changing its traditional value and style - they enhanced the dance by presenting its colourful rhythms and movements to the world.

The truth is…
Let's take DANCING, RHYTHM, MUSIC, SINGING and the AFRICAN PEOPLE. It's their natural heritage, a genuine innate capacity. It's their EVERYTHING, the pure fibre of their total BEING. Every other nationality admires their spontaneous talent and natural ability for DANCING, RHYTHM, MUSIC, SINGING. They even do it in parliament. Why are the comps growing in leaps and bounds, almost uncontrollably?… without Ali Bacher or sponsorship… because DANCING, RHYTHM, MUSIC, SINGING is a natural, spontaneous expression to the people and the sport which should be sponsored. The people who can't live without their radio, music, dance and song. The people who dance when they are happy, dance when they mourn, dance when they protest, sing when they work. That's the future viewership which the TV and the sponsors should be aiming at and which the DanceSport administrators should be furiously plugging for. Something that will attract a natural audience from the majority of the people.

TV Money Game-cum-Dance Contest
Months before South Africa knew about the TV programme "who wants to be a millionaire?" Jay said, "viewers watch sport or TV only to see who will become instantly rich or richer than rich - the average, poor person's dream. We know how hard we have to work for the little we earn, so to us "poor people in the street" or is it "on the street?", that's vicarious paradise."

The current DanceSport on TV happily makes the public aware that there is more to dancing than just standing on one spot for hours convulsing the hips and wagging the ears about to the blustering beat of Eurohits 3. Although these shows have improved and are pleasing to watch, I still stress about the TV camera relentlessly hopping from that disfigured toe to that dishevelled hairdo, and back to the other couple, irritating us with disjointed pictures.

That's how rugby matches were produced a few years back until hordes complained. You'd see the man and the ball only. Not where he's heading; which opponent is about to crunch him (the defence); where his support is (the offence), or in which area of the field he floundereth, and then at the end, as the "cherry on the top" they'd give us a clear, prolonged close-up of him wafting mucus out of his snozzle. Incidentally, soccer still tops the snozzle scene though.

The viewer wants the picture, the whole picture and nothing but the picture, in the complete setting, with a view of all the action, as if at the comp watching it live, with the occasional close-up as a special TV effect, not as a regular distortion. Particularly in dance contests where the couple's worth, style, technique, movement and costume is judged from the tip of the toe to the top of the head in motion. As viewers, we'd like to be the critic of that, even if it's for brief spells only. My non-dance pals, however, think these shows are fantastic. It has given them a brighter outlook on dancing, but the dancer's general opinion is that there is not much to watch. We need much more than the art of dancing.

Take the UK's Come Dancing programme, the best, it's now on the blink, bowing out because of its dwindled ratings, and Come Dancing superbly presented every show with the viewer totally in mind. Despite its excellence, it offered dancers, viewers and the studio audience no financial reward. It lacked challenge, incentive. Everything was based on the ART and LOVE of dancing. Ballroom is now a SPORT and as a sport it needs steroids. Steroids that will light its fire and keep it hotly ablaze.

What do we need?
1. we need a dynamic someone with initiative and enterprise to take the steroids
2. other than what has been used by the best TV producers to-date, we need a TV programme that will captivate the general public's interest and imagination (not only the millions who dance) and retain their interest for years to come. A scheme that will entice sponsors to finance dancing on a grand scale and bring it to the forefront of competitive sport
3. we need to get viewer and studio audience participation, eagerly involved by offering handsome money prizes.
4. we need to have something different for each programme. The public abhors tedium

Step 1. the aims;

We have several dynamic men and women in DanceSport to select from; officials who could spearhead our sport to stardom. The one taking the steroids would arrange a serious meeting with the sponsors and the TV producers. In this meeting "dance cosmetics" must be ignored, except for showing the full picture. The main issues will be FINANCE for both sides and how to produce a dance programme that will make this NATURAL sport to the majority of the people of SA, become BIG, one of the giants on the SA scene - like cricket; the game that Ali Bacher artificially inseminated into the majority who had no natural interest in it.

Method and Action
While watching DanceSport TV, I keep thinking; how can this celebrated sport called dancing, with so many enthusiasts, so much glitter and glamour, so much to offer to so many, be turned into a lucrative, competitive TV sport. One that will attract and sustain millions of viewers.

What we are seeing at the moment is just "dance cosmetics" without a TV future. It's telling us that dancing is alive and well, that dancing is growing, and that much is being done to further the sport - a dance documentary. A good start, but now that ballroom has become a competitive Olympic sport, let's revolutionise a few things. The first thing to do is to go beyond just the aesthetics and give dancing a prosperous TV future by launching a DanceSport-MoneyGame show which TV, big business sponsorship and DanceSport could benefit from for years.

The dynamics of dancing and its appeal to the public - the things we have to offer as a variety show, entertainment and viewer attraction.
  1. dancing: we have a host of dance forms to select from; Ballroom and Latin, Freestyle, Tribal, Social, Modern, Spanish, Aerobics, Line Dancing, etc., some fast, some hectic, some romantic, some classical, some noisy, some exotic - it's rhythm at its best.
  2. talent & interest: South Africa is definitely not poor on dance talent or the enthusiasm and determination to develop it. The only thing we are poor on is getting it developed - manifesting its true power and dynamics. Poor, the usual outcry, "can't afford to pay top trainers", "no facilities", "can't afford to travel, to buy outfits, to compete." - in our land, natural talent abounds aplenty.
  3. music: hands up, who doesn't like music? Good, because we have music for all tastes; love songs, modern, fashionable music, classical music, traditional music, yesteryear hits, fast music, romantic music, lively music - most can't live without their music.
  4. viewers: the millions who participate in the sport plus their families, friends and the other millions who have been threatening to do it for years, and the other millions who some time back took social dance lessons - it's a built-in itch that everyone wants to scratch.
  5. costumes: colourful costumes, flimsy costumes, elegant costumes, glittering costumes, modern costumes, glamorous costumes - a gorgeous affair.
  6. beautiful: dancing is modelling in motion to music. We have beauty all around us, lines and style, striking movements and shapes, beautiful bodies, faces, rhythmic expressions and feelings, glamorous costumes - we all ID with the bold and the beautiful.
  7. name of the show: we'll call it "Super 5" or "Super 5 Dance Bonanza" because once a year for 6 weeks or so the 5 provinces will be competing against each other to crown the top dancers in the land. This way we will get the entire country "TV" involved and eventually, who knows? the world as well - every vision is a joke until somebody tries it.
  8. advertise: the Super 5 Dance Bonanza must be advertised months before the time. In the same way the rugby Super 12 and beauty contests are promoted.
The Competition
Overseas judges and "visual" or "open" marking to be used, with a celebrity or two to judge the costumes. Not like most dance TV shows, where frequent close-range shots are indecently zoomed in on us, this broadcast must allow for viewers at home to see the performance in its entirety. The same way the studio audience and the judges see it - the complete picture throughout, with shots taken at difference angles. Viewers must be able to judge one couple against the others.

Heats - Preamble to the National Super 5
Prior to the 6-week Super 5 (big event), each province will hold heats to determine its "top couple" in each section of the amateur Ballroom and Latin, i.e. Senior, Adult, Young, Junior, Juvenile.

As done for beauty contests, run a TV programme weeks prior to the Super 5, showing the cosmetics of the heats and how the finalists qualified for their province at championships, in the social club contests, etc - a big preamble build-up.

TV Format in brief (example):

Now that we have one couple to represent each province for each section, let's start.

First section: (example)
The Seniors' Ballroom section. We have 5 couples vying for their province in a live televised final. They'll dance the Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quickstep and Viennese Waltz for 1½ minutes a dance.

Points.
The results for the Waltz are:
Gauteng  1st  6 points
OFS   2nd  5 points
WC  3rd  4 points
EP  4th  3 points
N Gauteng 5th  2 points

Next Tango and so on.

Second section: The Junior Latin section. Here again, 5 couples from each province competing. The same procedure, the same prize money with the results added to each province's total score.

Third section: the Social dance section. This section is to get the audience and viewers at home to relate to everyday dancing, and includes 5 dances, namely, Boogie, Sakkie-Sakkie, Waltz, Sokkie and Salsa/Mambo. This section has no age categories, it's a social affair. Here again, 5 couples from each province competing. The same procedure, the same prize money, with the results added to each province's total.

Fourth: the Freestyle section. 5 solo performances from each province competing. The same procedure, the same prize money, with the results added to each province's total.

Fifth: The Youth Ballroom 5-dance section.

Sixth: Tribal dance 5-dance section. The Zulus, etc.

Seventh: The Spanish intermediate solo 5-dance section.

Eighth: The Youth Latin 5-dance section

Ninth: Modern solo 5-dance section.

Tenth: Aerobics solo or pairs 5-dance section.

Eleventh: Line Dance 5-dance pairs' section, etc.

Prize Money and Provincial Colours
Money prizes to be dealt into 3 parts;

  1. viewers at home
  2. members of the audience
  3. dancers who reach the final and the winners of the finals
The money prizes ARE the steroids that will pull dancing out of the closet and change its name from Cinderella to WOW! It's the money prizes that will make dancing popular, NOT THE DANCING, and you can't get it better than this. Unless you, you, you and you have a better idea.

Money Prize for Viewers and Studio audience
Unlike other TV shows, offer the viewer bigger money prizes for correctly selecting dance-winners and best costumes. The viewer is what TV channels continually plug for and spend a large part of their budget on. Let the viewer play a major role in the winning of prizes. The first 3 correct answers drawn, i.e. from members in the audience and viewers at home, receive R5000 each. The draws for these prizes take place just before the next section goes on.

Money Prize for Dancers in the Final and Winning Couples
Each couple receives R1000 and their provincial colours for getting to the final to represent their province. The couple that wins the section receives R5000. 2nd R2000 and 3rd R1000. Best costume receives R3000. These prizes will be a great year-round incentive to get dancers to practise hard. In turn, it will lift our Olympic dance standard - Olympics being the ultimate aim.

After each dance, the points are displayed by the judges. Or the points could be shown on an electronic board at the end of the 5-dance section. The points for each dance are added to each province's score. The money prizes for the winning couples and the total earned by each province are also displayed at the end of that 5-dance section.

Prize Draws for choosing the Top Province
At the end or after x number of 5-dance sections, the public may cast their votes for which province they think will win. Then at the end of the Super 5, draw seven correct entries for the winning province, but only the 7th draw wins R30,000. Draws 1 to 6 each receive a Super 5 gift as a memento or smaller money prizes, i.e. 1st draw R1000, 2nd draw R1500, 3rd draw R2000, etc.

Money Prize for the Winning Province
The winning province (team) receives a cheque of R100,000 which goes towards that province's development programme - thanks to the sponsors. The regular announcements of all the prize winners must be made by someone who can arouse an Auction Sale atmosphere.

To create even more excitement, the names of the winners in the audience and at home, and what they have earned, must also be displayed for the entire 6-week programme. This way the public can see how much can be won, i.e. a stats' board displaying the accumulative prizes for the provinces, the couples, the audience and the home viewers.

Prize Draw Procedure
After the first dance of each section (before the judges display their scores of the first dance) viewers at home and the studio audience may cast their vote for their likely winner of the dancing, and which couple they think will take the costume prize. The live audience buzz their answer through, and the viewers at home phone in. The TV licence # is needed for phone-ins.

Extra Viewer Attractions and Entertainment
At the end of each programme, the winners of the two 5-dance sections dance a pre-choreographed showdance or honour dance of their personal choice. Allow 1 or 2 minutes for each exhibition and the freedom of individuality and personal interpretation; lifts, drops, slides, music, costumes, etc. These shows must be "different", "special", a "cabaret", the dancer's own arrangement, completely removed from the usual - a novel treat for the onlooker.

Showdance Prize
The best of the two cabarets receives R1000 prize. This one gets judged by the studio audience vote only - the highest % votes wins. Let viewers also vote for 3 R500 bonus prizes, also to be drawn.

Music selection - absolutely essential
The music used must be a variety of tunes that are the hits or the fashion of the day. The tunes most are humming, tapping their toes to or singing. The classical tunes used, must be the best of the classics. The yesteryear tunes the greatest of their time. Those competing must itch to dance to them, must feel every movement, every beat. The listener must love listening to each number, must feel every movement, every beat with the dancer; must identify the tune with the dance, must say, "oh, is that a Rumba? That's cooool". The music and the dance must attract viewership - music maketh man.

Length of show
But first, the time it takes a fast bowler to walk to his mark, receive the ball, shine it in his groin, run up, bowl a no-ball or a bouncer that shoots over the wicketkeeper's head (no action, i.e.), is almost equivalent to the time it takes to dance a full action-packed number in this Super 5 dance contest.

Each show is ½-an-hour or an hour long with two 5-dance sections per broadcast, and televised once a week or every other week. The scores and prize money earned by everyone participating, as well as the scores and prize money earned by each province as a group, must be displayed frequently for all to see and envy - generate excitement.

Spares
In the event of the unforeseen, each province brings reserves, "dancers on the bench".

Tuition on TV
Should time permit, teach the viewer at home a variation or two in Cha-Cha, Tango, etc. viewer involvement = multiple viewership. The lesson could be conducted while the winning couples change for their honour dance. Occasionally, teach a "challenge" step for the more advanced dancer or to whose at home who think they can master a tricky pattern.

Traditionalists
A word to our traditionalists, ballroom is no longer the gentle art you once knew, it's now a big city, hard-ball, grubber game, and the sooner we accept and latch on to this new concept, the better. Let's get rid of the old stale, staid stuff that keeps ballroom unknown, let's manipulate its TV presence. As usual, nobody is listening, and all think it's a fool's paradise; the same "Sun City paradise" Kerzner fabricated, and that guy who fantasised about an oasis in the middle of the desert, now called Las Vegas - amen.
 
 


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