So the good news is my voice survived long enough for me to thrash the living hell out of it at the Red Devil Lounge last night.  Which was delightful.  Thanks to everyone who came by, and also to the Great Sand Waste for bringing us in, and to Cartographer for closing down the night in their wonderful, wonderful way!  And of course thanks to you three ballet pole dancers doing your thing in the back of the room during Cartographer’s set, who made it so intriguing to be… well, standing in the back of the room.  If you want to be our stage show ever, just drop us a line.  You’re hired.  You got it, kid - you got what it takes.

Anyway, so on to Beyonce.  Everybody except me apparently heard about this but I offer for your viewing pleasure the Beyonce video for “Single Ladies”:

And now the part that “everyone” heard about - the Gwen Verdon dance performance (from the Ed Sullivan show, it appears?) to the tune of “Mexican Breakfast” (not sure about that - doesn’t sound like huevos rancheros to me…) which many on the skeptical internet have claimed is far, far too similar to Beyonce’s video for their comfort:

I mean, come on - it really shouldn’t shock people that modern pop music dance choreography isn’t just blazing a new trail of wonderful, and certainly shouldn’t surprise anyone that a pop music diva’s dancey dance performance might be an homage, shall we say, to a performance choreographed by Bob Fosse.  Of all people.  As though any fancy sex-time pop music dance done today isn’t done in his shadow to some extent.  But we are all, apparently, quite shocked and appalled modern pop music artists who dance are not entirely making up new and avant garde dance notions when they produce their videos.  Since pop music is such the bastion of progressiveness.  Shocked, shocked and appalled.  Since we all such fans of modern, experimental and new dance.

Shockingly yours,

David

Tags: ballet, beyonce, boneless children foundation, choreography, dance, gwen verdon, Music, pole dance, pole dancing, single ladies