So You Think You Can Dance Malaysia 2 - Top 20 Roll Call

May 29 2008

Twenty finalists ; 10 guys and 10 girls have been chosen.

The guys are - Ray, Raymond, Fairul, Hanafi, Hong, Billy, Belalang, Chee Wei, Black and Sly.

The girls are - Farah, Samantha, Vivian, Zef, Joridah, Cecilia (CC), Jojo, Zen, Sim and Sarah.

Seventeen of the finalists are from the peninsula while three are from Sabah. Considering that one heat was held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, it was surprising to note that there were no finalists from the neighbouring state of Sarawak. Could it be due to a dearth of talents from Sarawak or that Sarawakians are not really into social dancing?

The finalists and their families were interviewed. The finalist told us a little about themselves; how they got into dancing, what they do for a living, their aspirations, etc. About 7 or 8 of the finalists said that they are either dance instructors or professional dancers. Is this good for the competition?

Next week, the contestants will be paired off at random and do a dance picked also at random. We wish them good luck and hope that they will be matched with a partner whom they can click and do a dance that both are good at.

Best Regards,

Dance Aficionado

What Is Natural And What Is Reverse?

Beginners of ballroom and Latin American dancing will usually be confused by the terms natural, reverse, natural turn and reverse turn. Basically in dancing nomenclature, natural means right and reverse means left. A natural turn therefore means a turn to your right and a reverse turn means a turn to your left. Well and good, but why didn't the dancing fraternity in the West use the words right for natural and left for reverse. In China they use the terms right and left instead of the literal translations for natural and reverse.When they use the word reverse in Chinese it actually means taking a step backwards!

The Oxford dictionary defines the word natural as - according to, provided by, nature; normal not artificial; innate; inborn; to be expected. The word reverse is defined as - opposite or contrary (to); inverted; back(ward); travel backwards.

I vividly remembered when I first started taking ballroom lessons and was doing the waltz when my dance teacher shouted at me to do a reverse turn. In a moment of confusion I instinctively took a step backwards on my left foot because it was ingrained in my brain that reverse means backwards as in reverse gear or reversing a car. It took me a while to rewire the synapses in my brain and come to terms with the dance terminology.

So why do the dancers in the West use the terms natural and reverse when right or left would have sufficed. Beats me! I have spoken to dancers, read books and trawled the internet for answers but have been unable to get a satisfactory reply. My hypothesis is that it has something to do with the human anatomy, specifically our hands. As the majority of people in the world are right-handed it was therefore considered normal or 'natural' when referring to the right as compared to left-handed people who are the opposite or reverse of the natural (i.e. right-handed people).

Another way of looking at it would be - if a turn to the right is a natural turn, then a turn to the left (i.e. in the opposite direction or reverse) would be a reverse turn. So much for the logic and rhetoric. Does my hypothesis make sense or does it sound confusing? Is there anyone out there who can shed some light on this conundrum? I will elaborate on some natural and reverse figures in future postings.

Best Wishes,

Dance Aficionado

Dancesport Malaysia

So You Think You Can Dance Malaysia 2 - Boot Camp

May 22, 2008

Out of 60 dancers, 20 (10 guys & 10 girls) were chosen for the final Top 20. Who are they? You'll get to know them next week.

In this episode we were shown as usual, the screams, hugs and shedding of tears.

The competition is heating up so keep posted for the latest comments every week.

Tune in to 8TV every Thursday at 9.30 p.m. to catch the action live! Do not forget to read the very interesting commentary on the competition by Dance Aficionado of Dancesport Malaysia, the next morning on this blog.

Best Regards,

Dance Aficionado

Dancesport Malaysia