Ballet is [not] the foundation of dance.

I have to agree with the author of this article. It has occurred to me many times that there is a very strong bias in dance. It is so common for TV dance and talent shows such as So you think you can dance, to feature a belly dancer and/ or a few 'ethnic' dancers in their initially auditions teasers. If the actual audition was shown, it would invariably get a patronising smile and a comment along the lines of 'very entertaining' ... NEXT! As if to say - 'There! We endured that spectacle to make the selection process seem diverse, now lets get to the proper dancers.' Mary Murphy's guest judging on the Australian SYTYCD a number of years back ,will be forever burned in my mind - "BOLLYWOOD!"' she shrieked, "What the hell is Bollywood?" (Ok, I am not sure if that was word perfect but it was something close to that). I was shocked. Even relatively conservative people in the regional area I live in have heard of Bollywood movies and associate them with dance sequences. For a dance 'judge' on a show purportedly about choosing the best all round dancer, I found this admission quite horrifying. Don't get me wrong - I loved watching SYTYCD (particularly the Aussie version) and have met and danced with choreographers and finalists on the show. I am glad the show was created. It has raised the profile of dancers and for that I am grateful. Nor do I have it in for Ballet. I have taught those with a Ballet background, I found them excellent with lines and turns but that they often struggled with hip and chest isolations. This doesn't mean Ballet is bad or Belly dance is bad. They offer a different aesthetic and style of movement. I just take the fairly radical view that I don't believe one is superior to the other. PS, I don't like the term 'ethnic' to describe non-european dances but used it here to make a point about the culturally perspective that prevails in Australia, Europe and the US. I also enjoyed this scholarly article and argument that Ballet could be considered 'ethnic' depending on ones perspective ;) http://thebestofhabibi.com/vol-18-no-3-march-2001/ballet-as-ethnic-dance/ What are your thoughts? Please comment below.