You Dance Because You’re Brainless
September 17, 2008 | Filed under Media
This is going to be the last post about SYTYCD until next year, I promise. I’m not a rabid fangirl, I swear. Anyway, as I mentioned last time, we’re about a month behind America in the screenings of each show. Tonight, we got the last show of the fourth season, where the top 20 dancers return to the stage to re-perform the best dances of the season for the sole purpose of filling the program timeslot. I watched it with my mother, and we ended up having an argument regarding dancing and dancers.
“Why didn’t you ever enroll me in any classes when I was younger?” I demanded. “I could have been up on that stage dancing. Or I could have been singing and strumming a guitar on Australian Idol. Or I could have been doing XYZ on XYZ talent spotting TV show.”
“Don’t you think that dancers only become dancers because they don’t have the capacity to become good students? As a good student, you didn’t need to dance or do music,” she replies.
Because, you know, being talented with either your hands, your voice, or your body means that you automatically don’t have a brain and you only get into it because it was the only option open to you. I’m not even going to go into how wrong that is.
20 Responses to You Dance Because You’re Brainless
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Bleh.
Jordan is living proof that your mother is a silly child. He’s a GREAT musician and also happens to pwn at everything else on the face of this Earth.
>_< Tsk tsk
April on September 17, 2008 #
Your mum obviously hasn’t met me.
Tracey on September 17, 2008 #
Duh, we’re Asians. Only those of us who are not doctors, lawyers or engineers would need to dance or do music.
Vickie on September 17, 2008 #
I was always treated like that in school too. I was always told the reason I was so good at art was because I was dumb. It used to really affect me, so much that I began failing. I may not be as super smart as you and I never went to University but I know I do art not because I didn’t want to achieve anything academically but because art is my passion.
Bobbi-lee on September 17, 2008 #
Your mother’s reasoning is very flawed, however from a certain point of view I agree with her. Just because you’re a dancer/singer/artist it does by no means mean that you’re stupid. On the other hand, if I had a job I like which also pays me enough, I wouldn’t feel the need to go and perform.
Sure, if your lifelong dream is that of becoming a singer/musician the reasoning above fails. However, as far as I see them here, most contestants just go there to have fun. That’s all nice and fine while in university/high school, but when I have a stable 9 – 5 job, missing for 4 months is not really that appealing or easy.
Vera on September 18, 2008 #
Sounds like typical ultra-conservative parent reasoning, LOL. Your mom reminds me of my father. He’s made comments like that before, actually :P He always supported my art, but only as a hobby. For years my “life plan” was to be some sort of artist (as in drawing, painting, designing stuff, etc.), but he always said those aren’t careers, and that are only to be followed by those who want to starve to death and those who have no other options. He always said, “You’re smart, you can do more!”.
On the other hand, one of my sisters (now 17 years old and a senior in high school) has always done very poorly in school, and when she talks about going to college to be and XYZ “hard major”, he tells her that she won’t be able to handle it and that she better just become an artist or a singer. She never even bothers discussing academic stuff with him anymore because he always brings up how there is no hope for her doing what she wants because she’s never done good in school. My grandma thinks the same thing. One day grandma said to my mom “why do you bother with her and about her grades, she’s not meant to go to college, she’s going to be a singer, if anything!”.
That concept about artists being brainless by default is really twisted :P
Lene on September 18, 2008 #
Ugh, she sounds like my mum. Whenever I was little and dreamed of being an actress or whatever (as you do), she always used to say “Oh no, you don’t want to be that, it’s a waste of your life. With a brain like yours, you could be a fine scientist” – which obviously isn’t so appealing when you’re 6.
She has just managed to grasp the idea that I might actually turn singing into a career, provided I have a backup plan (which I suppose is common sense – she was a musician until she came across some bad luck, and didn’t have another option), but she still doesn’t like the idea that I actually may not be that Nobel Prize-winning scientist who discovers a cure for the common cold. Because of course, anything else I do with my life would be a “waste of my talents”. Btw who said singing wasn’t a talent?
Ann on September 18, 2008 #
Your mom and my mom could be best friends! :P My mother happens to think anyone involved in physical activity is too stupid to concentrate on their studies, which is just taking the dumb jock stereotype too far. She doesn’t understand that school sports only help me with my time management, but she does let me take violin lessons because that’s what good little azn girls do.
Meg on September 18, 2008 #
I apologise for the generalisation, but don’t Asian families encourage their children to play musical instruments or do other fine arts? I know that’s not always the case, but all my friends of Asian descent have parents that encourage (and sometimes even force) them to have talents outside of academics.
Reply: I think it also comes down to what economic bracket the family falls into. Middle class kids might get violin or piano lessons, but working class kids like myself would get further academic tutoring at night and on weekends in the hope that their education will allow them to move out of the working class when they’re older.
Arielle on September 18, 2008 #
LOL. My Mum used to say the same thing, until I told her I planned on studying fine art in uni! I don’t know the logic behind her saying that though, because I used to do acrylic/water colour classes outside of school when I was younger, and she was the one who wanted me to do those classes :P.
Melinda on September 18, 2008 #
My mother wouldn’t let me pursue what I will call “those kinds of things” for a lack of a better term because she said it would never support me in life. And she’s being all supportive of my cousin who wants to be an artist. I say “????”
In any case, your mother’s reasoning sounds a little bit more flawed..
Shen-Shen on September 18, 2008 #
I really wish my mom enrolled me in dance lessons, but Asian parents usually don’t go for that kind of stuff. It’s usually extra tutoring in math and science…
Regina on September 18, 2008 #
Aww, it always makes me upset when I hear parents talk like that. Sure, academics are important, but sometimes extracurricular activities are just as important. My mother let my try EVERYTHING when I was a kid, even the things I didn’t want to try. From piano lessons to gymnastics to soccer to softball to art classes to acting lessons to voice lessons to dancing, I think I covered my bases as far as activities go. When I got older, I chose what things I wanted to focus my time and effort on. My studies always had to keep up, but it gave me even more incentive to do well in the extracurricular.
Caitlin on September 18, 2008 #
I wonder if your Mother’s theory works in the opposite direction. When I was younger I did ballet, gymnastics, singing and played a range of musical instruments….And failed at most of them. Does that mean I have a good brain? :P
It’s not too late to so something! Let’s take dance classes!
Alexandra on September 18, 2008 #
That theory is kind of offensive. Most artists are abstract thinkers and make it very far in life because theyre creative, innovative and quick on their feet. Books are great and all and but extracurricular activities are important. Harvard wont even accept a student who is a 4.0 unless theyve had some extracurricular activities throughout school. Shame on your mother. If you want to dance, then dance. But thats how parents are.. in the end they do want the best for their kids.
solae* on September 18, 2008 #
That’s terrible, but maybe all your mother needs is a little exposure to the artsy types. Then, she can see for herself how intelligent they are. My mother has a different mindset – school and our grades were important to her, but she also forced instruments and such on us. Growing up, a child who didn’t play an instrument (at least briefly) or take dance lessons of some sort was a rarity.
Chantelle on September 19, 2008 #
That’s a bit sad, and makes me realise how lucky I was with my parents. Growing up, I was doing music, dance, and more sport than could reasonably be fit into a week, and no-one in their right mind could say it affected my academics (although, who knows, without it maybe I could be a Nobel prize winner by now?!).
The argument that someone up there was making about having a good job meaning they wouldn’t want/’need to perform is, I think, rather flawed, and completely ignoring the fact that most people who do these kinds of jobs have a passion for it that means they rather be doing it than something that pays more or is more stable. Money ain’t everything – if it were, we wouldn’t have cops, firemen, social workers, artists. A lot of people who already have great careers give them up for a shot at succeeding at their passion, whether it’s dance, singing, sport, flying, whatever.
Finally, a few examples of people who obviously don’t fit the stereotype (using examples other than dance, cos I know nothing about dancers).
Matthew Liptak: AFL player, also a doctor.
Matthew Clarke: AFL player, qualified vet.
Rich Franklin: former UFC middleweight champion, formerly a maths teacher (with a Masters in Education to boot)
Many professional singers/musicians have degrees in Music, which is no easy degree, and I would say much harder and work-intensive than any Arts degree, and many Science degrees.
And finally, my favourite: Brian May of Queen is also an astrophysicist.
Rebekah on September 19, 2008 #
hmm…I tend to come across a lot of people who happened to be the best academically and artistically. For instance, the 7% of students that were ahead of me in rankings in high school, sheesh, they were in sports, music, and all the honors classes and they were at the top of them all. I always thought, “why are all these people good at EVERYTHING! nothing is left for me” haha :P
marilyn on September 19, 2008 #
Two of my friends in high school are sisters that have both been enrolled in honors classes and have been dancing for 5-6 years. Your mom’s logic doesn’t work there.
When it comes to making a living performing arts fields are way competitive, and you have to be the best of the best to make a decent/well living. But when it comes to hobbies and extracurricular activities that come after studying it’s not so bad. My father supports my piano lessons and choir activities as a hobby and not something to take up as a career.
Merinn on September 20, 2008 #
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