The above was the description of dance by either Robert Frost or George Bernard Shaw, depending on which attribution you choose to believe. It was also how Shirley MacLaine described dance at last night’s Dizzy Feet Foundation benefit at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. She was honored with the organization’s Inspiration Award.
If you’re not familiar, the Dizzy Feet Foundation is a dance scholarship and community education organization started by several of the people from the shows “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing With the Stars” plus a certain former wife of Tom Cruise (the most recent one). They focus on dance education in under-served communities, which is especially necessary in these days of massive budget cuts, which often take aim at arts funding first.
I’ve been whining a lot about how long all of this cancer hooha is taking, but one of the benefits of the surgery being delayed is that I was able to go to the Dizzy Feet Foundation benefit last night. In addition to Ms. MacLaine (still looking fabulous, by the way), there were routines from SYTYCD and DWTS, plus pieces from the American Ballet Theater, Alvin Ailey, Desmond Richardson, LXD (look it up), championship ballroom dancers, and more. It was incredible, so I’ve been on YouTube all day…
First, the reason why Shirley MacLaine is such an inspiration:
And then one of the biggest thrills for me (because I am such a geek)… Twitch and Alex reuniting to perform the Psychiatrist piece from SYTYCD. For those who don’t know the back story… these two were contestants a couple of years ago. Twitch is a hip-hop dancer and Alex was classically trained in ballet. They did this hip-hop number and everyone was worried that Alex wouldn’t be able to do it. Watch the video and then keep reading for the surprise twists in the story.
Right after this routine, Alex, who was the forerunner to win the entire thing, was injured and had to drop out of the competition. For the finale, they decided to do this hip-hop number again but to have someone else take his place… I couldn’t find a YouTube link that would let me embed it so you’ll have to go watch the video at the link below – trust me, it’s worth it:
Anyway, so Twitch and Alex did this routine last night plus, for SYTYCD fans, Melanie and Marko did the Statues routine and Melissa and Ade did the Breast Cancer routine. Stunning.
I know all this has nothing to do with cancer or food or any of the things that this is supposed to be about but I had such a good time that I just had to share.
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