Television: Taking the stage-MTV

[calamitous]

I have debated about posting about this for a while and if not appropriate please delete.

MTV has been filming this "reality" show at my DD's school all year. Here is a link to some general information about it

 

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/127438.html

 

4 of the 5 featured kids are dancers in the school's ballet program. That is the only dance program available at the school, even though the shows producers spend a lot of time talking about hip-hop. The 2 girls have both been in ballet at the school for years- the one went to Ailey with D last summer. The two boys have been in ballet for less time (about 3 years for 1 and less than 2 years for the other). Since most of the main kids are dancers the show spends a lot of time on dance and in the ballet classes. There are scenes from classes, nutcracker and they are still filming and will feature the up-coming ballet Jungle Book, as well as other dance things.

 

As caveats, it is MTV so there is way more focus on hip-hop than really exists at the school, it is "reality" TV so there are many staged items (anything set as a competition is MTV since the school does not do competitions), and they decided to follow some kind of story line with sufficient 'drama' to keep a teen audience. Oh and they do have academic classes but I don't think there is any footage of this.

 

I know DD is in many background shots, in class some stage scenes and such but never as a featured kid, just not her style. I am ecited and fearful to see what they have done, I hope some will give it a look.

[Momof3darlings]

I am looking forward to it calamitous! I've been seeing the commercials and was hopeful it would be a good show. Hopefully MTV will do the school justice. Do you know if there are two shows like this coming on or if they changed the name of the show? I had written down dates a long time ago when I first saw a commercial but had another name and then more recently this one. I'm confused if they announced one name and then changed it or if there are two dance reality shows coming on this spring.

[calamitous]

I think that there may be 2 shows, although I have to say I have never spent so much time paying attention to MTV. I am not sure what the other is but not sure what it is called since I have only paid attention to the one.

[MBF]

I am looking forward to this show too. Even more now that I hear a lot of it is dance focused. I also hope the show editing does the school justice.

[msd]

I am excited and fearful to see what they have done, I hope some will give it a look.

 

I have the same emotions when I see "MTV" and "reality" in the same sentence...but dd and I will definitely be glued to the TV!

[DDlovesme]

I thought that I had heard, when it was advertised on MTV, that the school was in San Francisco or San Diego, CA but the link to the playbill above says the school is in Ohio. I wonder if maybe there are 2 different shows. I know DD is looking forward to seeing it tonight.

[vagansmom]

I wish we had MTV! I'd love to see that show, calamitous. I can imagine how excited and scared you are. and that it's a great show!

[Dance_Scholar_London]

This sounds exciting. Hopefully, it will be released on itunes!

[vivaballet]

I watched the show last night and turned it off after 30 minutes. My non dancing son auditioned at SCPA a few years ago (and was accepted so I am very familiar with the school) and this show was so contrived and scripted, I was very disappointed by it. I know the school has a lot more to show then what was presented by MTV. The school auditions are very interesting and the talent at the school is unbelievable, I saw very little of it on the show. I really would have loved to have seen a real experience of the ups and downs of an arts school (even their audition process is neat to watch) Thankfully my son is at a local arts magnet high school now and I can tell you they do not break out into song and dance at lunch!

[Momof3darlings]

I didn't get to turn in until halfway through. I have a show that I watch normally during that time so I forgot. I did turn in though, it didn't engage me enough for me to keep it on. I'll probably give it a chance later since I know MTV will play it over and over again. But I hope it gets better!!!

[calamitous]

Yes parts are contrived and if we did not know many of the kids in the show personally, I probabaly would not keep watching. But then I am not the demographic MTV is aiming for. I hope they show more from classes and I believe next week they will be showing parts of Nutcracker but I don't really know. They were going to show parts from Cats, the fall musical but were refused rights. The problem I have is I would like it to be closer to a docu-drama and MTV wants it to have a story line (I gues).

Vivaballet, the problem with showing auditions is that everyone who appears must sign a release form for them and it probably was not worth the effort to try and get these.

[vivaballet]

I had not thought about the release. I guess this show was produced by Nick Lachey, one of their alumni, good exposure for the school and if nothing else I hope they are able to get funding for their new school from it. However, the story line is lame and I doubt I will watch anymore unfortunately.

[Momof3darlings]

It is probably also good to mention that Fame (the TV show) was panned by many critics the 1st season even though many of us who loved the arts watched. What saddens me is that TV in this case has to be "created" I'm sure just being there and filming what goes on a daily basis would make good TV. Yeah though if the school sees some money from it! Good show or bad that's a good thing.

[Amylia]

They filmed part of this at my school (Columbia College Chicago) as well, as one of the featured dancers is looking into attending my college. They filmed one of my friends rehearsals and part of our senior seminar as well as other things I'm sure. I had to sign a release form, I'm wondering if anything from my school will make the final cut or if it will all end up on the cutting room floor. One of the faculty members of my school is an alum of this high school, so she said they interviewed her as well.

[Blackswans]

I have not watched the show. I do not watch reality TV. If I want to see a ballet/dance documentary, then I will rent/buy one. With that said, I think the people on this board who *are* watching it, if they want to enjoy it, should try to step out of the ballet lover/student/parent bubble and have a broader perspective. Most teens-early 20s watch reality TV for drama- not for quality dance training coverage. MTV most likely did not create this show to expose the world of ballet to the masses, they created this show to make a profit. Drama sells. In the same light, I don't think their primary concern is to give the school publicity or make it attractive to potential candidates. If it were their primary goal, perhaps they'd include more things like audition processes, and stay truer to the curriculum (less hip hop talk). But MTV is out there to do what any reality show creator does: stage fake drama and earn money for it. I don't think this is the type of show to tune into if you're hoping to see a true depiction.

 

Just my thoughts.