Dance tilt participants take the easy way out

MOTO. The final square-off’s obvious winner.

TV5’s “Celebrity Dance Battle” held its second seasonal finals round last week, with Iwa Moto and Shalala determinedly squaring off for top honors. We were surprised to see that portly comedian Shalala had previously managed to trounce the competition and get into the finals, but the final dance-off we caught explained everything:

As dance tilts go, “Celebrity Dance Battle” has set a dismayingly low “level of difficulty” for itself. Thus, the gay comic’s surprisingly good showing, despite the simplicity of the steps and poses he executed. He probably won extra points for the “fun” factor he added to the desultory proceedings.

As for Iwa, she was rather overweight, but did more dancing, so she was the square-off’s obvious winner—even if, on point of actual “degree of difficulty,” her and her dance partner’s performance wasn’t anything to write home to mother about.

Local celebrities are “famous” for taking the easy way out when it comes to preparing for talent competitions, so the “stellar” dance tilt’s less than impressive and thrilling outcome last week was merely par for the desultory course.

When compared to more legit “battles” like “Dancing with the Stars,” where the stellar contestants “kill” themselves to come up with prodigiously dazzling competition numbers, our homegrown tilt is merely a walk—or even crawl—in the park.

Low expectations

Why do our stars feel that it’s OK for them to come up with such phlegmatic work, and pass it off as a competition-level effort? Part of the problem is local viewers’ relatively low expectations of our stars and starlets, who aren’t required to do more than just—look good!

It also doesn’t help that the jurors on “Celebrity Dance Battle” are so “enablingly” obliging and “supportive.” The way most of them see and say it, lazy and lousy dances are “a good try,” and mediocre performances are wonderful!

It’s a good thing nobody has come up with a “good” or “very good” number—because most of the jurors wouldn’t have the adulatory vocabulary left to describe it!

It would be easy to shrug our shoulders, throw up our hands and just dismiss this penchant for unembarrassed amateurism as yet another indication of how “hopeless” the local performing situation is. —But, if we’re content and resigned to be so cavalierly dismissive, how will our performers really improve?

It’s up to shows like “Celebrity Dance Battle” to slowly but steadily raise the bar of contestants and viewers’ expectations, so that the situation can go from rank amateurism to at least semiprofessionalism in the reasonably near future.

Otherwise, we’ll be doomed to keep kicking ourselves in the butt till the end of our unstellar days—while breathlessly raving about it!