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My Turn by Toni Tabora-Roberts

From The Asian Reporter, V19, #24 (June 23, 2009), page 6.

In conjuring up images of Asians dancing, what most likely comes to mind for many of us is something like the traditional Chinese lion dance, or perhaps a Khmer (Cambodian) or Indian classical dance, each complete with imported, exotic music and elaborate, colorful costumes. As a teen growing up as part of the Philippine American Youth of Ohio, I spent weekends toiling away learning Filipino folk dances which we performed in the community. (The dance I did was a Filipino peasant dance in which we mimicked the planting and harvesting of rice. It was cute.)

While these types of "back-to-your-roots" dances certainly have cultural value and highlight the diversity of Asian ethnicities and experiences, I often worry these images also serve to keep Asian Americans "other-ized" and create a false sense of cultural diversity in our community.

Which brings me to reality. Reality TV. I know, as a good liberal I probably should not admit I own a TV, let alone actually enjoy watching TV, and further, that one of my favorite things to watch is reality TV — in particular, the American voter-driven dance competitions "America’s Best Dance Crew" (a.k.a. ABDC) and "So You Think You Can Dance?" (a.k.a. SYTYCD).

As with many of these types of reality shows, the American public phones in votes for its favorite competitors. With that in mind, here are some exciting factoids about my favorite dance TV shows (which may give a clue as to why I’m fascinated):

• All three of the winning dance crews of ABDC for its completed three seasons were predominantly Asian Pacific American (APA) — JabbaWockeeZ, Super Cr3w, and Quest Crew.
• The year JabbaWockeeZ won ABDC, MTV announced that more than 40 million viewers voted.
• Many other ABDC dance crews included APAs among their dancers, most notably (and most popularly) Kaba Modern, SoReal Cru, Beat Freaks (a very cool, all-girl crew), and Fanny Pak. (Fanny Pak is my all-time favorite crew. I like to think of them as the theatre-geek dance crew — quirky and creative with kick-butt moves.)
• Katee Shean, whose mom is Japanese, was the runner up on last season’s SYTYCD, winning a surprise $50,000 for being America’s "favorite female dancer." (Typically, there’s only a top prize of $250,000 for the overall winner.)
• This season on SYTYCD, three of the top 20 dancers are APAs — Karla Garcia, Asuka Kondoh, and Kupono Aweau. Fifteen percent is not too shabby for APA representation!

I’m all for having more APA faces in the media. Often, fictional works have a difficult time placing Asians outside or beyond the more stereotypical roles. We still continually see our APA brothers and sisters as kung-fu artists, the heavily accented immigrant workers, or the nerdy science geeks.

What’s irresistibly fun and exciting about shows such as ABDC and SYTYCD is that we’re seeing Asian people (and Latinos and African Americans) on TV doing what they do. They are being judged and lauded because of their creativity and talent without (much) regard for their ethnicity. What’s more, these programs are hugely popular. Tens of millions of people across the country tune in and call in to vote.

Of course a show like SYTYCD certainly takes into account the diversity of its cast when choosing the top 20 dancers. (SYTYCD is a veritable Benetton ad of gorgeous young faces and bodies.) However, the diversity is more interestingly layered, based not just on looks, but also dance styles, experience, and personality. With that, we’ve been blessed with a cast that includes a Japanese American who performs extremely sexy Latin ballroom dancing and a Hawaiian contemporary dancer with nary a hula skirt in sight. Who would have guessed reality TV could actually help break stereotypes?

The other night I was out for happy hour with some very smart, progressive, activist APA friends. Somehow, SYTYCD bubbled up in the conversation. I was surprised (and exonerated) to hear that five of the six of us were giddy with excitement for this season’s competition, which is just getting underway. Sure, we can think of it as a silly, cheesy reality TV show (which it is), but we can also look at it as a mainstream media platform that has embraced images of a variety of talented people of color. Either way, I’ll be tuning in each week.