08.16.07
Anything Danny Crane can do I can do backwards and in high heels
I was watching Boston Legal on TV while stretching and there was a nice continuation of Sillä Silmällä, a show where a bunch of gay men style a heterosexual man, redecorate his home and coach him to an encounter with his girlfriend etc. I only saw a glimpse of this episode, but I managed to see two male (and at least in the series, heterosexual) lawyers dance in a closed position. The senior was practicing “for his wedding,” he said, the Mambo, and the younger lawyer just joined him in the most natural way in a closed position for quite a few phrases. They showed both a general view and – actually nice – footwork. The following is in German, but if you don’t understand, it doesn’t really matter. Mostly they are speaking business after they finish discussing mambo as embodiment of heart beats. Edit: Denny: It’s not on the one. It’s not the mambo. It’s a feeling, a heartbeat. Ka-chang, ka-chang, ka-chang!
Denny copies this scene from the movie Dirty Dancing, (1987 with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey) where Johnny tries to teach Baby to dance, but she steps on the one forcing them to start over and over.
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The senior partner was leading, as you would suppose, if he is practicing for his wedding, and the younger guy did some spins returning smoothly to the closed position. The execution of spins was not at all shaky, but confident. AND the purpose was not to make anyone laugh (keeping in mind the series’ humoristic touch), the scene was pretty natural, the moves were not funny but well-rehearsed, and they were not portraying gay people or trying to get something funny out of one gay, one straight person dancing together, like in Police Academy. More of this! And more of well-executed amateur partner dancing scenes instead of locking one’s elbows straight or twisting the arms while doing under arms… Very stylish indeed.
