I got the idea for this thread from a thread over in the Prince section. Anyway, this thread is about dancing television shows and which ones had the coolest dancing as opposed to which ones had the most horrible dancing.

"Soul Train" from the 1970s and early 1980s had the best dancing (although they couldn't fuck with the dancers on our local show "Black Gold"). The dancing was spontaneous and full of natural rhythm. They basically danced because they felt the music. There was no rehearsing, they just went with the feeling.

"American Bandstand" had some dancers that could really dance but most of them hopped around doing "The Carlton Dance" like the rhythmless girl in the Bruce Springsteen video.

"Dance Fever".....well, I'll put it this way, I enjoyed the music on the show but the only dancers I liked were the black couples that would come on and do pop/lock type dances or either dance next to each other. I hated all that ballroom looking dancing where the couples had contact with each other and the man was always picking the woman up. It looked dorky and old fashioned looking.

"Fame" and "Solid Gold". What can I say, these two shows had the absolute worst dancing. They danced like something straight off of a broadway or ballet stage. One word....dorky. Hell to the naw! I used to love the two shows (for the plot on "Fame" and for the music on "Solid Gold") but as for the dancing, I used to tune in just to make fun of it.

Anyway, what were/are some of your favorite dancing shows and what did you think of them?

Hey,I liked the Solid Gold dancers Yes,the routines were usually horrible,but it was all very dramatic and fun to watch (at times).

vainandy said:

1. I agree with you 100% on Soul Train (but I'll say every episode BEFORE 1990! )

2. Club MTV with Downtown Julie Brown had some very good dancers as well.

3. And lets not forget about The Party Machine with Nia Peeples. Those dancers were good. And they also had balance with dance-pop, hip-house, and hip-hop above the 95 BPM mark.

4. Although Top of The Pops was only in the UK and never shown in the USA, at least there are plenty of classic 70's & 80's episodes on YouTube to show that those dancers were good as well to an extent. But if you wanted to research something better in the UK than that show, The Hitman & Her was excellent in the very late 80's & early 90's. Nothing but pure club/dance hits were play on that show & the dancers were good as well (especially the brotha that already dress up like a lion. ).
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[Edited 9/12/08 11:39am]

I got bored with "Soul Train" musicwise around 1985 but as far as the dancers go, around 1983 or so, those dancers started dancing like stiff white girls.

Oops Tony, I forgot about "The Party Machine". I didn't care for the way the dancers danced but I loved the music they were playing during that era. Lots of house and dance music. After about five years of the Shitney Houston era of music, all this fast dance music was in the mainstream during the time of "The Party Machine" and we were finally getting back on the right track. It felt kinda like the disco era again during that period. Then shit hop had to come along and make things even worse than the Shitney Houston era.
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[Edited 9/12/08 11:46am]

vainandy said:

By January 1994, gangsta rap pretty much killed almost everything. As a matter of fact, Planet Soul's Set U Free in 1995 was THE last house/dance hit that I ever heard on FM radio when hip-hop (@ 95 BPM), grunge rock, & contemporary country dominated all of mainstream radio.

This is a little off the topic but, do any of you remember a dance show called, "Hot City"? It had a girl that dressed up in the costume that was supposed to look like fire...In fact, that was her name and she had her own she sang the them song for the show. Anybody remember, or am I dreaming?

Well, you're lucky because that one never made it to radio in my area. I've heard "Set U Free" but only in the gay clubs. As far as radio goes, probably the last time I heard a housy type jam on the radio was Robin S "Show Me Love" in 1994, and they rarely played it. It was also one of the only fast jams they played. I mean, three or four hours of slow ass shit hop and then here comes one little jam on the radio and that's supposed to satisfy somebody. I finally took all stations that play current music off my dial in 1996. There were one or two more fast rap songs such as Quad City DJs or Dis N Dat on the radio between 1994 to 1996 but it was the same situation as with Robin S. which was hours and hours of slow shit hop then all of a sudden one fast song comes on. It's fucking rediculous. You see I've done got to typing a lot. I get pissed just thinking about it.

Oh, I forgot...as far as people saying...."well radio can't play fast songs if nobody makes them"....well, that's a damn lie because the gay clubs were still throwing down during this time. It's done got so bad nowadays though that even the gay clubs are playing shit hop. I just stay my ass at home nowadays.
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[Edited 9/12/08 13:32pm]

I never saw that one.

vainandy said:

Courtney Cox!
http://www.youtube.com/wa...k8VZgJkpeg
3:15 in!
[Edited 9/12/08 13:34pm]