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A Question for a Dance Critic: What is the object of your criticism?

© Shannon Stowe

Many thanks to guest author, Shannon Stowe, for contributing the following thought-provoking article this month. Shannon is a Bay Area director, choreographer and performer. She has just completed a run as a Kit Kat Girl in The Bus Barn Theater's (Los Altos, CA) production of Cabaret. A graduate of San Francisco State's MA program in Drama, Shannon has also completed Yale University's Professional Directors Training program and had been dancing for over 20 years with an emphasis on ballet and jazz.

I hope you enjoy her article as much as I do. ~KD

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Following the opening of the musical Cabaret, a local newspaper review came out in which the critic made the following statement: "[The Kit Kat Girls] do a marvelous job of converting the ugliness of the mismatched, misshapen and vulgar Kit Kat Klub dancers into a unique beauty of their own."

Yes, it appears as quite a compliment, but further evaluation of this statement led many of the dancers in the show to question what the reviewer meant by 'misshapen.'

Various dictionaries define the word as "having a shape that is not natural," "so badly formed or out of shape as to be ugly," and "having a bad or ugly form." The argument arose as to whether or not the critic was making a judgment about the various body types of the dancers. It was the directors choice to cast women who represented the reality of the Kit Kat Klub in pre-war Germany. One can safely say that this does not include today's Balanchine-influenced, media-driven slight and tiny woman. Perhaps he meant it symbolically. The dancers were mismatched in their costume and size, and were disfigured with makeup to represent a battered, bruised, and desperate Germany. On the other hand, it would appear that he is making a judgment about the size of the dancers. The word 'misshapen' implies judgment based on a societal imposed impossible ideal. It also implies that the performers should be shapely as opposed to misshapen. The word is not an acceptable criticism of the show, rather, it is a subjective criticism based on a preference for looks. An acceptable criticism would have been to truthfully acknowledge that the dancers were a realistic depiction of women of all shapes and sizes. While the argument can be made that his choice of language is symbolic, the argument can also be made that, as common usage of the word demonstrates, an inappropriate criticism is being made of the performers. The question arises, what is the object of his criticism?

The copyright of the article A Question for a Dance Critic: What is the object of your criticism? in Dance is owned by Shannon Stowe. Permission to republish A Question for a Dance Critic: What is the object of your criticism? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.