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## HEADING: DANCING & ## LEFT COLUMN 321. DANCING & Makes Me Feel Like Watching TV On a new PBS series, 18 countries full of dancing Terry Teachout once remarked that most people don't know how to watch dance. "They sit there wondering what it's about, trying to understand it," she said. "They should be asking, 'What's in it for me?' Until recently, of course, nobody needed such a lesson. Throughout the world, people traditionally have seen dancing as inseparable from life's most important moments. When Japanese court dancers enact an elaborate ritual in honor of a new emperor, they are upholding the imperatives of the social order; when the samba pulses through a Brazilian Carnival, dancers are celebrating their African roots. But in this country, home of the square dance and the Lady Hop, where millions of people dance like mad at parties and weddings, many Americans hold fast to the distinction between art and fun, the serious and the social. For our skewed vision of dance, it's hard to think of a better corrective than "Dancing," a four-part, eight-hour PBS series beginning this week. Filmed on location in 18 countries, "Dancing" investigates not styles or stars but ideas: dance in religion, dance at court, dance as the product of colliding cultures. The third program, for instance, "Sex and Social Dance," moves among different cultures to show how each conveys lessons in morals and behavior through formal social dancing. While kids in the Cook Islands grin and wriggle as they dance in joyful groups, their counterparts in Connecticut wear white gloves and bobber the waltz without a trace of rhythm or spontaneity. For many viewers, the surprise of this series may be the relatively scant attention it pays to dance as most fans know it best—ballet and modern, onstage. "It's an honest reflection of how much dance in the world is modern and ballet," says executive producer Rhoda Grauer. "Not much." Ballet shows up most prominently in "Dance Centers," where the Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg shares the hour with Japan's gorgeous and meticulous dance-drama, Kabuki. As the show moves back and forth between the Kirov and Kabuki, we are constantly reminded of how both forms are based on utterly weird stylistic devices that gain enormous power in performance. Modernism arrives front and center in the last part of the series, with portraits of such groundbreaking figures as Isadora Duncan, George Balanchine and Martha Graham. The most conventional show of them all, this one gets a huge boost from the use of rarely seen archival films. Several unusual snippets offer a striking glimpse of Katherine Dunham, who introduced African and Caribbean styles to the concert stage beginning in the 1940s. In conjunction with "Dancing," some 65 cities are showcasing their own companies this spring and summer, most in free performances. Some of these local troupes—and "local" means Indian, African, Cambodian and Native American, among others—are little-known even in their communities. "Everything in the series exists right here," says Grauer. Maybe these are the artists who will change our thinking about dancing and ourselves. LAURA BRADFORD 1. THE POWER OF DANCE (Debut) 5/7/93 GREAT PERFORMANCES: Rudolf Nureyev. 5/10/93 2. SEX & THE SOCIAL DANCE. 5/14/93 3. NEW WORLDS, NEW FORMS. 5/21/93 ## RIGHT COLUMN 322. DANCING: 2. 4. THE INDIVIDUAL & TRADITION. (Last episode-2 Hrs. ea.) 5/28/93 SEPERATE JOURNEYS: Dances of: Indians, Greek, Jewish, Hispanic and Japanese heritages. NUTCRACKER: THE MOTION PICTURE w/Pacific Northwest Ballet. (1986) DAME EDNA w/Chubby Checker. (1989) 1950's HIT PARADE. Time/Life ad. DANCE CRAZY IN HOLLYWOOD.(1990) Choreographer HERMES PAN. 1910-90. * DANCE CRAZY IN HOLLYWOOD (AME) Choreographer Hermes Pan discusses his work with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Shirley MacLaine and Bob Fosse, among others, as he introduces clips from some popular films, including Kiss Me Kate. 323. Dirty Dancing DIRTY DANCING. Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Cynthia Rhodes, Jerry Orbach. It's the summer of '63, the time of their lives and the love story of your dreams. A naive 17-year-old girl and a randome dance instructor make the sparks fly at a Catskill resort. Everything dance abounds! Color. (1987). 105 min. RAY KNIGHT (Old home Movies) SAMMY DAVIS, Jr. On USA TODAY WATCH ME MOVE. Docu. on Blacks contributions to music and dance. Archival clips. ☆☆☆ GREGORY HINES' Tap Dance in America w/Tommy Tune, Sandman Sims & Hinton Battle. 5/19/89 THAT'S DANCING. (1985) Toe-tapping relation to "That's Entertainment". 20's thru 80's. E.T.: DANCE CRAZES. INSIDE ED.: Intvs. 2/12/91