S3 E20: The Street Dance of China & Legendary: Celebration and Subversion

10/04/20 • 48 min

In this episode, Diaodiao and Afra talk about their latest obsessions — dance competitions!

We are talking about Youku’s electrifying reality dance show "The Street Dance of China", and HBO Max's vogue ballroom dance competition "Legendary" with a special guest: Bazi, who is the father of House of Kawakubo, the first vogue ballroom family in China.

Bazi talks us through the dance genre known as voguing and why it's as much of a community as an art form. We compare the representations of female and LGBT dancers on the two shows, unpack our own experiences in the dance community, and explain why both of the shows celebrate a subversive culture but fail to be subversive themselves.

If you haven't watched either of the shows, don't worry, you can still enjoy this episode!

"Street Dance of China" Season 3 aired on July 18, 2020 and very soon became one of the most popular reality shows in post-pandemic China. The show features four celebrities who are known as "Captains." The captains pick their own team from a group of insanely talented dancers and battle the other teams for the final championship.

"Legendary" brings together eight ballroom houses to compete for a cash prize of $100,000. The show refuses to handhold its audience through the rich traditions, history and terminology of ballroom culture.

Street Dance of China Season 3 is on the air, why is it still popular?

HBO Max’s Legendary gives the ballroom community a deliriously fun twirl into the spotlight

E410.「人妖」李二毛的一生 故事fm

VOGUING! SHANGHAI! 聚焦中国首个 Ballroom 文化平台

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In this episode, Diaodiao and Afra talk about their latest obsessions — dance competitions!

If you haven't watched either of the shows, don't worry, you can still enjoy this episode!

Street Dance of China Season 3 is on the air, why is it still popular?

HBO Max’s Legendary gives the ballroom community a deliriously fun twirl into the spotlight

E410.「人妖」李二毛的一生 故事fm

VOGUING! SHANGHAI! 聚焦中国首个 Ballroom 文化平台

RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/258327.rss
Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=544416&refid=stpr
Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs.

Please reach out to us at [email protected] for any business inquiries.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

Previous Episode

S3 E19 Remembering RBG — Feminist fighter, role model and cultural icon

This is a very special episode we put together in 3 days. On September 18, 2020, Friday evening, we learned that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away at the age of 87. It was one of those news stories where you remember exactly what you were doing when you heard it.

For this episode, hosts Juan and Afra are joined by our guests Danmiao and Santu. Santu is in law school right now juggling between schoolwork and being a dad of two. Danmiao is a lawyer in New York City. Together we celebrate Notorious R.B.G’s life, legacy and her journey to pop culture icon. It’s actually a surprisingly uplifting episode, somehow.

*In this episode, you’ll hear:*

-How we learned of RBG’s death and how we processed the news

-What RBG means to each of us personally

-Ginsburg’s greatest contributions to women’s rights

-Why the soft-spoken justice became an unlikely pop culture icon in her last years

-How did the 2018 documentary R.B.G and the 2019 film “On the Basis of Sex” tell her story?

-Why is her death politically significant? What does it mean for our future in the U.S.

Links：

2019 “On the Basis of Sex”

https://www.focusfeatures.com/on-the-basis-of-sex

2018 documentary: R.B.G

https://www.rbgmovie.com/

Notorious R.B.G:

https://notoriousrbg.tumblr.com/

Nina Totenberg on the death of RBG:

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/18/100306972/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-champion-of-gender-equality-dies-at-87

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Itunes: https://apple.co/2VAVf0Z
Google play: goo.gl/KjRYPN
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IWNuRB
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=544416&refid=stpr
Pocket Cast: http://pca.st/nLid
Overcast: https://bit.ly/2SL7MNJ

Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs.

Please reach out to us at [email protected] for any business inquiries.

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

Next Episode

S3 E21: "Nomadland" and Laborers on the Open Road

In this episode, our three hosts Juan, Diaodiao and Ina discuss ‘Nomadland,’ a recent favorite of ours and of the film festival award circuit (winner of the top prize at the Venice Film Festival).

We try to put into words the ennui and other hard-to-grasp feelings the film evokes. We examine our own relationships with nature and the land on which we live, and we dive into the thorny social issue of caring for elderly laborers in both the U.S. and China.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

00:00-07:30 First impressions of “Nomadland”
07:30 - Frances McDormand’s sublime performance and how the movie can’t be contained by one genre
08:20 - How the film portrays space through storytelling and cinematography, the juxtaposition of the endless road and the cramped van
11:37 - The relationship between human and nature and land in the modern society
14:47 - The real social issues behind this poetic film
19:06 - How China and and the U.S. face similar yet different social issues with aging workers
23:32 - The decline of the welfare capitalism
31:07 - The nomadic lifestyle of those who turned away from the city life and the realities of being on the road
37:06 - How the movie manages a social critique without undermining individuals’ dignity, resourcefulness and resilience

Links：