Do television networks no longer think dance programs draw enough ratings? Dance is certainly on the cards at the moment with Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman starring in the ballet drama Black Swan. Glee is popular and So You Think You Can Dance America is still going strong after eight seasons.

There’s no doubt performers will continue to remain passionate about their craft but there is a feeling among the dance community that their art may fall out of the spotlight without media support.

Channel 10 publicity told me last week there are ‘no plans’ to bring ‘So You Think You Can Dane Australia’ back to screens in 2012 but they have not ruled out its return. In other words, it’s on an indefinite break.

Show creator Nigel Lythgoe has expressed his dissatisfaction with Channel 10 dumping the program. Lythgoe told Dance Informa magazine he’s prepared to take the program to another Australian television network. It’s nice Lythgoe has noticed the show’s negelct down under. Then again he’s probably after the show royalties from its airing in Australia.

Nevertheless, the show is entertaining, gives dancers a shot at professional work and is a quality Australian-made production. Looks like the program is literally, “Dancing for its life” in a battle to win over TV executives. Watch this space.

Contestants from last year's SYTYCD at the 2010 Logie Awards

Rage until you puke. This was the original title creator Mark Fitzgerald devised in 1987. From the unhinged screaming in the opening theme song to the vomit coloured letters in the logo, Rage intended to give viewers uninterrupted musical pleasure through all hours of the night.

Nothing beats downing a bowl of cereal in your pyjamas on a Saturday morning glued to the television in excitement at the random selection of new releases about to unfold.

Alternatively, fumbling for the remote at 3am, with a kebab in the other hand and a couple of mates around to discuss the bizarre uncensored material playing in the early hours of the morning is a wonderful end to a night out.

Ah, the many joys of Rage. Sure the decor is straight from the 80s and it’s easy to access music clips via the Internet but there are advantages that music television shows have over streaming individual clips online:

1. There’s no waiting to buffer
2. No fuzzy screen quality
3. It avoids stop/start selection of songs

Then there’s the amusing guest programmers who according to Rage producers, are shocked by the freedom they have in revealing their shameful music choices. When sharing their favourite songs with viewers, the bands explanations are raw, unscripted and often unpredictable.

Rage fans are so loyal and resistant to program changes, there was public outcry when the producers introduced the ABC1 watermark on the screen. While many audience members remain committed, others are drifting towards online music channels.

By Erica Marshall

In a Melbourne forum last year, Rage producer Sophie Zoellner said she acknowledged online competition but believes Rage is justified in the digital world because it exposes viewers to new music.

“One of the best things is you could just turn it on and just get a surprise. Something you’ve never even heard about something,  something you never probably would’ve heard about and you might really enjoy it.”

Gone are the days when you would wait for your favourite top 40 video to screen on Rage and hit the record button on the VCR, savouring every frame for later watching. YouTube and Vevo give the audience videos on demand, peer recommendations, worldwide commentary from other music fans and of course, the chance to upload your own original songs, covers and music video parodies.

The music video experience is now fully interactive, miles apart from the mostly passive watching of music television. But Rage will live on.

Related blog: What if you could program Rage?

For a full discussion of Rage, download ACMI’s podcast.

I had the privilege of seeing you in person at Federation Square in Melbourne last year when you toured the country. I was experiencing a dream run in my life at the time, landing a journalism cadetship with ABC News, an amazing opportunity for me. A few days before you touched down in Melbourne, I went to a press conference with the Prime Minister and asked her a question. It was a surreal moment having the leader of our country paying attention to me and what I had to say in those few seconds!

The video of you surprising your audience with the Australia trip brings me great joy. I watched it over and over, excited at the prospect of you arriving. Then I saw you and the mania that ensued in Melbourne as you stepped onto our stage and spoke inspiring words to the crowd. Seeing you in person made me believe that anything was possible in this world. 

I have just watched the Nicole Kidman episode where you united pen-pals Jessica from Iowa and Neyree from Queensland who had never met but exchanged letters for many years between American and Australia. I too have an American pen-pal who I finally met in 2010. We had an amazing time in her home state of Connecticut and a magical adventure in New York.

I would dearly love Susan to visit me in Melbourne, Australia. She is saving up to come here and I know you appreciate all the beauty of this country and would want her to experience it too! Can you help bring her here?

Love Stephaniii

Sweet sprinkled surprises from Cupcake Queens

Decorative, delicious and diabolically profitable. These little delights are dominating Melbourne with a dramatic boost in cupcake sales and new stores opening all over the state.

From corporate orders to popular culture references, the cupcake craze began in the States with the Magnolia bakery. This cupcake store, located on Bleeker Street in New York, features in the film The Devil Wears Prada and the TV series, Sex and the City.

To be honest, the sugary sensations from Magnolia were too much for my taste-buds to handle but I was impressed with a cute cafe in Manhattan that stretched my imagination with Chai flavoured cupcakes!

Alice's Tea Cup (Allyson Fonseca)

I have also sampled the desserts from the Hummingbird bakery at Portobello Road in London yet the cupcakes seemed mass-produced and rushed in their presentation. I notice more care in the crafting of cupcakes in Melbourne.

Channel 9 News recently ran an investigation on the spike in Melbourne cupcake sales.

http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/melbourne-gripped-by-cupcake-craze/x39yc54?showPlaylist=true&from=news&fg=news

Here’s a list of cupcake specialists in Victoria:

Love at First Bite

Little Cupcakes

The Cupcake Family

The Cupcake Bakery

Cupcake Queens

Alice’s Tea Cup (New York)

See you in 2011! Happy baking, eating and thanks for reading.

Myspace Graphics@LayoutLocator.com

I’ve been thinking about cross cultural relationships. Why do we engage in such complex affairs? I know I feel intellectual when quizzing my beau about whether his internal thoughts are in his native language or English. Perhaps I am also allured by the thought of producing multi-racial children. Many half-casts turn out to be good-looking, intelligent, successful and famous … ala Guy Sebastian and Jessica Alba.

I cemented my cross cultural identity in 2009 when I became an Italian citizen and collected my European passport from the Italian Consulate in Melbourne. This moment embodied me as an Australian-Italian for life.

I indulged in my love of Mediterranean culture by hopping on board a Contiki bus of European fiends for 16 days in 2008. We drove through Spain, Italy, France and Monaco. There were 50 passengers on board including 25 guys, 23 of whom were Australian. It was hardly a surprise to me that I somewhat ignored the fellow Australians onboard and be-friended the two multi-cultural men of the group, a Chilean and a New Yorker. I wanted to know more about their world, their culture and heritage. I figured I could socialise with Australians back at home. I realise now this was a somewhat limiting attitude. I blame the lure of multi-culturalism: it blinded me.

Even at uni, I find myself going ga-ga over multi-cultural men. Last year in my journalism class, I was enthralled by a Columbian exchange student describing the mating rituals in his homeland that revolve around the sensual dance of salsa. He explained that a guy had no hope of ‘pro-creating’ if they couldn’t dance. On the dance floors of Melbourne however, it’s a different story with men shuffling awkwardly, preferring to scull beer  instead. Is anyone else enamoured by foreigners or is it just me? Am I missing out on the Australian appeal by acting so exclusive?

It blows my mind that Rihanna’s latest hit ‘Only Girl’ has achieved over 31 million YouTube hits  in just one month. 31 MILLION!  One million is a tonne but Rihanna is clocking that amount up easily and then some. I find this statistic fascinating. Rihanna is accomplishing global music video domination and positioning herself as the most influential pop artist of 2010. 

To put this feat in perspective, Part 1 of Barack Obama’s inauguration speech (uploaded by Associated Press) has only reached 143 401 views and Glee songs average about 3 million.

Official figures from YouTube in 2009 reveal British singer Susan Boyle was the most watched performer with over 120 million views.  Miley Cyrus ruled the music video world in 2009 with ‘The Climb’ and ‘Party in the USA’ earning 64 and 54 million views respectively. 

It speaks volumes about media consumption habits when pop stars are the most clicked videos on YouTube. This trend provokes scary thoughts for both the television and music industries. Music video channels and television shows appear faded and out-dated. When fans can stream songs instantly from their computer, they are also less likely to pay to download their favourite track or purchase a CD. Rihanna also promotes specific messages in her music (domestic violence is not okay and women are empowered to love whoever they want) which are no doubt significantly impacting the younger generation and how their view the world.

Rihanna’s Rude Boy released nine months ago has been played on YouTube more than 113 million times. Wow. Give it a few more months and I predict ‘Only Girl’ will exceed that number. Watch this space.

Inside, the buzz was electric. Performers were dashing into the toilets to adjust their uncanny costumes. A zombie school girl had a pen protruding from her face and beneath her ripped stockings was a gaping open wound. Despite the white powdered hair and dark make-up, I recognised someone I knew: jumpingattheshadows. The blood-thirsty dancers enjoyed some pre-drinks, a quick rehearsal and ghoulish green skull decorated cupcakes. Then it was show-time.

The 120 zombie dancers shuffled to the Carlton Gardens with the eerie backdrop of the Royal Exhibition building as their stage.  As the performance time drew near, a backstage member frantically darted across the lawn with a spray bottle shouting, “Any last-minute blood?”  The countdown began and then the creaky door intro of Thriller awakened the dead. The seven minute performance was nothing short of thrilling.

Melbourne organiser Anna Achia who runs her own Go-Go dance school was ecstatic to fulfil her childhood dream. “Thriller is one of the greatest dances ever created; its impact on popular culture was profound.”

“As a lifelong Michael Jackson fan, the opportunity to celebrate his achievements as an artist by dancing Thriller with tens of thousands of people worldwide was too good to pass up!”

Each year, dancers from up to 33 nations bust out the iconic Thriller moves at the same time, attempting to set a new world record for the Largest Simultaenous Thriller dance.

The brains behind ‘Thrill the World’, Ines Markeljevic of Canada says “I’m sure that MJ is looking down on all of us and hey, maybe even dancing with us.”

Numbers have grown from 62 performers in 2006 to 22 596 people in 2009. The official count for 2010 will be posted on the Thrill the World website.

Dance troupes in each country raise awareness and money for a chosen charity. Anna’s Go-Go Academy chose Lifeline.

Next year’s Thrill the World is set for October 29 2011…and I’m dying to take part.

It turns out tweens are not drowning in pool of digital media. Magazines are contributing to tweens’ happiness, more so than the Internet. But how can this be? Let’s take a look at the results in detail:

• ‘Tween Tracker,’ a study “considering the social and cognitive development of over 1 200 Australian tweens” revealed 70% of children aged 6-12 years read magazines
• 69% of tweens consume books in their leisure time
•  57% of tweens visit websites with 44% using Facebook.

The percentages alone suggest that reading is more popular than Facebook. Okay, so I should disclose that this survey was conducted by Pacific Magazines. It’s obvious that the participants like to read. However, reading is on the rise in a separate study about the attitudes and behaviours of young Australian adults…The Urban Market Report (with Sweeney Research) found that for 16-30 year olds, reading a book is the most common offline past-time.

• According to this study, there are more Australians reading (56%) than those on Facebook but they are only spending an hour with their book each week.
• In terms of Facebook consumption, 47% of participants spend five hours or more on the social networking site each week.
• Therefore more people are reading books for a shorter period of time.

To be fair, a six-year old’s reading skills is not going to match up to that of a 29-year old. Furthermore, kids under 13 are not even supposed to be on Facebook so it’s difficult to make direct comparisons between the trends noted in two these studies. What I can say is that adults’ online behaviour is fuelled by fascinating psychological motivations.

Dr. Cassie Govan, from Sweeney Research proposes that Australians have “an ever present undercurrent of anxiety around this fear of missing out or dropping off the pace. We call this ‘exclusion anxiety’ and it’s a function of wanting to avoid feeling socially aloof or culturally detached.” In other words, if you drop off Facebook, you might disappear from the social scene.

Facebook is also playing a significant role in identity formation. In past Urban Market Reports, music was rated as the primary quality that defines a person. Now, for the first time in seven years, it is social networks. It’s no surprise that Facebook is dominating Australians online time since it has become so important to one’s sense of self.

Perhaps the increased time spent online is what is compelling more Australians to leaf through a magazine or turn the page of a book. It is a counter-activity to surfing the Internet and gives the eyes a rest from the omnipresent screen. If Facebook counted as an actual book in these studies, then a boost in reading would be undeniable. Reading remains an ongoing leisure activity in Australia but the ultimate never-ending story of Facebook is gradually eating into that time.

Books (Image by Christine Fonseca)

A Kissing Lessons sign in Seattle

I recently came across a Livejournal account belonging to a sentimental soul who has turned his life into a psychological experiement about kissing. Thiel kisses someone in Melbourne each day and blogs about the experience. It is an intriguing read and raises question about:

• what a kiss means
• what makes a good kiss: spontaneity, reciprocation, attraction, mystery?
• whether humans are capable of engaging in this natural behaviour without over-complicating and intelluctalising the act

I don’t know any girls that don’t like kissing. A girlfriend of mine was recently sharing her fantasy with me about being able to kiss anyone, whenever she wants in order to better her saliva-exchanging skills. It is an interesting concept. Are we capable of such an idealistic arrangement? Sadly, I doubt it . Once we come up for air, our feelings love to surface and take control of the situation. Well, mine do anyway.

Thiel takes the time to appreciate his intimate exchanges with strangers, friends and lovers; bravely sharing his kisses with everyone via his blog. He reminds us that all we can really do is live in the moment.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation based at the University of Queensland asked 507 media students to post creative, interactive and graphic design work online as part of the ‘60sox project.’ Industry professionals gave feedback and it turns out Australia has a bunch of talented folk who lack the creative business and workplace skills that the digital media industry wants. Professor Greg Hearn explains what graduates think employers are looking for does not align with what they actually expect.

So what is going wrong? Well, there is a major gap between what digital media academics are teaching students and what the industry expects of workers. Professor Hearn reckons this is contributing to a $2 billion trade deficit in Australia’s digital content industry. Ouch.

How can we bridge this gap? Industry workers need to mentor students, show them the expected industry practice, offer internships and invite graduates to events. For students, networking is crucial. It’s more than becoming a fan of your prospective employer on Facebook. Meet future colleagues face-to-face for coffee. Pick their brains for industry tips, exchange business cards and let them know you are looking for work. Suzanne Yada offers some great networking suggestions in her blog.

And most importantly, get involved in digital media! The study revealed only 13% of students had been directly involved with real work in industry. I have a friend who got some experience under his belt tweeting on behalf of two big television stars. Companies are busy and would love YOU to manage their social networking profiles. As for the university issues, ask your lecturers to invite professionals in to talk to the class. Tell them about this study, but ultimately take your career into your own hands.