BALLET BREAK: Michael Jackson

As much as I love Ballet, NO THING & NO ONE beats Michael.  This man exudes Chic. If you are not familiar with Michael's work, you are really missing out on an education! And I mean it.  At some point, within whatever form you are commited to -- you need to at heart, be yourself. Release your self.  Michael was great at this and I think, in a form such as ours where there is so much demand from history to be in line to pre-set ideals and where there is so much comparison to every other ballet dancer living or dead, it's important to be inspired to release your unique person -- to seek to be unique even within the confines of this historical form -- to TAKE SOME CHANCES WITH YOUR DANCING! DON'T KNOW HOW? Well, Michael is here to teach us...

I've started you off with Thriller here, which many of you, I am sure  (duh) have seen.  Nevertheless I did this intentionally because this video, which seems very normal NOW, broke a lot of barriers when it premiered.  No one had made a music video that was outright theatre... no one had ever made a video that was so long.... or expensive!  Michael received a lot of criticism -- including many who just wouldn't be a part of something that costs so much that would be sure to fail.  He had Executives with decades of experience telling him flat out: NO! Others were just thinking he was Crazy Michael being well, Crazy Michael.  His very own Producer told him that if he was so interested in theatre, he should try Broadway!  Executives said that viewers would walk away from the TV... that Advertisers wouldn't hear of it because they wouldn't get enough Ad Time in with a video so long and that besides, it couldn't hold viewer's interest because they were more interested in the music -- not the visuals... that they wouldn't even watch it...plus that there was too much "story in the song" "too much talking" -- not enough MUSIC! ALL THIS OVER JUST A MUSIC VIDEO!  ALL THIS SAID TO THE MAN WHO WOULD, BECAUSE OF THIS VIDEO, BECOME KNOWN AS THE KING OF POP! 

So see, even Michael Jackson had to deal with naysayers -- just for the very ideas he presented.  Nevertheless, he stuck to his vision -- and made history and set the stage for other artists to be more creative in this field.  Now, in 2011, can we even imagine a music video without all the theatre behind it? I think not!  So see, this is how progress happens... by those who are willing to take chances, be criticised, laughed at  and perhaps even fail.  (or in this case,  not!)