Bom bom bi bom bi dum bum bay
August 25, 2019 2:02 PM   Subscribe

Lizzo challenged the internet to do a ballet routine to her song Truth Hurts, and dancers delivered. And how! On point(e)! Here’s a short list of links to notable performances so far, from wow to perfect to cute and all degrees in between:

Conor Mckenzie; Erica Lall – American Ballet Theatre; Harper Watters – Houston Ballet; Kennedy Brown – Nashville Ballet; Molly Null; Ava Gordy; Nicholas Rose – National Ballet of Canada; Madison Taylor Sugg – Pacific Northwest Ballet; Valerio Palumbo – Hungarian National Ballet; Jim Nowakowski – BalletMet; and finally, Prince George three young beginners.

Pre-existing notable non-ballet dance choreographies of Truth Hurts: Megan Batoon; Brian Esperon; Hanna Brictson.
posted by bitteschoen (22 comments total) 60 users marked this as a favorite
 
Ballet is the ULTIMATE ART.

Bend your knees, people. THIS is the most human of arts!
posted by Goofyy at 2:24 PM on August 25, 2019 [3 favorites]


Swan Lake, if I'm not mistaken...
posted by jim in austin at 2:29 PM on August 25, 2019 [2 favorites]


Connor. Mckenzie. You led with the destroyer, there. That being said, these are all delightful.
posted by merriment at 2:31 PM on August 25, 2019 [12 favorites]


Those three little kids were the cutest things ever. Well, second cutest... My Gidgette is the cutest ;-)

I took dance from age 3 to 19-ish. Such memories.
posted by kathrynm at 2:43 PM on August 25, 2019


Swan Lake, if I'm not mistaken...
Colloquially known as the 4 Little Swans, time signature 4/4. This is one of the first repertoire pieces every little ballerina learns, because it’s synchronize or die. I love this entire post, but whoever dubbed in Lizzo over that just made my day. (They might have slowed down the video a bit to fit the tempo.)
posted by romakimmy at 3:07 PM on August 25, 2019 [4 favorites]


I know it's not a new song, but I think that Truth Hurts is a solid contender for Song of the Summer. I think I'm going to set my alarm to play Lizzo's Tiny Desk Concert to wake me up every morning.

Anyway, who knew that what my life was missing was twerking ballet dancers? But apparently, that is the case.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 3:08 PM on August 25, 2019 [6 favorites]


This is what the Internet is for, dammit!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:00 PM on August 25, 2019 [13 favorites]


James Whiteside is the man dancing with Erica Lall, and he is fabulous in literally every sense of the word. He's a principle at ABT currently but used to dance at Boston Ballet and was a former competition studio kid - when they held Headliners nationals in Boston in 2004, he performed a solo and said nice things about our pointe performance. He dances en pointe, he does drag, he speaks up for boys in ballet, he's an incredible danseur, and just seems like an all-around great guy.
posted by ChuraChura at 5:19 PM on August 25, 2019 [18 favorites]


Meanwhile, in Toronto
posted by sixswitch at 5:40 PM on August 25, 2019 [4 favorites]


Favorite James Whiteside video.
posted by Peach at 6:23 PM on August 25, 2019 [6 favorites]


Take that, Lara Spencer.
posted by datawrangler at 8:11 PM on August 25, 2019 [7 favorites]


I know everyone is all up ons for Conor Mckenzie, but Molly Null was freaking great totally a winner. Ava Gordy was also solid.

The request was for ballet, not twerking.

Tho Erica Lall was also great.
posted by MrBobaFett at 8:31 PM on August 25, 2019 [2 favorites]


This whole post is amazing.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:05 AM on August 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


There’s a new one! genre-defying, from the Hiplet Ballerinas - Hiplet™ - classical pointe with African, Latin, Hip-Hop and urban dance styles.
posted by bitteschoen at 10:04 AM on August 26, 2019 [10 favorites]


Having recently returned from collecting my son, who spent a month dancing with a contemporary ballet company in San Francisco -- and, of course, being huge Lizzo fans -- we love these all so very much. James Whiteside and Erica Lall are total beasts.

Sit on it, Lara Spencer.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 10:23 AM on August 26, 2019 [4 favorites]


I saw these building up as it was happening and made me so happy. Lizzo is so nice in giving people the positive feedback on this. Great internet moments.
posted by jessamyn at 4:56 PM on August 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Oh shit I love this, thank you.
posted by charmedimsure at 10:10 PM on August 26, 2019




How often do men learn to dance en pointe?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:23 PM on August 27, 2019


Pittsburgh ballet says mainly for comedic effect...this makes sense to me, a (xx chromosome) child who (along with my entire class) quit ballet right when we were supposed to move to pointe shoes. Ballet is wonderful and brutal, man.
posted by grandiloquiet at 7:30 PM on August 27, 2019


I think a lot of younger men (and men who aren't gender conforming) are more interested in learning pointe and using it to more interesting effect than just comedy. It's also a great way to strengthen your ankles and feet for ballet - so I know some men who will put on pointe shoes for class on occasion just as an added challenge. It's not a typical part of classical ballet training for male dancers, but a lot of them do pick it up.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:56 AM on August 28, 2019


The first time I saw a man dance en pointe was on RuPaul's Drag Race.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:14 AM on August 28, 2019


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