The reality/dance show So You Think You Can Dance illustrates nicely, how much your performance rests on the acceptance by others. The chances of any participant going through to the next round depends on how well he or she performs his or her identity (is different for each style of dance and clothing) for the audience and the judges. However an interesting example of performing gender was shown by a contestant on the show who labeled “himself” a gender chameleon. To note, Jamie's (or Jesse) dance would not have been at a high enough level to be accepted into the next round but one of the judges made an interesting point. He commented that when it came to partners he would have to pair him up one day with a guy and the next day with a girl and was worried how his partners would react to this. As Silverstone mentioned gender is performative, and Jamie truly felt he could be both. As he reflected one day he feels like a man and another woman, but because his audience could not accept his performance (even if his dance abilities were of high level) he was punished. No matter how well he performs his role, society will not accept him as neither a man nor a woman. His identity was lost due to the lack of acceptance by the audience. What made this example stand out more than others was the vast audience that tuned into watched Jamie's performance. The audience did not just include the judges but the other dancers that were in the same theatre as well as each and single individual that tuned into watch the show, be it live or a re-run. Jamie now whether he likes it or not is going to be performing his gender and identity 24/7. Anytime that episode is aired on television, anytime the clip is played on the internet, there is going to be an audience judging his performance and deciding if they will accept him (her) or not.
Not the specific contestant but these are some sick dance moves!!
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