13.4.10

Violent Dance


What were they thinking? Does this picture make you cringe? Does reading the copy make you feel better? Would you enroll for dance classes because it says doing the cha-cha-cha or samba can be violent unless you are under the kind and trained care of a choreographer-teacher and you join the academy?

You might do so because you want to learn or you think the person in charge is worth it. But I doubt it would be for the reasons mentioned: “In a month’s time you’ll move swiftly (not to mention non-violently)”.

Since when has dance become associated with violence? There are passionate forms with some level of aggressiveness, but they are not meant to physically hurt. By using images such as these, the truly demonic aspects of domestic and social violence are reduced to nothing; in fact, they are shown as accepted facets of life.

The character in the photograph does not look like she was on the dance floor just before getting hurt. Her expression does not seem nonchalant about accidental wounds. The use of the word 'victim' is revealing. These are photographs that denote real violence and the ad is using a negative message to lure the readers to notice. As I said, people will not sign up for the classes because of this, but there will be an internalisation of what they see, whether they dance or not.

Violence has become a marketable commodity. And you need to buy it to protect yourself because danger lurks – at the borders, in the street, at home and by a process of reductionism on the dance floor.

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This is another ad for the same. Look at the bruise. Is this about jiving? Damn, why am I so angry?

7 comments:

  1. FV: "Since when has dance become associated with violence? There are passionate forms with some level of aggressiveness, but they are not meant to physically hurt. "

    The only instance where "dancing"/moshing (just violently bobbing about smashing into things unknown, really) can be injurious to health is a "mosh pit", usually found close to the performer's stage in hard-core grunge/heavy metal concerts. Easy to break one's bones if one is unaware of the fundamentals of moshing without getting hurt.

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  2. FV, I suspect someone was trying to be humourous with that cha-cha-cha ad, and failed miserably. A cartoon of two wannabe cha-cha-cha dancers smashing their heads together while dancing (as a motivation to learn cha-cha-cha formally) was the intent, I think, but it comes across as making fun of violence on women. The photo of an injured woman is out of place given the intent of the ad is about selling the idea of dancing as a couple.

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  3. Very observent!!After looking at this I would never join,it puts off just with pic,no subconcious but actually bad

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  4. Al:

    I do not think the intent was to be humorous at all. Nowhere does the copy suggest it.

    I just uploaded another picture.

    The mosh pit etc is where you may hurt yourself, or as you say learning to dance and faltering.

    I stick to my version as I see it. WTF.

    KB:

    Good for you. When I mentioned subconscious, it was the message that stays without us even realising it. Of course you can see those real damn bruises.

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  5. FV, just noticed the second, even more stupid picture. The idiots at that cha-cha-cha school are giving their style of dancing a bad name. Someone annoyed enough and with a skill of the martial arts could make the owners of these institutions potential candidates for their own advertisements.

    This is no advertisement. What's the opposite of advertisement? where you tell your customers to stay away from your business.

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  6. FV, do you mean that this advertisement is something more nefarious than dance lessons? Could very well be if there is a deliberate efforts to send signals to spouse-abusers.

    BTW, was not finding anything humourous in this, to be sure. I am sorry if the posts here gave such an impression.

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  7. Not deliberate, but insensitive, ignorant, idiotic and in effect all these turn out to be devious, misleading and have a subliminal impact. The signal is not for spouse abusers alone but to society that yeh tau hota hai...

    I don't think you would find much humour in it, so that's ok. Thanks.

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