So the robot can do the Mashed Potatoe?

[CTyankee]

Try this, Mr. Robot

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Two questions...

I know why most male dancers don't go en pointe, but Baryshnikov has talked about how it would be nice if they did. Some of those moves you really expect him to go up on his toes. It would be a nice duet, too.

And, has anyone bothered to see how dancers do in gymnastic routines? Imagine Baryshnikov on the balance beam.

[wackadoo wabbit]

4. Why don't male dancers go en pointe?

I've always wondered that and just assumed that it was tradition.

I remember seeing Swan Lake performed by all male dancers who did go en pointe, and it was great! This was on PBS in, maybe, the 1990s. I've always wished I could see it again. It was definitely a one off, though.

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Mainly because most of them are too heavy. Besides, pointe means many years of...

work and possible foot and ankle injuries, made worse by male weight and structure. Can you imagine some of those leaps landing on your big toe? It has been done, though, although rarely. There's a French group that has all men in tutus and pointe shoes. La Dans RuPaul?

[Tanuki]

7. Les Ballets Trockadero?

[wackadoo wabbit]

8. No, this wasn't done as a joke

It was absolutely serious, and those guys were good!

I've been searching since I posted, and I still can't find it. I found references to Matthew Bourne's all-male version, but it isn't the one I saw. The one I saw on PBS had the dancers in female garb (i.e., tutus) and en pointe.

Well, now I've got another white whale to search for in my spare time.

[Harker]

2. Is there a Dan Quayle joke in there somewhere? n/t

[3catwoman3]

6. That was my first...

...thought.

[Rhiannon12866]

10. Me, too!

[Harker]

11. Mr. Potatoe Head. n/t

[CTyankee]

9. I'm sorry. I should have explained. I had just watched a rerun on 60 Minutes about a robot that

could dance the Mashed Potato. It was charming and cute. But I began to think about creating a robot to dance. So I thought about the great ballet dancers (male or female) who could leap so beautifully. I wondered if the scientists could ever create one.

My big point here is that for now we don't have a robot that could do that. Nor can they paint the way Van Gogh or Cezanne could.

Potatoe was my boo boo.

[Harker]

12. I think they'll get there pretty soon.

As humans strive to make machines in their image, the creativity, agility, and litheness will prove vastly more difficult to approximate than human strength and endurance were to surpass.

Coincidentally, just a few days ago I thought of how fun it would be to learn some of the popular dances of my youth... not easy with three left feet.

[CTyankee]

14. I just can't agree with you on this. I think art is uniquely human. You can't train a robot to have

human capability to move your body with feelings and training.

Go look at Botticelli's Primavera. The 3 graces are dancing, two of them with raised arms clasping each other. There are moments in such paintings that can stop your heart with a gesture. A robot could probably imitate it, but it would take a robotic Botticelli to conceive of doing it.

[Harker]

15. I hope you're right.

I get a little wistful about us sometimes.

I there's ever a Robocelli, there'll be a robot critic right behind.

[Scrivener7]

3. That wasn't what I expected it would be, but I couldn't look away! I know nothing about

ballet, but that was amazing.

[malaise]

13. Just listening to her amazing analysis makes me realize

that I am ignorant about so many things. I would never have picked up on those details.

He really was magnificent.