Dance Dance Revolution

Once a year, millions crowd in front of televisions to watch the year's greatest commercials wrapped around some football championship game. And just as football is evenly divided between offense and defense, Super Bowl commercials also split into two camps: funny and serious. The zany side is generally predictable, led...

By sam Machkovech

April 1, 2004

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18855504",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17105533",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105532",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105535",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

Once a year, millions crowd in front of televisions to watch the year's greatest commercials wrapped around some football championship game. And just as football is evenly divided between offense and defense, Super Bowl commercials also split into two camps: funny and serious. The zany side is generally predictable, led by beer ads and sight gags, but the other side often goes to great lengths to attach dignity to its products. Some companies show famous figures overcoming adversity, and others make miniature movies out of their expensive advertising slot. But every once in a while, an ad comes along that elicits little more than a "huh?" from viewers. One in particular from a few years back shows a series of people who make rotating, dancing human towers by holding each other in grueling poses and flexes. A background voice explains that the physical prowess should somehow relate to the financial firm that created the advertisement, even though the commercial's stars aren't doing much in the way of accounting during the ad's 30 seconds.

The athleticism stuck, though the bank's name didn't, and that memory compares favorably to Friday's Out of the Void performance at the Dallas Children's Theatre. This fusion of yoga and dance, performed by London's Tripsichore Yoga Theatre, isn't identical to the aforementioned advert. But this story-driven, artistic take on yoga, performed in various forms by the troupe since 1992, promises to be just as physically impressive as it journeys through "a very modern telling of the ancient mysteries of yoga." What's more, yoga lovers who would rather join in can head to the Dallas Yoga Center on Saturday for a three-hour practice with Tripsichore director Edward Clark. And perhaps one day they'll get a million-dollar ad of their own.

KEEP THE OBSERVER FREE... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.