Know Your Enemy

"Everything is wrong with ballroom dancing: the clothes, the music, even the expressions on the dancers’ faces, plus, of course, the dancing itself. The reason for this is simple: you get points for it. Ballroom dancing is an aesthetic pursuit, an art form, that has been turned into a competition the result of which is that everything is done to attract the attention of the judges. The competitors must try to fit within a set of rules and so a tawdry, flashy, kitsch aesthetic takes over. Imagine if actors got points for doing Shakespeare what kind of overblown, hammy performances you would get."

Not exactly topical anymore, but Alexei Sayle's attack on Strictly Come Dancing - drawing on Marxist theory and Noam Chomsky as well as his own personal feelings - is brilliant.

(Thanks to Phil for the link.)