Is Lindy Hop Art or Entertainment? [op-ed]
/Neil deGrasse Tyson recently tweeted this.
Bears repeating: Creativity that satisfies & affirms your world view is Entertainment. Creativity that challenges & disrupts your world view is Art.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 6, 2018
I've seen various formulations of this over the years. Here's another blog post by Jeff Goins that delineates the main differences between "art" and "entertainment." :
Which begs the question, Is Lindy Hop entertainment or art?
I personally think that Lindy Hop falls closer to art than entertainment. But I am not sure that it meets Neil's definition of challenging or disrupting world views of the audience. And now I am wondering what that would even look like? Are there are ways of presenting or sharing Lindy Hop that challenge convention or question cultural norms?
I know that Michael Gamble and Jaya Dorf would put us firmly in the artists category. Others who work as professional lindy hoppers often call themselves entertainers, particularly if they are in shows, commercials and television productions.
What do you alls think? Is Lindy Hop art?