Someone at Bravo feels like dancing

Bravo's next reality talent competition series will focus on professional dancers. Even better, unlike the network's disastrous Top Design, this series will be produced by Magical Elves, the production company that gave us Project Runway and Top Chef.

Step It Up will differentiate itself from shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars by focusing on the world of professional dancing. I expect that means we'll get a glimpse into the practical challenges of working as a dancer (though just a glimpse), much as we've gotten on Runway and Chef.

It sounds promising, but there's a part of me that's also thinking "Hey, look, Bravo found another profession associated with gay stereotypes to turn into a competition." Maybe that's because of the current conversation about gay stereotypes going on in our comment threads or maybe I'm still a little troubled at how season two of Runway gave us some great scenes where the gay men discussed what it was like to grow up gay, only to stick Zulema in the closet, reinforcing a stereotype about gay men working in fashion while avoiding the opportunity to show a lesbian challenging stereotypes.

With Magical Elves' track record, I'm sure Step It Up will be another entertaining and smart reality show, but it'll be interesting to see how gays are represented on the series.