Herstory of Dance

"Herstory of Dance" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of the NBC sitcom Community, which originally aired on April 4, 2013.

When Dean Pelton plans a Sadie Hawkins dance, Britta throws a Sophie B. Hawkins dance in protest. At the dance Abed goes on two dates, one set up by Annie and one by Shirley.

Plot

Dean Pelton (Jim Rash), dressed as a woman from a black & white TV serial, announces that there will be an old-fashioned sock hop held in the cafeteria, as a Sadie Hawkins dance — in other words, a distraction while the CDC confiscates the drinking fountains on the same day. Citing the dance as sexist, Britta (Gillian Jacobs) counter-announces that she will be holding a Sophie B. Hawkins dance. The rest of the study group try to correct her, pointing out that she may have meant Susan B. Anthony. Britta is adamant that she was correct the first time.

Abed (Danny Pudi) is trying to make an effort to branch out socially and to stop filtering everything through television. Annie (Alison Brie) asks if she can set him up with a date to go to the Dean's dance. Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) thinks she knows someone from church who is more suited to Abed. Both Shirley and Annie agree that they will introduce Abed to both their respective choices and let him decide who he ultimately goes to the dance with.

Britta is having trouble securing Sophie B. Hawkins' appearance at the dance and confides in Pierce (Chevy Chase) about the dilemma. Jeff (Joel McHale) finds Britta's Craigslist advertisement asking for Sophie B. Hawkins, or an impersonator, and gloats, eager to see Britta fail at another task.

Abed goes to the dance with both Kat (Wendy McColm) (who Annie met in the cafeteria when Kat tried to buy lunch with a song) and Jessica (Kristen Henry King), attempting to do so without either one knowing of the other. While changing his outfit in the coat room, he meets Rachel (Brie Larson), who is running the coat check, and helps him out with his scheme. Eventually Annie and Shirley realise Abed is on two dates, for which he apologises. After deciding which of the dates to continue exclusively, he realises that he has more in common and more fun with Rachel, but she has already left the dance.

Toward the end of the night the students chant for Sophie B. Hawkins, and Britta takes the stage to admit that the singer will not be coming. Pierce, using his connections and in an effort to upstage Jeff for his rude behaviour to Britta, manages to bring the singer to the show and she sings.

Abed interrupts her and professes that his simultaneous dates was wrong and that he would rather spend more time with Rachel, who has now come back to the dance. They spend the rest of dance holding hands.

Pierce tells a shocked Jeff that Hawkins appeared because of a certain wet-wipes company's bond with her from when it supplied the Lilith Fair. Jeff wonders why Pierce cares, but Pierce points out that Jeff is consistently a jerk to Britta and that after all she's done (including arranging for Jeff to reunite with his father) he should treat her like a friend for once. Jeff congratulates Britta via text on holding a successful dance, leaving her smiling when he tells her "you Britta'd the hell out of this thing".

Continuity

• Britta once owned a cat named Susan B. Anthony
• Pierce has become a regular viewer of the U.S. version of Inspector Spacetime. The plans for such were first mentioned when Pierce and Shirley attended a focus group seen in "Conventions of Space and Time".

Cultural references

• Troy (Donald Glover) likens Chang's continued attempts at re-acceptance as the Colin Farrell of people.
• Hawthorne Wipes was the official moist towelette of Lilith Fair between 1997 and 1999.

Production

It was directed by executive producer Tristram Shapeero, who directs seven of the thirteen season 4 episodes.

This aired as episode eight, but was the seventh episode produced.^[1] It also premiered without its Sophie B. Hawkins end tag (seen on DVD), instead using the "Intro to Felt Surrogacy" end credits as a sneak peek, with brief voiceover to that effect by Danny Pudi.

Reception

The episode was seen by approximately 2.32 million viewers. This is the lowest watched episode in the history of the series.^[2]

The episode was met with mixed reviews. Pilot Viruet of The A.V. Club rated the episode positively with a B+, saying, "tonight's [episode] reminded me that, despite any misgivings I've had recently, I'm still really going to miss this show when it ends."^[3] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix said the episode "was fairly underwhelming."^[4] and Gabrielle Moss of TV Fanatic was on the negative side, saying, "this episode didn't have soul."^[5]

References

External links

• "Herstory of Dance" at NBC.com
• "Herstory of Dance" on IMDb
• "Herstory of Dance" at TV.com
• "Herstory of Dance" at TV Tropes