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This weekend
I was in Nashville attending the Dancers' Cup Circuit
Tour finale event, (The Dancers Cup Circuit Grand
Ball). I attend every year because my own event is
one of the nine competitions included in this circuit.
This will probably be the one and only time I talk
about the Dancers Cup or any competition, as I made
a promise to myself that this newsletter would not
focus on competitions, competition results etc.. as
there are already good publications, such as Dance
Beat, who provide dancers with this type of information.
However, I just wanted to say that I am honored to
be included in this circuit. It is a great mix of
people who all have great character, good conscience,
and truly care about the competitors who attend the
circuit events and I am very thankful to be a part
of it.
I had a little extra time one morning
so I decided to pick up my complimentary USA TODAY
and have a cup of coffee and a quick read. On the
front page in the corner was a picture of Michelle
Kwan and a question that read "Can Kwan be beaten"?
"You never know", one challenger says, as
Michelle Kwan and Co. hit the ice this week for the
U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
The challenger is right. You never
know. Will Michelle Kwan have a perfect or good enough
performance to win? Will she hit the triple Lutz?
Will she attempt to do a double axle in order to nail
her victory and make it next to impossible for her
competition to steal her thunder? Or will Michelle
Kwan fall? Will her blade hit the ice at the wrong
angle, at the wrong time? Will she attempt her "sow
cow" (OK, I KNOW I'm spelling it wrong but stay
with me) only to lose her balance asking "Why
now, sow cow???!!!!! Yes Ms. Challenger you do have
a chance! That's why ice skating is exciting! That's
why millions of us watch it! And that's why you can
basically turn on your television on any given Saturday
and watch ice skating competition, and ice skating
shows!
So, is competitive ice skating as
fun to watch as competitive ballroom dancing? No..
it's more fun to watch! At least, to the average spectator.
It is more fun to watch because of what I mentioned
in the above paragraph. Skaters have figured out a
system that is the next best thing to competing without
a finish line, or an end zone. They have required
the skaters to perform patterns that are at different
levels of degree of difficulty. They have educated
the American people to what those patterns are and
that is why we watch with excitement and anticipation
to see who will, as they say, rise to the occasion.
Is ice skating as beautiful to watch?
Absolutely not! Don't get me wrong, it has a beauty
of it's own. The skaters can glide across the ice
and create a true feeling of freedom and lightness
that dancesporter's can almost, but not quite create,
because they're not on skates. This past fall, I took
my daughters to see "Stars on Ice", a traveling
tour featuring some of the best skaters in the US
and throughout the world. Before the show started,
I was extremely excited to see these top notch skaters,
world class, live and up close! Fifteen minutes into
the show, I started looking at my watch. Thirty minutes
into the show, my daughters started looking at my
watch. By half time, we were ready to go, but the
three of us agreed to stay for the second half to
see if it would get better. "Maybe they were
saving their good stuff", my one daughter commented.
Sitting there, I was trying to figure out "what
is missing"? It looks great on television, these
are the best skaters in the country and we have great
seats. Everything was there except one small tiny
thing. They weren't competing! It doesn't matter if
they fall on their duppa's, they don't have to hit
the triple Lutz, the how now sow cow, the double axle!
That one element is gone, and without that one element
it became a very boring show!
Yet, when I watch a good couple
compete or do a demonstration in ballroom dancing
it is truly an incredible feeling. Our audience may
not know (technically) what they are watching but
they sure like what they're watching! They can feel
the connection between the man and the woman. They
can feel what they are feeling, their emotions, their
passions. They can enjoy the story as it unfolds.
Back in the early 90's at our competition,
my wife an I decided to run a division where the dancers
had to perform certain figures and amalgamations,
some basic, some with a higher degree of difficulty
(like a pot stir and a sitting hen). Before the competition
began, we had a couple demonstrate to the audience
what they were about to see and what the judges were
going to be looking at. Each couple took their turn
on the floor, like skating, and demonstrated their
figures. It was very interesting to hear the comments
afterwards. The judges liked it because it gave them
a different approach to judging, the spectators liked
it because they knew what they were looking at, and
the professionals liked it because they all felt they
had a chance! It was an interesting experiment to
do, something a bit different than the norm. The only
thing was that it was somewhat foreign as to how competition
is done in the Dancesport world. I think would be
interesting to explore this further. I would like
to know if we can somehow incorporate competition
that includes execution of individual requirements
without losing what makes our sport exciting to watch....many
couples competing on the floor at the same time.
Perhaps if we followed at
least a similar format as skating, along what we all
know is an incredible sport to watch, there could
be the face of a Dancesport competitor in the corner
of USA Today. But, until we change some of our prehistoric
ways we will have to settle for sitting in our Lazy
Boy's watching the sow cows!
Dan Messenger
01-23-2001
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