DanceSport Talk

For years now, DanceSport competitors have debated whether or not the IDSF and its member associations should be allowed to decide where athletes can dance. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the IDSF and its assigns has every right, as a private organization, to set whatever rules it feels are necessary. Indeed, rules are vital to maintain order and give meaning to such things as championship titles. After all, what competitor would be happy to earn the title of "national champion" if there were a dozen people with the same title to their names at the same time?

In Canada, the IDSF member association representing amateur DanceSport is the Canadian Amateur DanceSport Association, or CADA. It's a well managed association. Like the IDSF, it uses rules to ensure order within the sport. I used to sit on the CADA board, so I know firsthand that there are many issues which come up, and the board uses those rules to guide their decisions. While the rules need to be clear, they must fall within the greater, overriding laws of the nation.

There are at least two CADA rules which, in their current form, do not appear to meet the Charter of Rights test.

» read more

Over the years, I've been inspired by a number of DanceSport athletes hailing from Slovenia. Nestled against the Alps and bordered by Italy, Croatia, Hungary and Austria, this tiny country has a population of only 2 million people. Yet Slovenia has produced more than its share of astounding dancers.

Andrej Skufca and Ekaterina Venturini. Matej Krajcer and Iwona Gersak. Jurij Batagelj and Jagoda Strukelj. Misa Cigoy. And what Vancouver-area dancer isn't a fan of Miha Vodicar and Nadiya Bychkova?

During the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver last week, the entire world was inspired by another Slovenian athlete. Her heroic story gives some insight to the grit and determination of that country's amazing people.

Petra Majdic is a cross-country skier. During a warm-up, her skis caught a patch of ice. She fell three meters (about 10 feet) into a gully. It was a hard fall that broke both her ski poles and a ski, and she found herself in great pain. She took painkillers, but was determined to keep racing, getting through the opening round, quarter-finals and semis. Her pain was so great that her coach told her to stop, but she wouldn't listen. She was thinking of all the people who worked to get her to the Olympics and refused to let them down.

What she didn't know at the time was that she had four broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Now, I used to do some cross-country skiing and I know how incredibly athletic it is. Think of a marathon run where you must use your arms to help push yourself along. The hard striding and poling puts greater cardiovascular demands on cross-country skiers than almost any other athlete. And the need to push with the ski poles creates constant pressure on the ribs.

I can't even imagine how Majdic’s lungs were able to function through her agony during a race. But race she did! In the final stretch, she summoned up inner reserves to put on a burst of speed in an attempt to win, managing a bronze-medal finish. It was the first Olympic cross-country ski medal ever for Slovenia.

Majdic showed up at the medals award ceremony in a wheelchair before being taken to hospital in Vancouver. She said on Saturday that she can still hear her broken ribs clicking when she breathes. The Vancouver Olympic Committee recognized her actions as a true symbol of the spirit of the games by making her a co-recipient of the Terry Fox Award, along with Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette.

"Today, this is not a bronze," Majdic said. "This is like a gold medal, with little diamonds in it."

Slovenia, here's to you. May your country continue to produce inspirational athletes of that caliber.

Again and again I see DanceSport athletes, in long, high-energy competitor practice sessions, come and go with merely a few sips of water the entire time. Sports nutritionists tell us that hydration is a key part of athletic performance. Aside from daily intake of liquids needed to support normal everyday activity, it has been estimated that athletes lose between 300 and 2,400 milliliters (1.5 to 10 cups) of fluids (depending on intensity level) during every hour of physical exertion. This is mainly in the form of sweat, but also includes fluids lost through breathing. Every pound of weight lost during a training session is equivalent to 20 cups of liquid.

Kelly Anne Erdman, M.S., R.D., and 1992 Canadian Cycling Olympian (now a nutritionist in Calgary), recommends that athletes consume 10-15 milliliters of fluid for every kilo of your bodyweight for every hour of activity. As well, she says it's important to listen to your body for signs of dehydration that will limit your performance.

Water is the ideal beverage for short training sessions, or even during competition where your exertion takes place only for 10 minutes at a time. But for long training sessions lasting 90 minutes or more, it's not enough to drink water. One of the most important aspects of liquid intake is replacing sodium lost through sweat. Salt contains sodium, so people often mistake sodium for salt, but they are not the same thing. There is no sodium in plain water, but you can use energy drinks formulated especially for athletes to replace sodium and electrolytes lost through training. Plain water will actually reduce your body's drive to drink more beverages which are vital to your workout! Beverages like Gatorade contain sodium and minerals like potassium to replace electrolytes.

Sodium helps draw water across the lining of your intestines and into your blood stream, providing essential hydration as you exert yourself in sports activities. If your blood sodium levels are low, your fluid absorption rates will decrease, prolonging the effects of dehydration and making it harder for your body to rehydrate. In other words, even if you drink plenty of water, plain water will not replace your sodium levels and you'll find it harder to stay hydrated. Athlete blood tests are used in some sports to determine sodium levels before, during and after intense exercise.

Different athletes have different rates of sweat loss. Some sweat a great deal during a practice, while others don't. More importantly, different people have different levels of "saltiness" to their sweat, reflecting sodium loss. The more you sweat, and especially if your perspiration is salty, the more important it is to replace your sodium levels during and after a practice session. Because it's impractical for endurance athletes (for example, a marathon runner or cyclist pushing their body for hours at a time) to drink enough fluids to replace energy lost in lengthy workouts, they will often ingest salty foods before a race, or take sodium tablets, to supplement the sodium loss that will take place during the event. They will also make sure they take in salty foods at the end of the race to further replace sodium lost.

DanceSport athletes usually don't need to worry about sodium loss too much, but in long training environments or competition situations where you need to perform multiple rounds over several hours, you will need to consider your sodium levels.

Many dancers competing at the championship level, not to mention those who are still working their way there, really have no idea how important nutrition is to their success as an athlete. This article will help to shed light on some of the issues.

As body fat levels decline, a greater percentage of the body "mass" or weight is made up of muscle. This generally increases metabolism, or the body's efficiency at converting food to energy. The formula gets complicated as you get older because of other issues, but muscle always increases BMR (Base Metabolic Rate). Athletes, therefore, need additional calories from all sources.

But there's a common misunderstanding that because athletes burn so many calories, they can eat anything they like. This simply isn't true. In fact, the more highly tuned you are as an athlete, the more sensitive your body becomes to the things that don't help your performance. Foods that impede the efficiency of the body's muscle burning "engine" become a burden. Now, the impact of fried chicken (yes, Peter this means you) or too much chocolate (my weakness) have greater negative effects. Once in a while, this won't hurt. A few consecutive days of eating the wrong things will leave you sluggish and lacking energy, with slower recovery after a hard practice session.

» read more

BC DanceSport professionals Joel & Clara Marasigan recently interviewed Simone Segatori & Annette Sudol, who are currently ranked 4th in the world in IDSF Standard. The interview shed some light on the differences between European and Canadian attitudes on practice and preparation in DanceSport. Read the whole thing (both parts). It's an eye-opening look at the criteria of top champions.

We've known for some time that Europeans train with a greater intensity than do most North American DanceSport competitors, particularly when compared to those on the west coast. This is something discussed often when dancers get together. But it's doubtful that many competitors understand just how significant the difference is. Simone described in the interview that their training involves complex athletic testing that we in Canada normally associate only with the most elite athletes. "They do some tests, take some blood, measure the amount of oxygen we are using… They are checking everything," he said. Annette explained further that "We want to be ahead of other competitors, to have done everything for our dancing… everything from the dress to physical conditioning." And you might be surprised that they pay for this themselves!

» read more

I recall, as a stage actor in my younger days, observing how the audience could have a big influence on the effectiveness of a play. When you had a responsive audience, especially for comedies, everyone in the troupe would be infused with extra energy and confidence. It would bring out the best in each person on stage, leading to a more vibrant performance. This, in turn, led to a better experience for the audience as the effect would come full circle.

This past weekend we enjoyed the SnowBall Classic DanceSport competition in Vancouver, Canada. As in previous years, the audience was amazing. Repeatedly, competitors would comment on how supportive the audience was. One visiting professional (not an adjudicator at the event), mentioned how she was surprised by the way the audience didn't favor only local couples or people they knew, but supported those whom they felt were the best on the floor, even if competing against favorites. This is unheard of in most parts of the world!

Others remarked how they noticed that many audience members didn't seem to know anything about ballroom dancing, commenting on dancers they liked based on qualities like costume, or smile, or other things, and loudly supporting them on those issues. Since it is very rare for audiences at dance competitions to be non-dancers, this stood out as being remarkable.

All of this makes for a vibrant audience, and it helps set SnowBall apart from other competitions. There's nothing like having a healthy roar from the crowd when dancing all out. It gives competitors more energy and makes them feel as if they are part of something special. Our Vancouver audience has a reputation for doing this exceptionally well. Even Dance Beat World magazine commented on the amazing impact of the SnowBall audience!

Three years ago, I was talking to an amateur competitor from Germany competing in SnowBall for his first time. He was so enthusiastic about being here, his energy was infectious! When I asked him about it, he said it had been a dream of his for years to dance at SnowBall Classic. I asked him why and he responded that SnowBall has a reputation throughout Europe as being one of the world's great competitions, driven in large part by the quality of the audience.

I have heard from international competitors that in most parts of the world, audiences are surprisingly quiet. In England they clap politely. In Germany and Russia, they might be vocal, but only for those couples from their "club," never showing support for those who might prove competition for their favorites. There is a kind of partisan nature in most DanceSport audiences, sometimes to the extent that the audience will even try to feed negative energy to couples they don't support. This doesn't happen in Vancouver.

In 2008, another German athlete commented in the hallway between rounds that she could not believe the audience support for someone from outside the country, especially as a competitive couple the audience had never seen before. Well, this couple danced head and shoulders above the other Senior 1 Standard competitors. The audience loved them, enthusiastically shouting out their number through all their events. They won the event, and during an after-competition dinner they told us how the effect of the audience support was a great encouragement during the competition and made their time in Vancouver extra special. The effect was so powerful, they came back the following year, this time bringing some dance friends along as well.

During the 2003 SnowBall Classic, which was televised, Franco Formica mentioned in an interview that the audience support was incredible, creating extra energy and giving SnowBall a special feeling.

An exit survey in 2005 gave some insight to this unique quality of the SnowBall Classic. It turns out that most of the audience who come to SnowBall don't even dance. They see the event as an exciting, glamorous night on the town. They can dress up like they would for the VSO, but instead of quietly sitting and watching a performance, they can be part of an energetic, noisy, enthusiastic audience, as they watch a highly athletic competition between international champions at the highest level of the sport. It doesn't get any better than this!

The SnowBall committee, working under the authority of DanceSport BC, has worked hard over some two decades to build this very special, world-renowned audience. For the past few years, the event has either sold out completely or come very close, another amazing achievement and a testament to the ground work that was done over the years. This audience is so passionate about being part of SnowBall that they make a point of returning year after year!

I'm not sure exactly what elements of SnowBall marketing led to this aspect of the audience design, but this audience truly is the envy of the DanceSport world. It's even more amazing when you consider that the committee is made up entirely of volunteers who have dedicated themselves to putting on a great competition. Maybe that alone is the magic behind the Vancouver audience. In any case, congratulations to everyone who has, over the years, helped shape it.

Over the past year, the political scene between IDSF and WDC has been pretty quiet. I was hoping that maybe some signs of conciliation were on the horizon. That turns out to have been a false hope. Politics in DanceSport reared up again at the UK Open last week, resulting in a situation that may continue to play itself out through most of the year.

A couple of months ago, the Italian Federation member of the IDSF, known as FIDS, decided they would publicly declare the UK Open off limits to FIDS members on the grounds that it was not officially sanctioned by an IDSF member body. Then the Russian IDSF member, known as DSFR, followed suit, making a similar announcement. What makes this especially interesting is that the IDSF, while not officially sanctioning the event, did not list it as an unregistered competition. It was always informally agreed that because of the special situation in England, events like the UK Open and Blackpool would not be targeted by the IDSF, to avoid problems like this.

The Italian federation said that members might be allowed to participate, if they sent in a formal request in advance, which would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. It wasn't clear what the criteria would be for being allowed to go. FIDS told its members in December that it would reimburse them for any expenses they had already incurred in booking flights or other travel-related issues.

A number of top amateurs from Italy and Russia were absent from the UK Open this past week, but nobody really knows how much effect the boycott actually had. Dance Beat World magazine asked the question, but didn't provide any answers just yet. Two Italians and a Russian couple were in the Amateur Ballroom final, but it isn't known publicly whether these Italian couples or the nearly 20 others who took part in the UK Open amateur events had applied for special approval. A large number of top Russian amateurs were absent from the UK Open.

Former World Professional Standard Champion Richard Gleave has now responded to this mess with a call for social activism. He has created a Facebook group called Freedom to Dance in an effort to help bring awareness of these political issues and try to find some grounds for conciliation. About 2,000 people joined the group in its first couple of days. I'm not sure how much impact a Facebook group will have, regardless of its popularity. After all, what will the group members do? Comment the embattled parties into submission? But it's good to see people making some kind of effort to bring attention to the issues. In any case, the list of group administrators reads like a "Who's Who" of the world's top dancers:

• Andrew Sinkinson
  
• Hide Tanaka
  
• Marcus Hilton
  
• Carmen Vincelj
  
• Nadia Eftedal
  
• Amanda Dokman
  
• Oliver Wessel-Therhorn
  
• Massimo Giorgianni
  
• Luca Baricchi
  
• Augusto Schiavo

It's a shame that in a sport which is all about the energy of togetherness, we have these kind of divisive issues. I suppose we're back to some interesting times in DanceSport politics.

At a recent competition I once again observed an issue that is all too common at DanceSport comps. While the music was overall quite good throughout the event, a number of songs had poor phrasing or lacked the character of the dance they were for.

Let me make this clear: I'm not criticizing the event DJ in any way. He did a great job. My comments only reflect the need for all DanceSport DJs to understand the incredible responsibility they have when they take on that role. As someone who has attended many competitions (18 last year alone), I've noticed that many DJs see it as a fun job (which it is) and not as an awesome responsibility to help build the sport -- for the athletes, audience and organizers. At an after-event dinner, these issues were discussed and I realized I'm not the only dancer who feels this way.

» read more

The whole sports world continues to talk about the Stephane Auger and Alex Burrows saga. But if there's a point to be made (or learned) it's that nobody wins in this kind of dispute.

For those who don't know the story, it goes like this: On December 8, 2009, Vancouver Canucks player Alex Burrows was crosschecked by Nashville Predators' Jerred Smithson. He wasn't injured, but lay on the ice for a long time giving the impression that he had been. As a result, referee Stephane Auger gave Smithson a 5-minute game misconduct penalty instead of the usual 2-minute crosschecking penalty. The NHL later rescinded that penalty, which made Auger look bad.

Then on January 13, during a game between the Canucks and Minnesota Wild, Auger spoke to Burrows before the game began. We don't know exactly what was said, but it became the source of a major dispute that made headlines around the sports world and may be talked about for some time to come. Late in the game, Auger assessed a penalty on Burrows when he was doing nothing more severe than picking up his stick off the ice, which led to the entire thing.

After the game, Burrows insisted that Auger told him he would "get him back" for embarrassing him in front of the NHL. Many people hearing that accusation connected it with the phantom penalty which cost the Canucks the game, and drew the conclusion that Burrows must be right. Auger says he did nothing of the sort, but did talk to him about the earlier incident. Now what?

» read more

So, all that chocolate. Relaxing in front of the fireplace (real or digital). Now, how to work off the holiday binging? If you're like most people, you've at least started thinking about your exercise and eating program for the new year.

But what about your brain? What are you doing to make your mind more fit? Did you know that dancing is one of the best ways to get smarter?

In his book Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot, Richard Restak explains that the brain is susceptible to "disuse atrophy," a kind of breakdown of neural pathways symptomatic of Alzheimer's patients. As we do passive activities like watching TV, our brains become atrophied. Other kinds of activities enhance the brain "muscle," making it stronger.

» read more