DanceSport Talk

DanceSport Talk http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/ Observations on the world of competitive ballroom DanceSport from the perspective of a BC-based competitor covering news, music and other information that impacts competitive dancers. en-us Nucleus CMS v3.23 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com//nucleus/nucleus2.gif DanceSport Talk http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/ When rules violate the rules http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=131 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. What does that mean? Simply put, a private organization can set any rule it likes unless such rules violate more important rules such as provincial or federal laws, or violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

For illustration purposes, suppose that an association created a rule saying you can't be a member if you're of a certain nationality. Such a rule would violate the Charter's "freedom of race" clause. You can't be discriminated against on the grounds of race. The same applies to other obvious examples such as gender or sexual orientation. Any rule which takes away rights based on conditions guaranteed in the Charter would be invalid.

I became interested in all of this because of an unusual situation in which a young couple is unable to compete in the Canadian Closed Championships. I spoke with CADA president Sandy Brittain to better understand what was behind all the furor. The bottom line is that the young gentleman moved from Quebec to BC and partnered with the young lady too late to take part in BC's official regional qualifier. CADA has every right to set qualifier rules, although it's unfortunate that the lives of two young people are being ripped apart. Other couples have been denied alternate qualifiers as well. CADA has a "bypass" rule it could use to allow a couple to compete anyway, but using it would put these other couples in the position of having been denied while one couple is permitted.

As I learned more about the circumstances of this couple, I was told by others that the CADA rules actually break under the "Charter test." I wanted to know if this was true.

A few days ago I had the chance to talk with one of the lawyers who represented the women's ski jumping group in its recent battle against the International Olympic Committee. The Olympic Committee didn't have a slot for women's ski jumping because there was not enough worldwide development of the sport. The fight was about trying to prove that in denying the event the IOC was violating gender equality. In the end, the courts felt that the rules themselves were not the problem because they weren't worded in any way that defied the charter. If, on the other hand, a specific rule limited the right to compete based on gender, that would have been an open and shut case.

In the case of CADA, a couple of rules do seem to break when compared against the Charter of Rights. Here are the details:

Rule 7.06 Interprovincial Partnerships

The wording in this rule governs interprovincial partnerships, and makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, it ends with the following words: "Under no circumstances may any amateur compete in more than one Regional Closed Championship in any dancing year."

It's understandable why CADA would want to limit a couple to being champions in only one province or region at a time. But this becomes a human rights problem, because the Regional Championships (like IFB in BC or Super Am in Quebec) are held in different months. If an athlete moves from one province to another, he may have already danced the Regional Championship in his old region, but the one for the new region hasn't happened yet. This rule means he would be discriminated against purely on the grounds of changing location.

The Charter of Rights guarantees the right of mobility. Any rule which discriminates against someone on the grounds that they move from one location in Canada to another likely won't hold up under the Charter test.

The exact Charter rule which guarantees mobility rights is found in section 6. The wording for subsection A of section 6 is:

"Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada. Every citizen of Canada and every person who has the status of a permanent resident of Canada has the right to move to and take up residence in any province." The Charter goes on to declare that "The rights specified... are subject to any laws or practices of general application in force in a province other than those that discriminate among persons primarily on the basis of province of present or previous residence." This means that any laws or rules put in place anywhere in the country which discriminate on the basis of province of residence (or a change thereof) have no power under the laws of Canada.

I don't propose to tell CADA how to solve this problem, but in its current form it appears that the rule does violate the Charter.

Rule 7.09 CCC Qualifiers

The rule is worded as follows: "No couple may participate in any Canadian Closed Amateur DanceSport Championship in a calendar year unless they also competed as a couple in the Amateur DanceSport Competition in the same category designated by their Regional Association as their Official Qualifying Competition with that Qualifying Competition being held within 6 months prior to the Canadian Closed Championship." The rule goes on to allow the CADA board to waive this limit in special circumstances.

Again, this rule fails the Charter of Rights test, for the same reasons. The qualifiers are held in each region at different times. For example, if competitors move from one province before that region holds its qualifier, into one that has already held theirs, the athletes are discriminated against simply on the basis of changing location.

Ontario held its 2010 Official Qualifying Competition in March, while Quebec held its event in January. Someone moving from Ontario to Quebec in the month of February would have missed both qualifiers. This makes the rule discriminatory.

It would appear that CADA needs to spend time at the upcoming AGM reviewing these rules and finding a way to ensure that the desired outcomes can be written in ways that don't violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I'm not sure what they can do about the athletes currently affected by this problem, but I hope they are working on a solution.]]> Politics http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=131 Tue, 9 Mar 2010 17:59:40 -0700 More inspiration from Slovenia http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=130 Petra Majdic
Petra MajdicOver 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.]]> General http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=130 Mon, 1 Mar 2010 12:07:40 -0700 Drink your way to the podium http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=129 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.]]> Training http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=129 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:41:44 -0700 Eat your way to the podium http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=128 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.The more you train, the more important nutrition becomes.

Your weekly training hours and intensity of training, as well as your goals for body composition will impact your dietary needs. Some nutritionists categorize weekly training volume to determine dietary energy requirements. For example, Kelly Anne Erdman, MS, RD and 1992 Cycling Olympian who is now a consulting dietician for the Canadian Sport Centre in Calgary, divides her clients into three categories: less than six hours per week, 6-12 hours per week, and more than 12 hours. These represent the hours they spend weekly in high-energy training. Even a triathlete can be in the middle category during the off season, and will move into the highest training category when preparing for events.

If you have specific goals like reducing body fat to make that six pack show, or increasing flexibility, or recovering from an injury, these goals might affect what you should eat. You may be wise to see a nutritionist to help plan your eating patterns. Other issues like reaction to milk, bread or cheese may need to be considered as you plan your normal eating habits. A Naturopathic doctor or sports nutritionist can conduct a complex test to discover allergies you may not be aware of to further optimize your body for performance.

Supplements like protein shakes may be a good idea. I like to consume a protein shake after each gym workout. It's generally recommended to take in liquids high in protein within two hours of any high-intensity muscle workout, to help provide essential proteins to repair muscular cell damage. Chocolate milk is also very effective. But don't buy into the myth that your entire diet needs to be high in protein. There's a limit to how much protein the body can use, regardless of how hard you train. In fact, the latest research shows that carbohydrates (complex carbs, not simple carbs found in sugar) have as much if not more influence on muscle recovery. The older you get, it seems, the more important carbohydrates become.

It also helps to track your dietary intake. You might feel this is too complicated, but think about it. Eating without tracking your caloric intake is like writing checks without knowing how much money is in your bank account.

Lose It app
Lose It! iPhone app

To track my nutritional intake, I use a free app for my iPhone called "Lose It!" This app has a beautiful interface that lets you create your own food items, put items together to create a "recipe" for easier entry of some things, and it tracks your weight on a graph. It shows you how many calories you've taken in during the day, and how many are left in your daily "budget." You can also see a breakdown of fat, carbohydrates and protein. It's easy to add exercises (even dancing is included in the list) but I've found that it's better to undervalue the caloric burn of activities as it leads to more accurate results.

The program shows you your weekly tally, because you can choose to go crazy from time to time if you've been consistent in following your recommended nutritional plan. As an athlete, it's healthy to let yourself enjoy the things you normally deny yourself, as long as it happens only occasionally. When we win a major competition, Wendy and I treat ourselves to a big steak dinner at the Keg or somewhere comparable to celebrate and let our hair down on the rigid nutritional discipline we live by most days.

Besides the normal dietary patterns, you need to think about what you eat on the day of competition. Performances, whether Standard or Latin, are not only high intensity, but also stressful in other ways because of the mental energy involved. This affects the body in ways that normally wouldn't be an issue. You need to be "on" in every sense of the word, so you must plan your competition-day eating to maximize your energy levels.

In a recent interview, world No. 4 Standard champions Simone Segatori and Annette Sudol mentioned that on competition days they eat breakfast, but then minimize what they eat for the rest of the day. This is vital!

Wendy and I learned this the hard way. Once, with several hours to kill between afternoon rounds and finals at the end of the evening, we went out for a nice restaurant meal, thinking it would be long burned off and digested by the time we had to perform. It was a big mistake. Even hours later, we found it very hard to dance at our usual energy level, feeling heavy and sluggish. Since then, we've become very scientific in our dietary plan for competition days. We eat an appropriate balanced breakfast, with Clif bars and Power bars the rest of the day until after the competition is over.

As a competitive dancer, you're an athlete in every sense of the word. Think like an athlete, plan your eating like an athlete, and train like an athlete. It's how the world's top dancers end up on the podium!]]> Training http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=128 Mon, 8 Feb 2010 11:30:00 -0700 The athlete factor http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=127 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!In an interview with a top Canadian coach and adjudicator who is originally from Germany, I was told that already decades ago, Germany treated DanceSport with all the seriousness of mainstream sports. Dance competition results are televised on German sports channels and covered in the sports section of newspapers. She explained that this was never about whether DanceSport belongs in the Olympics, but just that the athleticism involved is recognized for what it is. "You have to be extremely fit to be a world-class dancer," she said. "Taking this seriously can mean the difference between making the final or being left behind in an earlier round."

In North America, I constantly witness DanceSport treated poorly by those in the sports world. From PE teachers in high school to television producers and editors of the Sports section of newspapers, there is a foundational misunderstanding of this activity. While trying to get publicity for the 2010 SnowBall Classic, I ran into this dismissive attitude from all kinds of media people.

During the 2000 Sydney Olympic broadcast of a DanceSport demonstration in the closing ceremonies, sports broadcaster Bob Costas made snide remarks that enraged thousands of dancers.

Not long ago, I read a snotty editorial about DanceSport in VeloNews, the magazine of competitive cycling, which led to an exchange of letters to the editor, including a follow-up letter by a reader who also dismissed the athleticism involved. These attitudes can only be changed when we as athletes begin to take training more seriously!

In January, seven-time winner of the Tour de France Lance Armstrong underwent some fascinating new research on body core temperature. He acted as the guinea pig for tests that were videotaped and shared through Twitter updates. For these tests, he swallowed a special pill containing a wireless temperature transmitter that broadcast his core temperature, with an entire entourage of medical staffers studying the results minute by minute. We might associate this kind of extreme testing with only the world's greatest athlete, but why is that? If we do so, are we not dismissing our own sport as being unimportant?

The 2010 Winter Olympic Games are just a couple weeks away, and publications are filled with information about the kind of commitment given to the training and testing of these world-class athletes. Many of these techniques apply equally well to DanceSport competitors. Completing several rounds of championship dancing in competition is equivalent to running the 800 meter sprint competitively 10-30 times in a single day!

So what kind of tests are Simone and Annette talking about?

Some are tests of blood-borne markers to optimize stamina and training methods. Yes, these involve additional costs and an associated support team such as coaches who understand what to do with the information, but Simone and Annette point out that they pay for this out of their own pocket, even in Germany. Simpler tests, such as measuring VO2 Max and heart rate, can be conducted quite inexpensively. Others involve blood analysis.

Blood borne markers

An article by Steve Norris, Ph.D., published in Impact magazine, points out some of the vital information that can be gleaned from a simple athletic blood test. A few of the blood-borne marker tests used in sports include the following:

Glutamine/Glutamate Ratio. Glutamine is the most common free amino acid in the blood, but under high athletic stress loads, the demand exceeds the body's ability to make it. The ratio can be used as an indicator of the body's tolerance to training, and can be applied to designing a training program that suits the athlete's unique needs.

Norepinephrine. This stress hormone affects attention and the body's response, such as heart rate and the release of glucose from energy stores. Low levels can tell an experienced coach a great deal about an athlete's training program.

Testosterone. This hormone has many anabolic effects. Low levels can reduce athletic performance.

Iron. This is vital for an athlete because it affects how oxygen is transported from the lungs to muscle cells through the blood stream. Some athletes, particularly vegetarians, may not get enough iron in their diet. Intense training, through sweat and cell damage, can lead to a reduction of iron, which causes fatigue, injury and other negative factors.

Serum Ferritin. This protein helps store iron in the body, and can show whether body iron is declining.

Salivary Immunoglobulin-A. Present in saliva and measured through a simple saliva swab, this immunoglobulin can be depleted by intense exercise. It helps protect the lungs from infection.

Serum Albumin. This common blood plasma protein regulates blood volume. It can increase to unhealthy levels as a result of dehydration.

In summary, there are many things DanceSport competitors can do to treat their bodies more seriously. If you expect to perform at the highest levels, you need to think and train like an athlete. If we expect the public and the media to take competitive ballroom dancing more seriously as a sport, we need to set the tone by thinking that way ourselves, as Simone & Annette do.]]> Training http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=127 Mon, 1 Feb 2010 14:26:35 -0700 The impact of the audience http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=126 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.]]> Competitions http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=126 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:16:34 -0700 Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=125 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.]]> Politics http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=125 Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:19:20 -0700 The beat is on http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=124 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.Recently at another competition, all the music for the entire event was slowly faded in at the start of each song. This was tragic! Every competitor hated the experience. You couldn't tell where the phrasing was because you couldn't hear that vital first beat of music. Some songs have a short intro bar or two. Or four. Others start their phrasing right away. With that "fade in" approach, it was impossible to know what you were dealing with. Even the Paso Doble faded in, but that wasn't the worst of it. The first four bars of Paso sound exactly the same, and only when we reached the fifth bar did I realize that the DJ actually missed the entire first bar of music, fading in the song halfway through the second bar! This put the entire dance into a position that was unfair to the athletes and the audience.

At this point, the dancers have no choice but to start thinking about things other than their performance. Now they have to fix a problem that really has no place in the event: a problem caused purely by a DJ's lack of awareness of musical issues.

An experience like that robbed the dancers of the ability to perform at the highest level they have trained to perform at. It robbed the audience of seeing the highest quality performances which they paid for. And it robbed the organizers of potential future revenue because many participants are so unhappy with the experience they don't intend to return next year. To be fair to the DJ, as I talked with him after the event, the computer system was automatically doing the fading in. But in my opinion he should have considered this unacceptable and changed the settings so that it wouldn't happen.

As competitors, we don't know what music we'll get at a competition. All we know is that it will match certain "bars per minute" guidelines governed by the authorities who look after the sport, and that it will be someone's interpretation of the kind of music for that particular dance. I've met DJs who don't understand any of the musical qualities involved. They don't know the difference between American Style and International Style. They don't know the history of the dances or their characters. One even said to me that he tries to find unusual stuff that nobody has ever heard before because he gets tired of the "typical" dance music played at events. This interpretive aspect is what I'd like to discuss, because it can make or break the performances on the floor.

There are three primary concerns that many DanceSport athletes share when it comes to competition music:

1. Consistent Phrasing

Music is phrased. Many dance songs, like Jive or Quickstep are phrased in groups of four bars of eight beats, a total of 32 beats per phrase. Samba is phrased. Even 3/4 music like Viennese Waltz is phrased, though in bars of eight. Waltz, Tango and Cha Cha are least impacted by phrasing, but it applies strongly to all the other dances. The routines are almost always choreographed to match those phrasings. When a routine is "out of phrase" it makes the routine look weak and disorganized. The beginning of a new phrase has additional power and drama in the music and this should be reflected by the routine through a change of direction or other emphasis to match the energy of the music.

What many dance DJs don't realize is that a number of songs don't follow the normal phrasing patterns all the way through. Last night, a Quickstep was played for a syllabus event that had several 4-bar phrases and suddenly a 2-bar phrase, then more 4-bar phrases and then another 2-bar phrase. Now, I realize that these syllabus dancers were probably unaware of the phrasing problems, but their routines were no doubt created in phrases and this has the end result of making all their routines look out of place halfway through the event. This is unfair to everyone!

Madonna's "Hanky Panky" has been a popular Jive song played at many competitions. How many dance DJs are remotely aware that it has a messy mixture of 3-bar and 4-bar phrases, and even some 2-bar phrases? It's a fun song, but completely wrong for a dance competition where dancers are depending on phrasing to make their dances look as good as possible.

Dean Martin's "That's Amore" has been played at competitions as a Viennese Waltz. Instead of consistent 8-bar phrases it varies, with several places where the phrasing is interrupted. While in fairness most dancers at this level can adapt, especially in this dance, why force them to do it when there are hundreds of songs with consistent phrasing? If you want Dean Martin, play "Bella Bimba" instead, which has proper phrasing all the way through.

The audience is paying money to see the best possible dancing. They are being robbed when routines are out of phrase for no reason other than a DJ didn't do his or her homework!

2. Character of the dance

Another major issue at competitions is music that has none of the character of the dances. Just because a song has the right number of bars per minute does not make it appropriate!

How often have I been to competitions where I've heard Tango or Cha Cha songs that have none of the staccato qualities of those dances. I've heard flat Jive songs with no bounce or bee-bop swing qualities. I've heard Waltz songs with far too many beats and rhythms in them. I've heard square Slow Foxtrot music that didn't sound like a romantic walk in the park but more like something you'd hear at the neighborhood pub after everyone has had too much to drink. This is wrong! You have a responsibility as a DJ to play music that matches the character qualities of the dance it is for.

Just because a song appears on a dance CD and has a genre listed next to it doesn't make it right for competition. Many of those tracks are intended for practice or show dance use.

A Quickstep song I've heard far too often at competitions is called "Man With the Hex." While some dancers actually like it as a song, I don't feel this heavy metal, rough sounding piece has any place as a Quickstep song in competitive events. Let people make a show dance out of it, so they can emphasize the roughness in their own way. The Quickstep originated from party dances like the Charleston. It needs to have music that's fun and light and frisky, not flat and shrieking heavy metal. I've heard audience members, especially older ones who dance socially, complain loudly about that song.

3. Suitability for the skill level

It's really unfortunate when dance DJs at a competition play songs for low skill levels like Bronze or Silver that have a very complex musical pattern or have beats that are too hard to read because of the style.

I've seen this far too often, and it puts the dancers at such a disadvantage! At those levels, they are still struggling with foot placement and partnership issues. They are learning to dance, and not ready for difficult music. So, when a song comes on with several layers of beat counts within the music, it can be tragic.

Nat King Cole's "Illusion" is a beautiful Waltz piece, but it's much too hard for a new dancer to read. The vocals are so dominant and the emphasis placed in positions that don't match the orchestral underlay. Don't play it for Bronze, but leave songs like that for the higher level dancers who know how to read the music.

If you're a dance DJ, I would recommend the following exercises:

Go online and study the history of each dance. There are a number of web sites with this information.

Listen to every single song you're going to play, all the way through. Count the beats and bars. Write them down, ticking off the bars to see how many happen in each phrase. If it isn't consistent, take it off your playlist. Sure, you'll lose some songs you might like, but your responsibility to the sport is greater than your personal preferences.

Ask yourself if the song is suitable for the skill level it's slotted for. Songs with complex layered patterns, or hidden beats or other sophistication should be reserved for the higher levels.

Remember that you are a part of an amazing sport. Your role is just as important as that of everyone else in the competition. We are all in this together. The audience has paid money for a performance, and deserves to see the best performance possible from the dancers on the floor. The music you play will either help deliver that, or could take away from it.]]> Music http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=124 Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:04:57 -0700 Nobody wins in disputes with officials http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=123 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? This "who said what" or "who thought what" kind of argument can't possibly be useful in any way. Burrows can't possibly win, even if his allegations were true. Both men's reputations have been tarnished. Both will be suspect in all future games. Canucks penalties will be analyzed to death for the rest of the season, especially those from Auger. Everyone will be focusing on the wrong stuff.

A number of commentators have compared this to sports like ice skating, where the marks are not based on who crosses the finish line first or scores the most goals, but on a highly subjective scoring system.

In DanceSport, we have a judging system that is based on subjective scoring, just like ice skating.

Dancers are always complaining about judges "having it in for them" as if there were a kind of vendetta system or preferential treatment going on. Give me a break! Judges take their jobs very seriously. They won't risk damaging their reputation as adjudicators to favor one couple over another or take out a grudge against someone.

We've all seen cases where one judge from one country marks that country's couples first in all five dances while all the other judges mark them much lower. Immediately there are cries of favoritism. Many criteria are used in judging. That judge obviously liked something about that couple, and it may well have been related to a quality which is stressed or valued more in some regions than in others.

But even if it were true that a judge marks one couple higher because of national pride or some other phantom issue, there's no point sharing those accusations. There is too much else to worry about, like the quality of your dancing. If you truly outperform the field, enough judges will recognize your effort and you'll receive your proper placement. Whether it was unanimous or not doesn't matter.

I can't count the number of times I've heard that dancers who know a judge because they work with him or her receive favorable treatment. This urban myth is thrown around so often that people believe it without looking up the facts for themselves. You'll find that the opposite is true. Invariably when I've checked these statements out for myself, I find that the judges who coach couples on the floor marked them more severely than those who don't. I assume this is because they know what their biggest flaws are and can see them in action!

Dancers, just like anyone in the world of sports, need to understand that these accusations don't help anyone. Nobody wins. People are human and mistakes might happen, but you have to live with that reality and move on. Instead of assuming you were somehow wronged just because you didn't get the marks you expected doesn't make it true. And when you hear those accusations thrown out, please speak up and set people straight. It's just inappropriate. We shouldn't listen to that stuff.

I'm reminded of an ugly scenario which played out some time ago after a major DanceSport competition. One couple, who shall not be named, did not make the final round and were convinced that a particular judge made a deliberate effort to keep them out of the final. They even went public with their complaints, mentioning their accusations on web forums.

In reality, their arguments were silly. They missed the final by far more marks than the five callbacks they would have received from one judge. Several judges did not mark them into the final, a fact they conveniently forgot in their heated statements. In their zeal to attack one judge, I don't think they ever bothered to add up their total callbacks. But the damage was done. The reputation of the couple was damaged and so was that of the judge they accused. Nobody wins.

Let's just do our jobs and assume that the officials are doing theirs, and we'll all get along!]]> Politics http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=123 Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:44:40 -0700 Dance, the fitness program for your brain http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=122 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.The brain responds to exercise the same way other muscles do, getting stronger when used and weaker when not. But it has one notable exception: it's the only muscle in the body that never loses its ability to grow stronger. Although there are very real effects of aging, such as reduced neural connection points, we use so little of the brain (less than 10% of capacity in our lifetime) that the impact doesn't have to be felt. We just grow less mentally agile because, as we get older, we tend to spend less time learning and more time allowing our brains to be passive.

Restak emphasizes that the brain is an organ that actually improves with use, even as you grow old. What's more, while most of us include some sort of physical exercise into our daily (or weekly) routines, Restak argues that we should incorporate regular mental exercise into our routines as well.

Knowledge, according to Restak, is a kind of networking in the brain in which connections are always changing. The brain, he says, is a "work in progress." Throughout our lives, our brains are constantly changing. Restak recommends that we choose memory-enhancing activities that maximize connections within the brain. The best are physical activities that force our brains to coordinate the prefrontal cortex and the primary motor cortex. These activities include playing sports that require fine motor control, and playing sports that require general motor control and balance.

Ballroom dancing, and especially when applied with the intensity needed for competition, meets all of these criteria. Dr. Joseph Coyle, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist, says that "the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, which are critical to these activities, are remarkably plastic, and they rewire themselves based upon their use." So it's no wonder that other studies have proven the effectiveness of dancing as a memory enhancing sport.

Richard Powers explains it like this: When brain cells die and synapses weaken, things like nouns go first, like names of people, because there's only one neural pathway connecting that stored information. If the single neural connection to that name fades, we lose access to it. As we age, we learn to process in parallel, to come up with synonyms to get around those roadblocks (assuming we don't become dimmer bulbs as a result of inactivity). Powers says that whatever you can do to create new neural paths helps keep the memory sharp.

A study by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at about 500 people over a 21-year span to see how different activities affected memory. The study found that those who frequently ballroom danced experienced a 76% reduction in the risk of Alzheimer's and other memory diseases. It was by far the most impressive activity in terms of improving mental agility.

Why dancing?

The question of why dancing had the greatest impact wasn't answered specifically. But there are many conclusions from other studies which seem to provide the answers.

When you are involved in a physically demanding activity, blood flow to the brain increases, which helps neuron synapses connect more efficiently. In addition, activities which require split-second rapid-fire decision making are better for memory than those requiring little new decision making, such as jogging or golf. Many athletic activities are built on pre-existing memorized pathways, especially for those who do them frequently. Dancing, explains Powers, integrates several brain functions at once. "Dancing simultaneously involves kinesthetic, rational, musical and emotional processes." This is further enhanced in the more intense environment of competition.

Whether you follow or lead probably has little impact. Women have to interpret the signals given by their partner, which involves intense split-second decision making. But men have to lead by reading the music and the floor ahead of them, then deciding how to respond, then creating the appropriate lead for their partners. This may be just as intense as the follower's role. It would be nice if a study were done on this at some point. Dancing with different partners probably has a greater benefit, because you would not be relying as much on existing neural pathways, but if you're dancing at all, you're better off than most people. In addition, changing your routines or groupings regularly as you dance (especially for competitors) would be beneficial.

So there you have it. Include the brain in your workout program. If you aren't dancing now, get started. If you are, consider pumping up the intensity by getting involved in competition.]]> Training http://dsblog.dancesportmusic.com/index.php?itemid=122 Fri, 8 Jan 2010 11:24:29 -0700