OCR Text |
Show B2 Life Monday • September 8, 2008 The ballroom team performed their competition routines at a concert at UVU before traveling to Blackpool for the World Series of ballroom competitions. P h o t o s c o u r t e s y o f UVU D a n c e D e p o r t m e n t UVU dancers win at Blackpool 1 Mathew A. Jonassaint Assistant Life editor HBIron rom May 24 to June 5, the UVU ballroom team participated in the annual Open British Championship in Blackpool, England. The Open British Championship is analogous to the FIFA World Cup; its a crucial event for ballroom dancers all over the world. Every year hundreds of thousands of dancers travel to Blackpool to compete in several dance events. Anybody whose anybody is there, said Laura Payne, an adjunct advisor and director of the bronze team. Ballroom dance has a heritage that is centuries old in Blackpool —just dressing up is half the point during the wine and dine festivities. It is an honor for any group to be invited. The UVU ballroom tour team comprised eight couples that competed in two different events: standard (waltz, tango and Fred Astairetype dances, according to Payne) and Latin (salsa, samba, cha-cha, etc.) Each couple was required to dance for a full six minutes on the floor. The dancers spent weeks in preparation, clocking in as many as twenty hours per week training for the events. To choreograph the standard routines, the department enlisted the help of Jonathan Wilkins and a partner, both of them U.S. champions in standard. Emmy award-winning Paul Winkleman, who choreographed for the opening Olympic ceremonies in Beijing and Salt Lake City, choreographed the Latin routines. A professional in Pleasant Grove engineered the music primarily, though students from any discipline in the School of Arts also have many opportunities to assist, from helping with video and multimedia to designing costumes. Besides groups from Idaho and China, UVU was one of the few collegiately based groups to participate; most of the other groups comprised of professional dance studio teams, who may practice for sixty hours a week, and be paid to do so. Against such tierce competition, the UVU teams in standard took second place of the five teams competing in the entire championship, and the Latin teams took fourth of nine. The UVU ballroom team has received awards at Blackpool for the past several years. |