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Show Curt Holman among top BYU dancers Curt Holman, Pleasant Grove, was among 16 of BYU's top ballroom dancers who returned from West Germany recently with bronze medal honors for the World Formation Championships sponsored spon-sored by the International Council of Amateur Dancers. The competition was also sponsored spon-sored by the Gold and Green Dance Club in Bremen, West Germany, the site of the competition. "This is the first time BYU has been able to accept an invitation to compete with our Latin formation dancing in the premier championship cham-pionship of its kind," says Tom Murdock, spokesman for the Ballroom Dance Company. "Only two invitations to the highest-ranked highest-ranked dance teams were issued for any one country, which in itself was a compliment. This was our chance to see how we could compete against the first-ranked dancers." Of the teams that made it through preliminary, semi-final and final rounds, West German teams placed first and secod. BYU was third and Holland received fourth honors. German audiences approach dancing with as much enthusiasm as BYU fans do their sports events, says Lee Wakefield, artistic director of the ballroom dance program. "We were against teams in their own country with 8,000 ballroom dance fans cheering them on." This was the fiercest competition the BYU team has ever encountered, en-countered, adds Murdock. "We have competed against and placed ahead of German teams at the prestigious Blackpool, England championships. Although we have been thrilled with our first-place awards there, it was a competition with many levels of performance because it is open competition. Every team was excellent." The 1987 world championships will be in Oslo, Norway and BYU has received an unofficial invitation, in-vitation, says Murdock. "Whether we go, however, obviously remains to be seen." Holman, a junior in human resource development and son of Willard J. and Melba Holman, graduated in 1982 from Pleasant Grove High School where he performed per-formed with the world champion Cloggers West team and was active in student government. At BYU he has performed with the International Folk Dancers and on the ballroom dance team which won first place at Blackpool. He served a mission to Chile for the LDS Church. |