Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507170080
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Flip through the Commonwealth Games of Virginia's 1995 events brochure and you will find baseball, basketball, golf, soccer, softball and assorted other sports staples.
It's something on Page 20 that elicits a double take.
Ballroom dancing?
Well, it's true. Dancing - ballroom style - is in. So in that its proponents hope to waltz past this state games preliminary stuff all the way to the big show - the Olympics in 2000.
Ballroom dancing's supporters have ``been working for several years trying to get [the Olympic Council] to recognize it as a sport,'' said Hilah Terry, coordinator of the sport's Saturday night debut in the Commonwealth Games.
``There's a lot of people who think it belongs. The Olympics already has ice dancing, and that's really just ballroom dancing on ice skates.
``The way the Olympic Committee works, it will try something, we're hoping. Whatever, this is as close as anybody has come.''
Terry said Virginia is the third state to add ballroom dancing to its sports festival.
``State games are sort of preliminaries for kids who want to get better and be in the Olympics,'' she said. ``They're just beginning to say we're recognized and be given a chance.''
OK, so ballroom dancing isn't the first thing you think of when you think of sport. It doesn't take a Bo Jackson or Carl Lewis to do this stuff, you say.
Fred Astaire's favorite pastime certainly is sport, Terry maintained.
``It certainly takes longevity,'' she said. ``Most dances start at 8 or 9 [p.m.] and last until after midnight. That's a lot of dancing, a lot of moves. Try it on the dance floor for a night and you've had a good workout.''
They danced the night away Saturday at Roanoke's National Guard Armory.
``We want to show the population how it should be done,'' Terry said before Saturday's program. ``It's hard to tell whether the public will come out or not. I think people who are into dance, people who take dance and people who like to dance are pretty excited about this.''
Like those in ice skating, ballroom dancing competitions are decided subjectively by a panel of judges. Each couple - there is no individual competition - must perform certain compulsory moves, plus weave in optional moves that carry different degrees of difficulty.
Internationally, ballroom dancing is known as Dance Sport and is governed by the International Dance Sport Federation. While the United States is behind Europe and Asia in participation and competence in the sport, the Americans are catching up. Forty-one U.S. universities have competitive teams, and there are nearly 1,400 competitive ballroom dancers in Virginia.
Terry said ballroom dancing's U.S. resurgence is long overdue.
``It's coming back,'' Terry said, ``because it's so much fun.''
by CNB