Rebel couple put judges in tailspin
RUTH GLEDHILL
BALLROOM dancing may never be the same again. Judges
have reacted with horror and warned of anarchy after
Andrew Sinkinson, the national champion, committed the
ultimate in sartorial solecisms in the United Kingdom
championships at Bournemouth.
Sinkinson, 33, who is known for his rebellious nature since
he introduced some controversial new steps into his dancing
two years ago, abandoned the traditional tail suit with dress
shirt, studs and white bow tie that have been worn for a
century or more.
Instead, he sported a simple waistcoat over a full-sleeved
white shirt. His Danish-born partner, Charlotte J=F8rgensen,
26, with whom he won the British championship last
November, also defied convention by eschewing the usual
jewel-encrusted creation, for a plain black dress with no
decoration at all.
"It made me feel really free and light," an unrepentant
Sinkinson said after coming fourth, behind Marcus and
Karen Hilton, the world champions, Luca Baricchi and
Loraine Barry, of England, and Augusto Schiavo and
Caterina Arzenton, of Italy. "It was really nice to be doing
something different."
J=F8rgensen concurred. "Quite a few people are using this style
for demonstrations," she said. "It feels a lot freer and is not
so restricting. Andrew has very broad shoulders and a long,
thin body so he could carry it off well."
Sinkinson wore the waistcoat in the afternoon and switched
back to a tail suit for the final three rounds in the evening, but
the judges were not impressed. A senior insider, said: "It is
wrong for this renegade to do this. I did not approve at all
and I told him so. It only takes one person like him to do it
for others to do the same next year."
Michael Houseman, a leading coach and judge, who won the
1960 UK championship with his wife, Valerie, said: "We
cannot have people wearing strange clothes like this.
Anything could happen. I am old-fashioned and I like the tail
coat. We have seen what happened in the Latin section. It
went from tail coats to dinner jackets, from dinner jackets to
ordinary jackets and from there to catsuits."
But, in spite of tradition, change appears to be on the
horizon. Kai Lillebo and Lena Gran=E5s recently won the
Norwegian championship, with him dancing in a pullover and
her in a pleated skirt with matching top.
John Leach, the editor of Dance News, said: "I quite like it. I
think we have got to experiment with the ballroom dress, so
that it becomes more relevant to today. Tails are superb
because they create the line and the shape but, unfortunately,
they have an old-fashioned image. But the traditionalists are
not going to like this very much."
And Zo=EB Uffindell, of IMG, the sports marketing
organisation that has agreed a joint venture with the IDSF,
the international amateur dance body, to promote dance
sport worldwide, said: "We would be happy to see any
changes that the dancers and the IDSF are also happy with
that would make the sport more attractive and accessible to
a wider television audience."
So if you have already bought yourself that tux or ballgown, in the
eloquent words of the bully in The Simpsons. "ha ha"...:)
Regards,
Sri.
_______________________________
Sriram Shankar, Ph.D
Department of Radiology,
161 A, Bryan Research Building,
Duke University Medical Center,
Durham, NC 27708.
email: oversway@acpub.duke.edu/shank003@mc.duke.edu
Tel: (919) 684-7804 (lab)/(919) 684-7811 (off.)
FAX: (919) 684-7122
URL: http://www.duke.edu/~oversway