Savoy + Savoy = Let's Dance.

DanceSport and the game of ballroom

THE FAMILIAR strains of ballroom dance music and ordinary social dancing could never hold Sharon and David Savoy, of Arlington, Virginia, for long. Both are consummate performers. They have held world championships and have danced for audiences in the far corners of the globe. Rushing to Germany for a weekend of performances or a weeklong festival in Taiwan, appearing at the Super Bowl or the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Savoys exhibit their signature one-handed arabesque lifts and breathtakingly daring drops to DanceSport enthusiasts and the public at large.

There's little doubt that the Savoys are trained, competitive athletes. Schooled in ballet, Sharon had won two international championships with other partners before she and David, an attorney, met, but David's skill with aerial lifts--which were radical at the time--was very attractive to the super flexible Sharon, and besides, they fell in love. (David had taken the money from his fee from his first big lawsuit and used it to go and study with the very best teachers.) When the couple developed their athletic style, the entire style of Theatre Arts dancing became more athletic.

While DanceSport is still a long way from being accepted as an Olympic program sport with medals--or even an Olympics exhibitions sport-- Sharon and David Savoy already have bookings for at least three exhibition of their art at the Olympic Pavilion as an entertainment for the Olympics September 15-October 1 in Sydney, Australia.

"The Australians will probably bring in some other couples, too, for entertainment by local dancers," suggests Sharon Savoy generously.

DanceSport doesn't yet exist as an Olympic sport--not even as an exhibition level sport at the Olympics. Not yet. "I think the push toward putting competitive dance in the Olympics is a good thing," opines David. "By expanding the pie, there should be equal time and money for sport and art."

The push to recognize aspects of "ballroom" dancing as sport and entertainment beyond social activity has been going on for more than a decade. In 1991, the International Council of Amateur Dancing, headquartered in Bremen, Germany, had changed its name to the International Dance Sport Federation, and the United States Amateur Ballroom Dancers Association (U.S.A.B.D.A.) had renamed its competition committee to the United States Dance Sport Council. In 1993, the International Council of Ballroom Dancing (I.C.B.D.) announced its name change to The World Dance and DanceSport Council acknowledging "the whole range of different professional activities that the Council represents throughout the world, from the world class competitive athletes who compete for the World Professional Championships to the dance teachers who first foster the newcomers' involvement in dance in forty-four different countries."

In 1997 the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.) granted full recognition to the International DanceSport Federation as the governing body of a sport (DanceSport.) That leaves just one more step to entering the Olympic Program: having the IOC accept DanceSport as a Program Sport. To gain entry to the 2008 Olympics, the IOC must accept DanceSport as a Program Sport by September 2001.

"The first time dancing was really integrated with competitive sport was the Thirteenth Asian Games in Bangkok in December of 1998," remembers David, "and we were there."

Keith Todd, editor of Dance Beat, a Florida-based publication on DanceSport, observed, "... Words like `sport' or `art' or even `artistic' don't come immediately to mind when Mr. and Mrs. Public think about `ballroom dancing.' We have gone through the debate about whether ballroom dancing should be considered an `art' or a `sport.' There is no doubt that good dancing of any type is artistic ..." but Todd favors "sport" because sport is some thing the majority can participate in while art is something the majority watches. He makes the added argument that "the main stage for ballroom dancing is the competition floor, and "to me an art form should not be competitive. While a sport can be artistic and remain a sport, an art form should not be competitive, but an expression of feeling, irrespective of how it is judged."

"DanceSport is closest to ice dancing and pair skating, only in ice dancing the couples are intertwined but needn't do the lifts and throws. They must, however, be correct with the music," explains David.

"I think some of the sports attitudes would be wonderful for DanceSport," says Sharon. She cited "rules as in ice dancing, where there are technical and artistic merit sections, where highest and lowest scores are dropped, and where there are restrictions on who may judge the competitions." She points out that in ice dancing, "judges can't dance too. Now the same people who judge also coach the competitors--it's true both in amateur and professional competitions."

There could be numerical values set for successful execution of steps in varying degrees of difficulty, but there's no such restriction in today's arena where judge's opinions and impressions are the sole method of assessment. The less arbitrary the scoring system, the more sport-like.

The Savoys' chosen style is called Exhibition or Theater Arts or sometimes even Cabaret Dancing, and it has even fewer rules than the Ten Dances that are often seen in competition, since it is specifically designed for entertainment.

"Mostly they are just the principles of partnering--partners are male and female--and there are time limits--four minutes, but it depends on the strictness of the schedule and the presenter. Exhibitions are usually free shows meant to entertain." says David.

"We begin every day's training with an hour's ballet barre," says Sharon, and we've never gone onstage without a proper warmup." David admits that he still trains by plieing and pressing Sharon into the air while she stands on his hands, then continues with their one-hand aerial arabesque. "If you can do the hard stuff consistently in rehearsal, you can do it in performance," says David.

Says Sharon, "We have been working with a rhythmic gymnastics coach for the last four years who must come to our home studio from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m." before David has to go to work at his law practice.

It's really hard for couples to stick together, they agree. "There's not a lot of work or money so they have to take other work," adds David.

"No one lives just off show work," agrees Sharon.

So David may be right; DanceSport could bring a bigger slice of the economic pie to competitive ballroom dancing.