The "delightful" pair
Posted on 07/17/2004 10:08:07 AM PDT by aculeus
RUSSELL Halley takes pride in being able to do the splits as well as any woman on the dance floor. His partner, Jorge Guzman, can spin faster than the female competition.
So when the two men don their see-through chiffon shirts to dance together, they alternate the lead.
"I can send Jorge into a triple spin and catch him, and vice versa - even in the course of one move," Mr Halley boasts. "We can change place instantly. From an audience point of view it can be very exciting."
The duo are at the forefront of an upheaval in America's tradition-bound ballroom dancing scene, which comes as the sport seeks Olympic recognition for the 2008 Beijing Games.
Mr Halley (40), who runs a talent agency, and Mr Guzman (41), a stock trader, recently became the first male duo to compete against mixed couples at a championship-level event.
But they have run into opposition from ballroom dancing's governing bodies, which bar same-sex partners from competing at the top level in a sport that they say is all about the interaction of a man and a woman.
"The question of same-sex dancing does not come up any more than the question of dancing with some other species," said Jim Fraser, chairman of the legal commission of the International Dancesport Federation, the worldwide governing body.
"Dancesport, like ballroom dancing, is derived from the relationship between a man and a woman. They want to do their kind of dancing and they want to make us accept their kind of dancing as our kind of dancing. Those guys are just on the wrong track."
Same-sex couples have danced together for many years on college campuses in America because women outnumber men. Many women learn to lead in all-female pairs to be able to dance at all. The US Amateur Ballroom Dancers Association, which oversees the sport in America, does not enforce the man-woman rule on college campuses for fear of provoking a revolt by women who are unable to find male partners.
But some dance officials argue that allowing gay men to dance together could drive heterosexual men away. Archie Hazelwood, the association's director, insists that he is bound by the international rules for national competition.
"I have tried carefully not to get involved," he says. "I have supported the right of college competitions to have relaxed rules. I am trying to stay out of open conflict on the issue."
In April, Mr Halley and Mr Guzman danced against mixed couples at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Open Ballroom Competition near Boston.
After dazzling the crowd with their rumba, the pair came second in the Latin ballroom division in a field of 22 male-female couples.
"We got an extremely positive response from the audience. The judges were mixed. Some gave us great scores. Some gave us very low scores," said Mr Halley.
He says that he would prefer the governing bodies for ballroom dancing to establish a same-sex division, just as they are now starting to allow contestants who use wheelchairs. (© The Times, London)
Ballroom dancing as an Olympic sport?!
Gee, ya think?
I guess the gals on the campuses better get used to dancing with each other, cause the only guys left aren't gonna be dancing with the girls. One more cultural milieu is crushed under the Buggernaut.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
I hope the governing body stays strong in this.. I'm so sick of these perverts trying to worm their way into every aspect of society! And as for dance competitors in wheelchairs? ridiculous! If they want to dance for fun that's one thing, but here again it's this "everyone should be able to compete in everything and if we can't we'll sue" mentality..
What's next? Synchronized spotlight ducking in Lover's Lane?
There are plenty of homosexual men doing ballroom dance already - with female partners.
Mrs VS
The Olympic Games already have about 30 too many events. What's next, synchronized tiddlywinks?
The Oval Office is open. These offenders have been called to the Oval Office. The USABDA must find a way to enforce the strictest of rules.
Yes, ballroom dancing is one of the few places left in life where the man leads and the woman follows. Just as life was meant to be.
If this gay couple wants to bend the rules in the same way that feminists want women to lead and men to follow, then let them go to a gay bar.
Ron Reagan, Jr., pick up the white phone!
OMG those two are gross!
Definition of a "Sport"
Has Offense
Has Defense
Has strategy
Has some physical contact
Bowling, swimming, diving, gymnasics and GOLF are NOT sports. Cycling IS, just barely.
I thought that was already allowed.....
I tell ya, this "you-get-one-wish" I got roped into millenia ago, has it's downside. I can live forever. Ya, ya. Lucky me. Ain't it great.
I was AT the original Olympics where they gouged each other's eyes out, brutal fights to the death, etc.
And now it has some to this - two dudes ballroom dancing.
And I thought I'd seen it all...
Maybe Edwards and Kerry should bust their best moves.
Can you say gross and grosser...
What good be grosser?
Hurling?
(Just kidding, HG)
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