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Ballroom Dance Contest in Providence

Posted on: Friday, 29 April 2005, 18:00 CDT

Ladies and gentlemen, let's get ready to rumba!

The main event at this weekend's first Rhode Island DanceSport Invitational in Providence is waltz, fox trot and cha-cha, among other athletic feats.

That's no jive. Dance is sports; and sports is competition.

"People just see the art and not the sport," says Efrosyni Iosiphidis, one of the Invitational's coordinators. "That's because we hide it so well. We hide the sweat. We wear pretty shoes instead of sneakers."

The event, which takes place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at Johnson & Wales University, is largely an intra-college competition. Johnson & Wales, which has its first official ballroom dance team, is hosting the event with the University of Rhode Island, students from Salve Regina University and the state chapter of USA Dance Inc.

Iosiphidis, a Johnson & Wales graduate, is vice president of the Rhode Island chapter of USA Dance. That's a national organization that promotes ballroom dance and advocates its inclusion in the Olympics.

"People think of dance as being pretty and wearing costumes," Iosiphidis says. "But when you dance, you are exerting a tremendous amount of energy and control, and have to have speed and power. You have to be physically fit."

Saturday's event will include dance teams from Brown, Harvard, Yale, MIT and Tufts, among other colleges. More than 250 dancers are expected, as are lots of spectators.

"People come just for the entertainment," Iosiphidis says. "It's just like people going to watch volleyball or basketball."

Admission is free. However, no new dancers are being accepted into the competition. The entry deadline has passed.

For the dancing athletes, with practice comes appreciation, and spared toes.

"We're walking with someone in front of us," Iosiphidis says. "But if you try to do that with your neighbor, it will be very painful."

Most every weekend from fall to spring, according to Iosiphidis, college ballroom dance teams compete in competitions, which are broken down into categories by dance and proficiency, experts to beginners, who aren't allowed to wear elaborate costumes.

"They're concentrating on their dancing," Iosiphidis says. "The costume does not make a good dancer. We're looking at footwork and posture. Competitors who start off wearing costumes lose that focus."

Ballroom dancers are sometimes dumbfounded that their sport hasn't been accepted into the Olympics, which has accepted has rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming.

"We're very close to ice dancing," Iosiphidis says. "They have tango and cha-cha. They use the same music and costumes, just a different floor."

The Rhode Island DanceSport Invitational takes place at Johnson & Wales University's Harborside Recreation & Athletics Center on Shipyard Street in Providence. For more information, visit www.uri.edu/student_organizations/ ballroom/comp/index.html.

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Source: Providence Journal

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