Kalamity K

The Daily Chaos of Kalamity K
2005-11-19 16:39:36 (UTC)

Undercover at Swan Lake

I wish I could post the pictures. There is one of Paul
Hunter in his costume. It's funny! But...the thing that
always gets me is...how could you NOT know this? It seems
to self-evident to me... I do like this article,
though. :)

K2

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Undercover at Swan Lake
Nov. 18, 2005. 07:37 AM
PAUL HUNTER


Until yesterday, I wouldn't have known Swan Lake from
Jamie Rivers.

To me, a Nutcracker was that Bryan McCabe one-timer that
almost neutered Darcy Tucker the other night. They were
the Winnipeg Jets not the Jetes.

I've been a sportswriter for some 20 years but there I was
on the Hummingbird Centre stage, mesmerized by the grace,
beauty and sheer exertion of the National Ballet company
as it performed Swan Lake, which I've been told is an old
classic — not unlike Jason Allison only faster moving.

I was one of those novelty walk-ons — think Steve Thomas
at Leafs' camp — given the opportunity to get an insider's
look at the production as a supernumerary, which is
similar to an extra in movies.

I was one of the courtiers, draped in heavy cloaks,
sweating while standing still at the back of the stage.

My boss saw it as a chance to compare the athleticism of
dancers with the sports figures I normally cover. I
clearly misunderstood the invitation to belly up to the
barre.

But over the years, I've seen several Tie Domi swan dives
and I always thought Vince Carter should have played here
in a tutu so I was, perhaps, not completely without
credentials. However, the first ballet I ever saw, I was
in.

I was impressed with the performers as artists and
astounded by them as athletes. There were no chubby Keith
Tkachuks in this troupe.

Ballet is all illusion. It flows so elegantly that you
forget there is incredible muscle with the motion. For an
outsider, it seems physically impossible that the dancers
hold some of those poses, or defy gravity, for as long as
they do. The women playing the swans may be tiny but try
lifting a dead weight like that and then swashbuckling
about the stage without popping a codpiece. I'd guess most
of the Leafs and Raptors couldn't do it.

The pas de deux between Odette and Siegfried may have been
romantic but I haven't seen a body tossed around like that
since Zdeno Chara ragdolled McCabe a couple of years ago.

Perhaps Albert Einstein was right when he said, "Dancers
are the athletes of God."

He also might have said, "Art can hurt."

It is when the dancers traipse off the stage and drop the
elegant facade, that one gets a better understanding of
how hard they push themselves. Unheard over the orchestra
is the panting as they gasp for their breath and grab for
water bottles, not unlike a hockey player after a tough
shift. Unseen are the pained expressions as they stretch
and contort their bodies, limbering up for the next scene.

There's nothing like the image of a swan maiden, doubled
over, spitting in to a garbage can to dispel the notion
that this is easy.

"It takes a really long time to learn not to let yourself
puke or hyperventilate (on stage). It's a really difficult
thing. It's something you're taught from when you're very
young," said Christopher Body, a first soloist with the
National Ballet of Canada.

"I think the athletic component gets lost a lot because we
try to put on a veneer, a gloss, so everything is
beautiful at the ballet."

Quite a few years ago, football legend Herschel Walker
took up ballet which forced people within the sports world
to view ballet dancers as less — how do we say this in a
politically correct manner — effete. Then there was that
study in The Journal of Sports Medicine that examined 61
different activities and ranked ballet as the most
physically and mentally demanding, just ahead of
bullfighting and football.

Still, preconceptions die hard. Matt Nichol, the Maple
Leafs' strength and conditioning coach, used to work with
ballet dancers from the national company and he recalls
being initially astounded by the endurance and strength of
the performers.

"You figure it's a pretty artsy-fartsy kind of thing," he
recalled recently. "Then you go and see what they do and
you meet some of these people ... I mean some of these
guys were absolutely ripped — not an ounce of body fat on
them. I don't know what you call it when they do their
workouts or practices but it's unbelievable. I had a new-
found appreciation for them as athletes, not just as
artists."

In hockey, a typical practice lasts about an hour. In
ballet, a dancer, working on several productions
simultaneously, is more likely to put in a seven-hour day.
It's understandable then that Nichol says dancers would
often come in to the clinic where he worked with
repetitive stress injuries, shin splints, and tendonitis.
They would get treatment, suck it up, and get themselves
ready to perform that night.

"They push themselves to the limit day after day, after
day, after day. It's pretty brutal the training that they
do. I would say those dancers were just as physically
tough as any other professional athletes I've ever worked
with," he said.

"I think everyone is aware of their exceptional
flexibility and balance but underestimated is how strong
they are. Just look at their ability to propel their own
bodyweight or support other dancers overhead."

The company, like a sports team, has a roster of medical
support staff including a doctor, athletic therapist,
chiropractor, four massage therapists, an oesteopath and a
sports psychologist. Therapist Paul Papoutsakis, with the
ballet for five years, says he treats mostly foot and
ankle injuries with the women; back and knee pain with the
men "because of all the lifting they do."

And, unlike a hockey player, it's tough for a dancer to
support a wonky ankle or knee.

"It's not easy to tape and put on a show," said
Papoutsakis. "Everything shows."

Careers in both fields are short. Dancers, like pro
athletes, are often too broken down or physically and
mentally spent to continue much beyond their late 30s or
early 40s.

Doug Gilmour, as hard-nosed a hockey player as has even
come through this city, was a "super" last year along with
Steve Thomas during the company's production of The
Nutcracker.

He said he was awed by the dancers.This is from a guy who
is remembered for his own dance routine, with legs painted
black and white, in those old milk ads.

"But I was strapped on a girder. We'd start the dance,
then when you just saw the legs, that was professionals. I
could never do what some of those dancers are able to do.
It's pretty remarkable," he said.

As for myself, my task at yesterday's matinee consisted
mostly of standing and nodding the odd time, a role made
for a sports reporter. Still it was fascinating to see how
much sweat goes into a performance and though I'll
probably always prefer a frozen pond to a Swan Lake, I'll
be back to see these athletes perform from the other side
of the stage.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?
pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=96816
3964505&cid=1132267814248&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968
332188492&call_pagepath=News/News&DPL=IvsNDS%
2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes




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