Interpretive Snow Dancing has been a surprise hit at the 2010 Winter Olympics
in
Vancouver. The event was added only this year (together with Snowshoe Softball
and Boxing Biathalon),
but is already drawing enthusiastic crowds to Snow Dancing
competitions in Whistler. "Snow
dancing combines being in the snow with dancing,"
explains USA Snow Dancer Felicity Tumnus.
"Dancers have to perform in a parka and
boots in a snow at least a foot deep. What makes
snow dancing especially exciting for the
viewer is that the dancer has to dance to a song in his
or her head – no music is actually
played – and the judges have to guess, on the basis
of their dance, just which song they've
been dancing to. If I'm thinking of Rock Me Like A Hurricane by the Scorpions, for instance,
I need to get that across
in my dancing. I might make an 'air guitar' motion to get across
'rock', for instance, then whirl
around in a tight circle to represent a hurricane. To get a good
score, I need to find a way to
let the judges know the song I'm dancing to. If I'm dancing to
Eye
of the Tiger, and when I finish my routine the judges guess Tiny Dancer, then
I'm not doing
my job as a snow dancer." She points to her eye then makes tiger claws in the
air with her hands.
"It's all about connecting. Connecting, and dancing, and snow."
