Here in Seattle, we are enduring the opening salvos of a newspaper strike involving our two major dailies. The two sides are not talking and I expect that arts coverage will be very limited for the duration of the strike. Imagine my surprise at finding a piece on our University of Washington football team members' participation in Dance 101. Perhaps due to the strike, I am unable to provide a direct link; however, if you go to <A HREF="http://www.seattletimes.com" TARGET=_blank>http://www.seattletimes.com</A> and select sports, the article will be at the head of the list...at least for today.<P>Stuart adds: This should work as the direct URL<BR> <A HREF="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/SeattleTimes.woa/wa/gotoArticle?zsection_id=268448415&text_only=0&slug=spttui220&document_id=134248780" TARGET=_blank>http://seattletimes. nwsource.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/SeattleTimes.woa/wa/goto<BR>Article?zsection_id=268448415&text_only=0&slug=spttui220&document_id=134248780</A> <BR> <P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited November 22, 2000).]

When I went to the site it was 5th article down - and very intersting indeed. We had several football players in the college where I took and taught classes. <P>They certainly made class interesting. We had to get used to having such big bodies in class - they take up a lot of room!!<P>A couple of them stayed in dance class even though they quit the football team and I had one as a partner. He was not that good of a dancer but he was a great partner. He was so strong that if he had hold of any part of me I knew I wouldn't be dropped. He was about 6'7" tall and when he lifted me over his head - my stomach would actually get that elevator swoop feeling. And, he had the broadest shoulders imaginable to sit on - I was quite comfortable up there. <P>One day in class he lifted me up over his head and then he forgot the choreography - so he just kept me there while he walked all the way across a huge dance room (at the college) to ask the instructor what to do next. It was quite a ride - and I had a wonderful view of the dance class from way up there.

Thanks for providing the link, Stuart. And Basheva, you can see these players at the Rose Bowl this year (unless by some odd bit of luck, they wind up in the national championship Orange Bowl game on the opposite end of the continent). Happy Thanksgiving to all U.S. correspondents! <p>[This message has been edited by Francis Timlin (edited November 22, 2000).]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!<P>I have to add this - one day in class with these huge athletes the teacher (a very small male) was trying to get one of the big linebackers into an attitude derriere - it was quite a chore - sickling foot and all. After trying for quite some time, the teacher then stepped back and said "It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't so big". <P>It was a terrible comment - but we all dissolved in laughter, including that poor large football player.

I was partnered by a student who was a former high school football star. He also turned out to be a decent modern dancer. The nice thing was I never had to worry about how/if I was going to be lifted...he just threw me around at will..it was a breeze! The fact that he weighed twice as much as I did certainly helped as well!

Yes, Trina, but look out for those field goals.

........and the drop kicks.........

Need more proof?<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Receiver Lynn Swann Graces Hall</B><P>ALAN ROBINSON, AP Sports<P>...<P>In the first Steelers-Cowboys Super Bowl, in January 1976, [Lynn] Swann's ballet classes - yes, ballet - paid off remarkably as he made two of the most famous catches in NFL history.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010802/sp/fbn_hall_of_fame_swann_1.html target=_blank><B>More</B></a><p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited August 03, 2001).]

I hadn't seen the UW football article before. It's so funny My family and I have been watching UW football ever since I can remember (my parents both went there to college). We were watching when Hurst made that spectacular twisting run. It was fabulous, and I'm doubly satisfied now that I know ballet was behind it.

So does this mean that us dancers have to learn football? How about it?? Besheva, you want to be the quarterback? who wants to be the linebacker, and all the other positions that i don't know? we can all wear our tutus and yell HIKE, HIKE!! won't that be cute??<BR>kim

The only thing you really have to remember to be a great football player - is to grunt a lot.<P>The loudest grunter wins the game!

GRUUUUUUUNNNNTTTTTT!!!!!!!!<BR>Hows that?<BR>kim

I remember at age 9, in my beginner class (yes a bunch of 9-10 year old), we had some high school football players come to our class. They stood at the part of the barre that no one stood at since the mirror didn't extend to that wall. (The records cabinet was there.)<P>I remember that I actually met one later...I think he was a brother of a friend - but I never told.<P>It was weird having these guys in class. They didn't wear ballet clothes, just shorts, t shirts and socks. I remember thinking that THAT was strange. I think they only did barre, I don't remember them doing the center work - but they might have.<P>Our teacher explained what they were doing and why they were there. I think it eased their minds a bit that these "little girls" knew they were tough football players!

As much as everyone cluck-clucks about football players taking dance classes, there STILL is a cultural stigma in the U.S. about boys studying ballet. I recently taught an introductory wkshp for young, junior high age, beginner dancers. We had professional dancers (couple) come in and demonstrate part of the "Don Q" pas de deux. During the "question and answer" period, the male dancer, who is from Eastern Europe, said that in his native country, ballet stars are the equivalent of rock stars. The young dancers were stunned at this admission. One of them said "but don't your friends think it's weird that you dance in tights". He said, "no, they think it's great what I do". The audience was speechless. How do we get rid of these stereotypes, which obviously can inhibit boys from studying ballet? I think attitudes might be changing, but at a snail's pace.<p>[This message has been edited by trina (edited August 13, 2001).]

<B>Tight Ends on Tiptoe</B><BR>Glen Burnie High's Dance Class Offers Team-Building of a Different Kind <BR>By Darragh Johnson for The Washington Post <P><BR>At first, the class was dreadful. Weird and embarrassing. Cory Dukehart's arms were cement. His legs were tree stumps. He stumbled through the jazz square, then the cha-cha combination. And then came that "step-together-step" thing, where "you have to do this toe touch," he groans. "I was like, What is that?"<P>By the time the 210-pound football player mastered that last one, "we had to do chassés" -- the toughest step of all.<P><A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46320-2001Dec14.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A><BR>