Are Dancers Athletes? ODC Dance proves they are in "Toe to Toe"
Photo by RJ Muna.
Last night was the annual Toe to Toe party, a competition and fundraiser for ODC Dance and University of California-Berkeley Athletics. However this is no ordinary boiled chicken event.
It all started years ago with Warren Hellman, financier and founder of Voice Of Dance. He was tired of business men not respecting the athleticism of dancers. His wife, Chris Hellman, was the chair of San Francisco Ballet, and he would often be sitting in a box with overweight business men who would be moaning and groaning about the femininity of dance. He would ask them to look closely at any of the male dancers and see if they could do what they did even for five minutes. Of course they couldn't and to prove his point, Hellman wanted to create a competition that would put dancers against athletes.
Brenda Way, the artistic director of the modern dance group ODC Dance joined with Berkeley's Cal Athletics program to create a one-of-a-kind competition called “Toe to Toe.” This year is the third year of the event. The dancers and the college athletes compete against each other in a series of events from obstacle courses to rope climbing while reciting Shakespeare. They are judged by a list of high profile judges for style and this year's judges included Ronnie Lott, Dwight Clark, Muriel Maffre, Joanna Haigood and Jess Curtis.
However, the highlight of the night is the finale in which the dancers and the athletes come together for a "Dancing with the Stars" showdown. This year there were the studly Water Polo team, the Soccer Girls, and the Track and Field Team dancing with the amazing ODC dancers. There was also great video that introduced the athletes and the dancers to the crowd. One of the best quotes was from a water polo member who said that when he graduated he hoped to go work on Wall Street – if there was one.
Although it was close, the water polo team won the dance competition and Cal Athletics won the overall competition, barely beating out ODC. Now ODC has won two years and Cal has won one year. Let's hope there is a rematch next year! Are dancers athletes? You betcha. Are the athletes dancers? Absolutely, I'd watch that water polo team any day!
