[scifinoir2] OT: Russian ice dance tribute offensive to Aborigines

[Keith Johnson]

When oh when will people learn! Don't mess with cultures so far from your 
understanding like this. check the pics: they look stupid, like kids wearing 
costumes in a school play! I like the one quote saying the elders in the bush 
would probably laugh themselves silly at the pair. 

*** 
[Yahoo sports] 

Russian ice dance tribute to Aborigines offensive to Aborigines 


By Maggie Hendricks 


Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, the favorites for ice-dancing gold in 
Vancouver, wowed the crowds with their routine at the European Championships. 
They sit in the lead after their original dance, a tribute to Australian 
Aborigines. 

Except, Aboriginal leaders don't see it as a tribute. They don't really see how 
it has anything to do with their culture at all . 



"They have got the whole thing wrong," said Stephen Page, artistic director of 
the respected indigenous group, the Bangarra Dance Company. Page said there 
were no traditional movements in the routine, the music sounded more like it 
came from India or Africa than Aboriginal Australia and the body paint looked 
like "a three-year-old child had drawn it on"... "Probably the elders in the 
bush would be laughing because they would be saying, 'Look how stupid these 
fellas are,' " he said. 

Domnina and Shabalin are required to do an original dance that is 
representative of a country's culture. The U.S. pair of Tanith Belbin and Ben 
Agosto, who won silver in Torino, perform a Moldavian folk dance. Americans 
Meryl Davis and Charlie Davis won the Grand Prix Final with an Indian-inspired 
dance. 

The dances are not required to be strict interpretations of the culture -- they 
are meant to represent those cultures -- but Domnina and Shabalin completely 
miss the mark. At this point, it's likely too late for the pair to change their 
routine. Hopefully, an Australian will be on the panel who judges their 
original dance, and marks their unauthentic and offensive dances and costumes 
accordingly. 

RE: [scifinoir2] OT: Russian ice dance tribute offensive to Aborigines

[Martin Baxter]

Clueless, the pair of them.

"If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody 
hell hired the director?" -- Charles L Grant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik




To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
From: keithbjohn...@comcast.net
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:01:15 +
Subject: [scifinoir2] OT: Russian ice dance tribute offensive to Aborigines


















 



  



  
  
  
When oh when will people learn! Don't mess with cultures so far from
your understanding like this. check the pics: they look stupid, like
kids wearing costumes in a school play! I like the one quote saying the elders 
in the bush would probably laugh themselves silly at the pair.





***


[Yahoo sports]



Russian 
ice dance tribute to Aborigines offensive to Aborigines
By Maggie 
Hendricks



Oksana 
Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, the favorites for ice-dancing gold in Vancouver, 
wowed the crowds with their routine at the European Championships. They sit in 
the lead after their original dance, a tribute to Australian Aborigines. 

Except, Aboriginal leaders don't see it as a tribute. They don't really see 
how it has anything to do with their culture at all.


"They have got the whole thing wrong," said Stephen Page, artistic director 
of the respected indigenous group, the Bangarra Dance Company. Page said there 
were no traditional movements in the routine, the music sounded more like it 
came from India 
or Africa than Aboriginal Australia 
and the body paint looked like "a three-year-old child had drawn it on"... 
"Probably the elders in the bush would be laughing because they would be 
saying, 
'Look how stupid these fellas are,' " he said. 

Domnina and Shabalin are required to do an original dance that is 
representative of a country's culture. The U.S. 
pair of Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, who won silver in Torino, perform a 
Moldavian folk dance. Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie Davis won the Grand 
Prix 
Final with an Indian-inspired dance.

The dances are not required to be strict interpretations of the culture -- 
they are meant to represent those cultures -- but Domnina and Shabalin 
completely miss the mark. At this point, it's likely too late for the pair to 
change their routine. Hopefully, an Australian will be on the panel who judges 
their original dance, and marks their unauthentic and offensive dances and 
costumes accordingly.  





 









  
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