for surflugen

[madasacutsnake]

Surf ballet wants a break
By Cath Hart
January 29, 2005
From:
WHAT happens when a classical ballet teacher gets hooked on surfing? You get a new style of riding the waves that gives a whole new meaning to "break dancing".

In the sets off the point at Noosa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, Kristy Quirk, 28, is combining longboard surfing with ballet movements to form surf-dancing.
Ms Quirk, who teaches classical ballet and is a surf coach, said there were many similarities between dance and surfing.

"I use a classical ballet framework and terminology to discuss what we're going to do on the wave," she said.

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When a surfer catches a wave and moves to a standing position, their arms form ballet's open fifth position.

"A surfer's stance is second position in jazz, and if they turned their feet out it would be a second position plie," Ms Quirk said.

She held her first surf-dancing workshop in Noosa seven weeks ago for 20 people from the ages of five to 57.

There was only one male in the class, a turnaround for the traditionally male-dominated pastime.

"When I surfed there were never any girls surfing, now there's 40 coming on a Saturday morning," Ms Quirk said.

But taking on the surfing fraternity is not without challenges.

"Up to seven surf-dancers will paddle out to a break and all these guys sitting around will go, 'We've been attacked by the surfing fairies'," Ms Quirk said.

"But then seven of us disappear on one wave, so they think that's quite good."

The mood out the back has changed so much that now men are catching waves and busting a few moves - something Ms Quirk hopes is a sign of things to come.

"In the next five to 10 years we're going to see massive shifts in what can be done on a surfboard," she said confidently.

"You see people on balance beams in gymnastics doing all those amazing things. I believe in the future we're going to see all those things on a surfboard.

"It's one of those breakthrough artforms that is starting to develop just like swimming, which developed into synchronised swimming - now it's an Olympic sport."

And after the first public demonstration of surf-dancing at the Noosa Longboard Festival in March, Ms Quirk will begin a tour of Australia to convince surfers to swap their togs for a leotard.