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Strong personality overcomes technique

In a recent email correspondence I spoke with another coach who puts on gymnastics shows. She mentioned that the hit of her last show were the little girls in her dance program who had very little dance and lots of costuming. She was nervous that the parents would be upset not to see the dance that they were paying for. Instead that number was the crowd favorite.

I told her that people care about people, not technique. If the personality comes through with great technique, then you have a great success. But the gymnast who has personality over the gymnast who has technique, the audience will prefer the one with personality. Of course the sport is totally focused on technique and the athlete with great technique will win over the one with personality. So for this reason, no coach develops the personality, only the technique.

But this is a myopic point of view characteristic to our immediate gratification society.  The long term goals end at the Olympics, yet everyone knows that the winners of the Olympic games go on to professional careers in other fields fueled by their new found fame.   For example, Carly Patterson has just recorded a singing CD.  And, of course, the USAG promotes all their athletes who make it to the top in their new career directions.  But what has gymnastics done to prepare these performers in their new careers?  No one cares anymore that they did gymnastics.  What showmanship did gymnastics help develop in them? Next to none, in my opinion.

Television understands what audiences want to see.  They never just broadcast the routines.   Besides the fact that the routines are too short to fill air time, people want to know about the athletes.  The majority of a gymnastics broadcast is devoted to video biographies on the top athletes and the banter of the hosts who talk about the people and their struggle in training and competing.

On Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 the TV show, “So You Think You Can Dance?”  broadcast the audition of Allison Becker who is a hearing impaired dancer.  They gave her story before her audition, her dance and the judges reaction to a deaf dancer auditioning.  It was extremely moving, yet her technique was clearly weak.   Because her technique was weak, they sent her to choreography to see if she could take instruction and work with others.  She did, and they sent her to Las Vegas.

 Allison Becker audition on "So You Think You Can Dance": Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Another dancer, Kelsey White,  whose technique was equal to Allison’s was also sent to choreography but did not make it to Las Vegas.  There may have been reasons in her choreography that disqualified her, but I am convinced it was because she did not have the emotional appeal that Allison has.  And that is the difference between theater and gymnastics competition.  The theater knows that star quality is not found in technique.  It is found in the personality and story of the star.  With coaching by the choreographers to improve Allison’s technique, she has the potential of drawing a huge audience as everyone wants to see the underdog win.

The gymnastics industry needs to reassess how they train their athletes. The FIG who makes the rules has been extremely narrow minded in rewarding technique over artistry and personality. The club owners need to look beyond their immediate goals of building a reputation for training high level athletes. We have a moral responsibility to help children blossom into the unique people that God has gifted them to be. I am also convinced that parents will appreciate a program that has a bigger view then just athletic training, and who see clubs as co-laborers in developing their children into creative and expressive personalities.

In my gym, The Stunt Gym, my program is advertised as a “Christian Holistic Training Center”. The parents understand that my training is geared to develop strong and healthy bodies, expressive personalities and sensitivity to their spirits. It is time for the industry to accept that their responsibilities in training athletes goes beyond mere sport.

Gymnast, Salsa dancer and musical theater performer, Jonathan Platero

I began watching these competitions when my wife wanted to watch “American Idol.” I was drawn into the program, not because of the musicians, but because of the judges. I understood their comments for what they were, constructive criticism intended to help each contestant become professional musicians. Especially Simon Cowell whose comments were so accurate.

Since my industry is acrobatic dance, I decided to watch “So You Think You Can Dance”, too. Both programs are produced by Simon Fuller. At first I was put off by the judges. But as I watched the program I could see their constructive criticisms, too. But more than that I was fascinated by the choreographers.

Each week the dancers have to learn routines that are outside their usual range of training. They are given professional routines to learn from the gamut of dance genre’s of Hip Hop, Contemporary, Ball Room, Jazz, Broadway, and others that I am not familiar with. They are given professional costumes and stunning lighting. So learning what the choreographers are doing I find fascinating.

Jonathan Platero

Jonathan Platero is a gymnast who went on to dance, specifically he trained in Salsa (Ball Room). He even performed in Disney’s, “High School Musical,” so he is more than just an athlete. I enjoyed much of his dancing, and found it refreshing that a male gymnast could break out of the athlete mindset.

What killed him in the competition is his nice personality. He had to dance a Gangsta Hip Hop routine and he could not get into the character. What cut him from the show was his reliance upon his tumbling instead of dance. When I watched his solo routine it was obvious that he was going home.

Ballerina Melissa Sandvig has a strong performance because of her ballet training.

Melissa Sandvig

Unlike Jonathan, Melissa is not a gymnast. Neither is she a Hip Hop dancer or any other. She is a classically trained ballerina. Despite her lack of training in the other dance disciplines, she is able to adapt to those styles. And I am convinced it is because of her ballet training. She is also more mature than Jonathan. He is 20 and she is 29.

So here is my point. Gymnastics training rarely helps gymnasts cross over into theater. There have been some who made their careers in theater, Cathy Rigby, in particular. But sports training does not bring out personalities as does theater. Jonathan leaned on his gymnastics too much and it failed him. The USAG made a big deal out of Shawn Johnson dancing on TV, too. They pushed our votes for her simply because she is a gymnast. But no one should vote on that basis.

Acrobatic Gymnastics is in danger of this same dead end as Artistic Gymnastics. In danger, but not damaged. Acro is already a theatrical medium, even though the FIG is pushing towards more sports mentality. Many acrobats easily move to the professional arena of theater.

Acrobats need the classical ballet training that has been the back bone of Melissa’s performance. Acrobats should seek other dance genre training, too, but they must have the ballet training. It is the backbone of dance, just as tumbling is the back bone of gymnastics.

The acrobatic gymnastics community needs to watch this show and others like it. With “American Idol” they emphasis to the singers that they are to make the songs their own and invest their personalities into their performance. This should be so with acro. In “So You Think You Can Dance” the choreographers talk about the story of each dance and the characters being played in the dance. A few years ago the FIG talked about the element of story in the Artistry category. Judges were confused by the concept. No wonder, for they have the sport mentality and misunderstand the theatrical element of art. This story element needs to be built up in the acro routines.

Of course, only so much can be done with children. But the older athletes who have the maturity should be displaying these elements in their routines. Let us not lose sight of the goal of acro: Cirque du Solei and all the other performing arts companies that are growing up around it. If acro slides into the sport mentality, it will die just as Jonathan was cut from the show.