75th
Blackpool DanceSport Festival: May 26th - June 2nd, 2000
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"DEAR DIARY"...Adventures in Blackpool! Saturday, May 27th, 2000 Saturday's evening events marked the close of a chapter of the career of one of DanceSport's admired dancers -- Andrew Sinkinson. More to follow ... TEAM MATCH
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The American team (Captain: Rufus Dustin, Modern/Standard: Jonathan Wilkins & Katusha Demidova; Igor & Irina Suvarov; Latin: Gary & Diana McDonald, Donald Johnson & Katrazina Kozak substituted for Bill Sparks & Kimberley Mitchell), but as the team began their march conservatively, with the ladies wearing white and gold themed costumes one noticed that Diana & Gary McDonald were missing. After the team had been on the floor for a seconds, Diana(McDonald)hurridly joined them, but on her own. It was only when the team approached the center of the ballroom, Gary McDonald ran from the corner aisle to meet Diana, not quite dressed -- he had thick black "nerdy" glasses, "multi-coloured polka-dot underwear/briefs" peeking from his pants, and a string of toilet paper hanging from the heels of his shoes. Diana and some of the other ladies had some fun with Gary, finally removing his pants to fully reveal his underwear. The audience had a great laugh, as they marched off the floor. The Italian team (Captain: Gianni Nicoli, Modern/Standard: Augusto Schiavo & Caterina Arzenton; Massimo Giorgianni & Alessia Manfredini, Latin: Allan Tornsberg & Serena Lecca-Danza, Giacomo Steccaglia & Melissa Dexter) were understated this year and did a simple charge around the floor to their seats in the center of the floor. It was unclear whether they decided to omit the "show" or perhaps did not have time to prepare this year.
The Rollie Pollie ladies were then escorted individually into the tent and emerged as: Loraine Baricchi, Charlotte Jorgensen, Hanna Karttunen, and Nicola Nordin. There was one cute, short and chubby Rollie Pollie left with no partner -- at which point, emerging from the tent was the team captain, Robin Short, dressed in a sequinned jacket who picked the last lady and started to do the social Foxtrot. The Rollie Pollie lady then put Robin over her shoulders and then marched off the floor with him, along with the other dancers.
The team match finally ended with the following results: 1. Great Britain (297.9), 2. Italy (295.8), 3. Germany (292.9), and 4. USA (290.1).
"It is always sad when a famous and popular dancer gives up his dancing shoes. Andrew has given us all pleaure with his artistic and beautiful dancing -- his innovation in choreography, performance, and basic principles that have taken him to the top. His fluid, silky movement in his dancing has been admired and copied around the world. He is a dancer's dancer all the way. Andrew's wish is that I read this short letter to the dancing audience tonight." In Andrew's own words... "After 30 years of competing, I have decided to retire from competitive dancing. I wish to take this opportunity to deeply thank my friends and teachers for their support and advice throughout the years. I am grateful to have learned my ideas from teachers and fellow competitors in Blackpool. I have been first in the Youth and Amateur, and second in the Professional. I am proud and honored to have been second to dancers such as the Dicksons, Oliver Wessel-Therhorn, John Wood & Anne Lewis, Marcus & Karen Hilton ... and Luca & Loraine Barichhi. "Even though it is the end for me, my younger and beautiful dance partner will be competing in the near future. I am sure, ladies & gentlemen, that you will wish her success for her future. "Lastly, I would like to thank my parents, Nora & Ian, for their support throughout the years, and to my wife, Elena, I send my hope, to share with my number one and two pleasure, my son Mark. I wish the organizers of the Blackpool Festival continued success and wish all the competitors good luck. "Thirty years have flown by and I can still remember my first competition at the Wittenden <sp.?> Cricket Club. May I leave these final thoughts to all the competitors... Time does fly fast. Treat each moment preciously. Thank you to all." After the speech, there was a request by Bill Irvine for Andrew to do an honour Foxtrot with Charlotte, to which the audience applauded numerous times throughout their demonstration, and again at the end. So many times, Andrew was prompted to go forward to the centre of the floor, but he continued to stand behind the chairs of the team area, being congratulated by his British team mates. Andrew had always been his own person and vision of what DanceSport was all about -- in fact, many often thought of him as the "John McEnroe" of Ballroom. He had given so many years of wonderful dancing, entertainment, and was always known for pushing the envelope. It was also wonderful that his former partner, Loraine Baricchi, gave him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek towards the end, and when they marched off - Loraine and Luca (who were the first in line), moved aside and let Andrew go to the front of the line to receive the winning team cup, and then enabled him to march off, leading the team. For those of you who may not know, Loraine was not only a former partner as juvenile and amateurs, as well as beginning of their professional careers, they were also married at one time. This was a class act from Loraine, and they have both moved on and continued with individually successful careers and lives. There was not a dry tear in the house. 1. Paul Hurley
& Lisa Bellinger - England
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The
German team (Captain: Gerd Weissenberg, Modern/Standard Dancers: Heiko
Kleibrink & Giselle Keppel, Thomas Furmeyer & Tanja Beinhaeur,
Latin: Bryan Watson & Carmen; Ralf Muller & Olga Muller-Omeltchenko)
introduced themselves with the 4 lady dancers dressed in tango-orange
costumes and rocked rhythmically to a samba -- each lady held high above
the crowd on four separate platforms supported by four groups of men.
The
British team (Captain: Robin Short, Modern/Standard: Luca & Loraine
Baricchi, Andrew Sinkinson & Charlotte Jorgensen, Latin: Paul Killick
& Hanna Karttunen, Goran & Nicola Nordin) had the most creative
and fun introduction. A large tent with the sign "Short's Styling
Studio" was brought to the centre of the ballroom floor, followed
by all the male dancers with a sign, "Partners Wanted" displayed
by their captain, Robin Short. Then, the MC, Bill Irvine, introduced the
"Rollie Pollies", a group of six short and fat elderly ladies,
dressed in orange and purple costumes with feathered head dresses who
then proceeded to do a tap dance number to audition for the male dancers.
The cutest one was the shortest lady, who had dark rimmed glasses. Luca
Barrachi then auditioned with the first Rollie Pollie, doing a few Tango
links and lines, and ended up with a "sore back". Then it was
Andrew Sinkinson's turn to pick a lady -- he started to open his arms
in dance hold as if to invite the lady to dance -- he then motioned her
to move backwards, and kept motioning her, as if he wanted her to exit
the floor. His little fat Rollie Pollie then came up to him in competition
dance hold, and they did a few basic steps of the waltz, and finally into
a throwaway oversway line, to a large applause and laughter from the audience.
Killick then picked another Rollie Pollie to do a sexy samba, doing twirls,
and shaking her chest and arms. Goran Nordin picked the second last Rollie
Pollie and did more latin dancing with her, finally being pinched in the
behind. 
The
team competition then began, with exceptional dancing from all members.
You could see the graceful movement of the Baricchis in the Waltz, the
dramatic tangos of Schiavo/Artzenton and Giorgianni/Manfredini, the wonderful
"signature spin" of Gary & Diana McDonald, and the brilliance
of the Foxtrot and Quickstep from Andrew Sinkinson. In particular, the
crowd was cheering for Andrew Sinkinson, because rumours were that he
was retiring this year from competition. During the final moments of the
Quickstep, Andrew continued to dance, doing a series of lines with Charlotte
-- and the audience applauded, and kept applauding ... finally giving
him a standing ovation. No words needed to be said about what was about
to happen. Finally, the MC Bill Irvine told the audience that he will
be saying some words to Andrew so they will have an opportunity soon to
continue their applause.
TRIBUTE
TO ANDREW SINKINSON --
The
final event of the evening was the British Amateur Under 21 years Latin
Championship, with the following results (courtesy of 