King Midas Meets The Terminator
The Arnold Classic
Report by: Rufus Dustin
Photos by: Gary Brown
Once upon a time there was a legendary king named Midas. He was granted a wish that everything he touched would turn to gold. If legend could be wrapped up with other legends then we could possibly link another legendary character from current film history, Conan the Barbarian and the infamous Terminator, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, to King Midas. Imagine if the two could become allies to promote DanceSport in North America? Well, it has happened!
Who is King Midas in our DanceSport world one may ask? His name is Sam Sodano. It seems that Sam is unable to make a mistake in our industry and as proven by the continued success of Ohio Star Ball, the premier event of North America's DanceSport calendar and the recent connection Sam has been able to achieve with the 17th Annual Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic, Sam's golden touch continues to build North America's DanceSport to new and glorious heights.
This connection between these two great successful men promises to launch dancing to the level of athletic accomplishment and notoriety that we have all hoped for since the re-identification from Ballroom dancing to DanceSport.
For more than twenty-five years, California Governor and film star of the Terminator franchise as well as the Conan the Barbarian series and many other films, has produced bodybuilding competitions in Columbus, Ohio, the home also of Ohio Star Ball which features over thirteen thousand entries and is the most famous of North America's DanceSport events, partially due to the twenty five years of television coverage by the Public Broadcasting System and the subsequent production of "An Evening of Championship Ballroom Dancing" television show hosted by Juliette Proust, Barbera Eden, Sandy Duncan and Rita Moreno. The Arnold Classic Fitness Expo began in 1989. It's growth and popularity led to the addition of the Ms. International women's bodybuilding contest, the Fitness Expo, the Fitness International contest, a martial arts competition, the Arnold Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championships, Gymnastics Challenge and Pump and the 5K Run down the middle of this Midwestern City. Then the addition of even more events made the Arnold Fitness Weekend the largest fitness celebration in the world. It now features eight different Olympic sports.
The sports festival this year ran from March fourth through sixth and welcomed 5,000 more athletes than competed at the Summer Olympics. The Arnold drew over one hundred thousand sports fans and nearly fifteen thousand athletes.
The Greater Columbus Convention Center was the venue. The new DanceSport event was held in the Regency Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the same venue that Ohio Star Ball is held in every November. The set up for the Regency Ballroom was different from in past years for the Ohio Star Ball. Tables were set up in an arena like setting with two tiers of draped tables for the officials facing the front of the room and the side tables had seating that faced directly to the floor. It was very elegant.
Governor Schwarzenegger gave the dancers a personal welcome on Saturday around three o'clock in the afternoon. The room was filled with people holding images of Arnold's face that Sam provided for all the officials, fans and competitors. The roar from the crowd as he entered the room was deafening. It was magic! He is even more electric in person than on film or television. He was treated to a show of three amateur couples, the recent finalist of the World Amateur Ten Dance Championships Nikollai Elizariev and Karina Akhmadullina who did a sultry show tango, former World Latin Youth Finalist with his new partner Valentine Chmerkovisiy and Valeria Kozharinaova performing a rousing jive and Jared Murillo and Lacey Schwimmer performing a sensuous and jazzy West Coast Swing. Each couple was photographed with Arnold directly after their performances.
Arnold then addressed the crowd and told us how happy he was to have DanceSport included in this year's Fitness Weekend and that he has an appreciation for how difficult it is to do what we do because he had to learn how to do a tango for True Lies, one of his many successful films, and how difficult he found it to be. He was very genuine and stayed for over a half an hour at our event. It was a very special afternoon seeing Sam and Arnold together in what promises to be a continued giant step for DanceSport here in North America.
Several cash awards were given starting at $1,500.00 for first place to $300.00 for sixth place in both junior and collegiate divisions. Scholarships were also given in the juvenile, junior and youth divisions. Nearly 250 youth and college competitors participated in this year's event. There was even a performance by some of our youth and juvenile competitors in the main venue on stage in the convention center.
Sam has some great plans for next year including a Showdance category for Amateur couples. I think that this event promises to be huge and exciting in years to come. The Fitness Weekend is televised by ESPN and Pay Per View. There are over six hundred vendors! Spotted were Wesley Snipes and Lou Farrigno famous for his television portrayal of The Hulk. Some of the competitions I saw at the Fitness venue were amazing. I particularly liked the fencing (it was held at seven in the morning), and the Iron Man Contest. Imagine taking a hundred pound medicine ball and having to throw it fifteen to seventeen feet into the air to hit a target right above your head. It takes strength and coordination to do that and we were duly impressed. What I thought was really amazing is that Sam left the doors open to anyone that wanted to come in and view what we were doing so we were getting people that may have not known that we exist watching our talented young people go through their paces in competition. What a great way to market our sport!
The Arnold Classic weekend provides an opportunity for aspiring champions to witness the talents of "World Greats" in their specific sport. Now Dancers will be judged alongside other athletes and will claim a place in this sports arena. Check the dates when they are released and save the time on your calendar for 2006 because you are in for a treat when King Midas and the "Governator" present the Arnold Classic. I certainly will be there!