The winter of grade six, however, also introduced me to what is now my favourite winter sport—ice dance. While it is similar to pairs figure skating, ice dance is derived from ballroom dancing. Quite literally, it is a couples’ dance routine on ice. This, of course, filled my 12-year-old theatrical heart with a newfound love. Ice dance is divided into two events: short dance and free dance. They are differentiated by their use of dance patterns and rhythms—another aspect I loved. In short dance, routines include a required dance pattern and a required rhythm (such as samba, rhumba, waltz, cha cha etc.), while free dance allows dancers to choose their own routine, encouraging creativity. Additionally, in all programs, the skating move of a ‘twizzle’ (a one-footed spin, done in unison and travelling across the ice) is mandatory, while throws or jumps are replaced by lifts. Dancers must also remain relatively close to one another throughout the program.

On top of all this, there is typically an emphasis placed on the theatrical narrative and the characters portrayed throughout the dance in the dancer’s moves and their facial expressions. This means many skaters chose to dance to musical theatre standards. It also means the costumes are designed to evoke a program’s theme, plot and characters. This sets the stage, or rather, the ice, for absolute drama—a show, if you will. In many ways, ice dance is musical theatre on skates.

I can vividly remember Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir winning their first Olympic gold medal at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in my hometown. Here they were, two athletes with a passion for the theatrical. I had chosen theatre over athletics, but here was a whole olympic event full of people who had done both. I was speechless. No other sport filled me with the same sense of beauty, made me tear up, and wowed me both physically and artistically.

After 2010, I was hooked. I followed Virtue and Moir’s 2013-2014 season leading up to the 2014 Sochi Olympics. I watched their television show Tessa and Scott, researched ice dance, and familiarized myself with their (and their competitors’) programs. Their silver medals in 2014 broke my heart. The first time I ever skipped school was in grade ten, after watching them miss out on gold. My best friend and I headed to Starbucks after lunch period, bought hot chocolates and scones, and (with tears streaming down my face) we re-watched their programs. Thinking they were retiring, I too, retired my fandom for the next four years.

Upon learning Virtue and Moir would return to PyeongChang, I immediately began doing catch up research. Yes, they are fan and judge favourites, but something about their presence on ice keeps their fans on our toes. In their PyeongChang 2018 Olympic performance, they set a world record (on International Skating Union grading scales), scoring 83.67 with their short dance. Their free dance, however, did not score as high as the French dancer’s Gabriella Papidakis and Guillaume Cizeron’s program to Moonlight Sonata (a score of 123.35, also a world record). Despite earning a second-best score in the free dance, Virtue and Moir won their second gold medals because of their combined score. Virtue and Moir’s free dance was, in my opinion, the most innovative and captivating skate of the night. Their free dance routine this 2017-2018 season has it all: the music is from Moulin Rouge, an acclaimed modern musical, the dancing is feverish, and it is extremely sexually charged—one lift needed to be toned down before the Olympics, as it was too ‘suggestive.’ Their record-breaking combined score of 206.07 (short and free dance scores together) has made them not only the most decorated ice dance team of all time, but a source of inspiration for athletes and artists everywhere.

Ice dance is one of those rare places where art and sport intertwine. Covered in sequins, dolled up in stage makeup, ice dancers bring together athletics and theatre in a way that is gold medal—and Tony Award—winning. Never in my life did I expect that my knowledge of musical theatre would be an asset in watching a sporting event, and yet, somehow, dreams have come true. If stage presence gets you to the Olympics, never again let your grade six volleyball coach tell you sports and theatre don’t ‘go together’—ice dance proves that wrong.

The post Where theatre and sport meet appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The effects of such a protest, at first controversial, are still being felt on the St. Thomas campus. The protest has also influenced the University’s town of Fredericton, New Brunswick.

The National Enquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women was officially enacted on September 1, 2016. Despite this, in the fall of 2016, Sock and Speller felt that this crisis was not receiving enough attention. They decided to plan a peaceful protest for their season opener that would shed light on the issues at hand, and bring more awareness to the movement for justice, as young Indigenous women are five times more likely to die under violent circumstances than other Canadian women.

At the same time, the world of sports was being swept by the “kneeling movement” that had been made famous by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who knelt to protest racial inequality and police brutality in the U.S.. A controversial topic in the states, where many fans and team owners spoke out against Kaepernick, this caused some initial hesitance towards Sock and Speller’s idea. However, as described by Jeffrey Carleton, the Vice-President of Communications at STU, in a meeting about a week before the protest, the school faculty was “so impressed with their thought process” that it was “allowed and supported 100 per cent.”

Having spoken with their own team and the King’s College Blue Devils, the game day opponent, the athletes were met with widespread support. Sock and Speller invited friends and family from their respective nations, the Elsipogtog and Gesgapegiag First Nations communities. Covered by local media and attended by school faculty, including STU president Dawn Russell, Sock and Speller’s protest became a powerful community event.

By protesting on an athletic platform, instead of an academic one, the protest was made accessible to members of both the STU community and Fredericton residents who attended the game.

With such overwhelming support, the protest was covered by the CBC and became the front page of both STU’s student newspaper and the Daily Gleaner, a local Fredericton paper.

Although not directly affected by the MMIW crisis, Sock and Speller recognized the importance of such a protest in their community. The St. Mary’s First Nation’s reserve comprises a large portion of Fredericton; also, of St. Thomas’ 2000 students, over 170 are Indigenous. As a small liberal arts school, St. Thomas offers an Indigenous students committee, an Elder Residence, and a Native Studies program.

Raising awareness both on campus and in Fredericton, the protest kicked off a series of events highlighting the MMIW crisis.

In the year since the protest, a heightened awareness and emphasis has been placed on Indigenous issues within St. Thomas University. Shortly after the protest took place, a senate was formed in Fredericton to address the recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Council. In February 2017, there was an on-campus reading of the Council’s 94 recommendations, attended by over 300 people. Additionally, in the 2017 school year, STU has supported the Indigenous community to a further extent than in the past, with an Indigenous student welcome centre and a powwow held during STU’s “Welcome Week.”

Due to their thunderous success, these community events and the MMIW movement itself have gained momentum in Fredericton and on the St. Thomas University campus.

Unprecedented in the St. Thomas community, a protest such as this has not been repeated at STU, nor on a large scale at other Canadian universities.

Quentin Sock and Jeremy Speller are no longer playing basketball for St. Thomas: Speller has recently graduated and is now in British Columbia working towards a Masters in Governance, while Sock is in his fourth year at STU, hoping to graduate with an honours in Political Science at the end of the school year. Nevertheless, Sock and Speller’s peaceful protest in 2016 on the basketball court continues to be a source of inspiration and pride for St. Thomas and Fredericton.

The post Dramatic success from a peaceful protest appeared first on The McGill Daily.