สำหรับงานโชว์ที่ญี่ปุ่นในปีนี้ ผมขอเลือกใหคู่ที่มีการพัฒนาการเต้นรำอย่างน่าประหลาดใจ มาหนึ่งคู่ นั่นก็คือ ปีเตอร์และคริสติน่า ที่มีการทำโชว์ในแบบคลาสสิย้อนยุกต์ มีการใช้เทคนิคของ Emotion และ Dinamic ได้อย่างลงตัว จังหวะที่ผมประทับใจมาก คือ รัมบ้าและช่าช่าช่า ทีมีการผสมผสานการเต้นรำและดนตรีอย่างลงตัว มีการใช้การแสดงเข้ามาช่วย ที่สำคัญ ชุดและทรงผมของคริสติน่าก็ดูดีมีสไตล์ที่ลงตัวมากขึ้น น่าสนใจมาก ผมมีคลิปจากยูทูบมาฝากทุกท่านเช่นเคยครับ
Rumba
Cha Cha Cha
Samba
ผมแถมบทสัมภาษณ์ดีๆของทั้งคู่ให้ได้อ่านกันด้วยครับ
Peter Stokkebroe and Kristina Juel-Stokkebroe
Graham Oswick interviews these top competitors and gets an insight into their lives
I joined Peter Stokkebroe and Kristina Juel-Stokkebroe for tea on the afternoon following their success in winning the Imperial Latin American Championship which was organised by Michael Stylianos and Lorna Lee.
I put some questions to them to find out what makes a World Championship winning couple tick. The following interview (over the page) is the result.
G – How were you first introduced to dancing?P&K – When we were 3 years old our parents took us to a dance school in Denmark. We both went to the same school actually.
G – When did you first meet and dance together?K – We started to dance together when Peter was 16 and I was 15.
G – What is the most memorable moment in your career so far?P&K – The whole year of 2006 was a very special year for us. We won all the major titles and keeping focused on that was special. Also the European Championship which was held in our home city in 2004 was great. We danced in front of our home crowd which was amazing. We also won the European Championship again in 2007 which was also in Denmark. Actually this was our last amateur competition.
G – What’s your most embarrassing moment?P – There is no doubt that this was when Holger Nitche and Charlotte Egstrand were dancing a show in Austria and they asked me to place Charlotte on the floor as a baby. I had been doing a competition in my velvet trousers the whole day which were now very hot, sticky and wet. When I was carrying Charlotte and placing her on the floor she was stuck to my trousers which were being pull further down and then they ripped showing all my underwear to the whole audience. Charlotte and I and the audience were all laughing a lot! I could feel the air conditioning!
G – Have you ever had any major disasters in your dance career?P&K – We had to withdraw from the European Championship one year due to a foot injury. That’s the only competition we ever had to pull out of.
G – What other dancers have inspired you?P&K – We are quite inspired by ballet dancers through the years. We have been introduced to both modern and ballet. We love their technique and their discipline; especially Baryshnikov and Nureyev are our big idols. We have watched a lot of video footage of these two men In Latin Donnie and Gaynor were the big champions when we were young. Of course we did the whole copying thing with the hips and styling. There was also Allan Tornsberg and Vibeke Toft who were the big Danish stars.
G – Which dance best suits your character and why?P&K – It’s very much connected to mood so we love all the different dances for their own spirit and character. I must say that at the moment we feel great in Samba where we feel free and inspired. Rumba also has a special feeling for us and has always had.
G – What is it about dancing that you like?P&K – Generally we just love the teaching of the body, the understanding of it and exploring it to learn more and more. Every year we dance there are new things which come up, we feel it inspires us to learn new feels of dance and experience a new level of understanding. It is a learning process but there are also those moments when the mind disappears and the dancing happens without you controlling it in an intellectual way.
G – What tips would you give to young dancers starting out today?P&K – We would say stick to practising and learning the technical fundamentals of understanding your body. You can not stop doing that. The best dancers in the world have kept on pushing their bodies in a technical sense and to understand better what they are actually doing instead of going for what seems to be shortcuts.
G – How much practise do you do in a week?P&K – We have different types of practise. In the morning we have basic practise where we go through all the technical skills as individuals.We have a longer session during the afternoon going through choreography and making decisions and trying things slowly. Then we have some evening practises where we go physically full blast!
G – Where’s the strangest place you have had to dance?P&K – We once had to dance in a circus in Switzerland! At the time we still danced Ballroom and the floor was on a hill so it was either dancing uphill or downhill. There were also some bumps on the way! We also danced outside at the house of the Mayor of Copenhagen for Danish TV. That was a bit odd too.
G – What are the top five elements a good dancer requires, in your opinion?P&K – 1. Discipline2. Mechanical knowledge3. An open mind to look at new things and not be happy with where you are4. A great awareness of impact when you dance. To be aware of what is received by your audience 5. A good plan for success
G – Who’s the boss in your partnership?P&K – We have different areas where we are more or less in control although we have a very equal partnership especially in the last 5 or 6 years.
G – Who’s the most organised?P&K – We are both quite well organised actually. Probably that is a Scandinavian trait. We like things in the right way and to have order generally.
G – How was it being immortalised on the ISTD technique video for Cha Cha Cha?P&K – It was a fantastic experience although it was tough. It was a hard day and Lorna Lee is a very tough lady to please, so we weren’t able to go far wrong! (Interviewer nods in agreement!) We hope that the Imperial members like what we did there.
G – Is there anything else we should know about you?P&K – We do have some secrets! (Then laughs) We both feel that dancing is a great part of lives but we are also aware of the need to experience life outside of that. To be a whole human being we feel that it is necessary to have a lot of things inside so we both have friends and interests outside of dancing and that fuels our inspiration for the dancing.
