Sue Katz: Consenting Adult

The Shibutani Siblings: A Challenge to Ice Dance’s Heterosexism

I have been watching almost every Olympic sport, finding that by living in the bubble of 8 to 10 hours a day of winter competitions, I am having my first break in over a year from 8 to 10 hours of tRump. I don’t have the news on; I’m infrequently on Facebook; I’m immersed in bobsleds and ski jumping and luge and even the biathalon. I am certain that were I just a kid, I would want to become a snowboard cross racer or a big air trickster.

But the sport that truly touches my heart is figure skating, most especially ice dance. And I want to talk about a breakthrough that is not getting enough attention. The American Shibutani siblings won a Bronze Medal in a partnership that smashes through the traditional narrative.

Ice dance is all about passion, romance, and the elevation of heterosexuality. This is quite literally the case. When the brother and sister decided that they would commit to partnering each other, many people in the game tried to dissuade them, pointing out how incestuous it might appear. Said Alex after their win, “For all the people who think it’s a deficit to skate as siblings, we’ve made it our strength.”

The Shibutanis have challenged that absolute hetero-love narrative. And in winning Olympic medals, they have shown that passion comes in many forms and that passion for the dance, for the ice, for other kinds of love must be a legitimate story to tell at the highest levels. Alex noted their broader vision for the sport, beyond just the idea of romance. “That’s not fair to ice dance, and probably hurting ice dance’s feelings. Ice dance wants to be whatever it can be.”

I’ve been astonished at how little discussion this amazing achievement has prompted. People in the skating world do not seem to know what to do. The Shibutanis’ free program was magnificent; their connection is unparalleled; but few talked about them at all after the medals were won.

Now it is time to take further steps to enhance ice dance. We need some relief from the hetero-dominance and from the strict man/lead - woman/follow prescription. This applies to the new emphasis on tricks and jumps and tosses – where there could be far more role switching than we now see.

We also need to allow same sex couples to compete and we need to welcome role switches. Right now the International Skating Union (ISU) punishes skaters who participate in the Gay Games by ice dancing with a same-sex partner. (Check out the clip below from the Gay Games.) Worse still, the ISU constitution calls for "one Lady and one Man" in each pair. I was thrilled to see an open discussion in mainstream media and a petition calling for the end of the use of the ridiculous terms “lady” – while men are men. Here you have these courageous ski/snowboard women toughing it out in dangerous, astonishing contests that are called “Ladies” events. They’re dressed in these puffy hardy sports gear, not pearls and twin sweater sets. Enough already. More than enough.

Must we always have to fight inch by inch, over and over, about gender restrictions in each individual sport, in each individual sub-culture? It is all so counter-productive. As we saw in the Shibutanis' extraordinary Olympic performance, breaking the limitations and challenging the assumptions leads to a richer art.

Here is Maia and Alex Shibutani’s Bronze medal-winning dance (although it’s an unsatisfactory video).

And here are Birgit Aust and Bettina Keil skating at the 2010 Gay Games (Cologne). I think their dancing and their outfits are both lovely.

Lysistrata Directed by Sheriden Thomas: Degendered and Delightful!

Tonight I saw a sassy, utterly entertaining adaptation of Lysistrata, directed by the always innovative Sheriden Thomas of the Tufts University Department of Drama and Dance. Every time I see a fabulous production at a university or regional theatre, I wonder why Boston media persist in ignoring the amazing (often affordable) work being done.

Thomas calls this her “regendered Lysistrata,” but I would call it degendered. Casting seems to have been done with no regard for gender at all. I’ve never seen anything quite like it on stage – so up-to-date (including the use of pronouns), but based on an ancient tale. Played for intelligent laughs and passionate sizzle, this version, which uses Ellen McLaughlin’s adaptation, is bawdy and brilliant.

Unabashedly building parallels between ancient Athens and 2018 USA, the spouses decide on a sex strike until their soldier spouses stop the wars and live in peace. The peaceable “crones” occupy the Treasury and use glitter bombs to repel the attacking soldier spouses, who are “geezers” that haven’t been taken to the killing fields. The blustery Athenian King turns up with a red tie down to his knees, while his soldiers all sport four foot long erections (long balloons) due to months of sexual deprivation. The King talks an arrogant line of Athenian exceptionalism, but his spouse Lysistrata, the leader of the strike, replies, “If you’re sick of self-abuse, you can just make a truce.” Noting the condition of the moaning soldiers, she reminds them, “You always let your crotches lead you in the past. Listen to them now.”

There’s a droll Olympics reference when the Spartan Queen enters to announce an alliance with the striking Athenian women, and two of her servants sweep frantically in front of her (curling) as she walks. Lysistrata reminds them all, “Don’t give them a piece of ass until they give us peace at last.”

The set is fabulous, including a huge Statue of Liberty on which is engraved: Send me your tired, your poor, your angry.” The costumes are clever eye candy. The band members double as actors. The singing, especially from the multi-talented actor playing Lysistrata, Jacquie Bonnet, is terrific. The audience is completely engaged and the 80 minutes fly by. Congratulations to all who contributed to this witty, wild production, with particular kudos to the director, Sheriden Thomas, who never fails to deliver.

The Local Meat Shop

I was buying meat at the best meat store in the state, which happens to be just a mile or two from where I live. It was Friday so the small family grocery shop was crowded and I was in line behind a tall dignified elder and he was behind another senior woman. Her SNAP (food stamps) card wasn’t working. She tried again and again.

I’ve chatted several times over the years with the woman ringing up the groceries. We’ll call her Mary. Mary’s in her late 70s and would love to afford to retire, but she was widowed early and doesn’t have enough to get by. She was born and raised in this area – which in her day was pure Italian (and where people wouldn’t rent me an apartment in the 60s because I am Jewish.) She’s warm to all of her customers, this Black woman included. “Try again,” Mary tells the customer softly, over and over. The card isn’t working and the customer looks painfully at her two paper bags full of groceries.

A young worker comes over to open the second register. The guy in front of me has already unloaded all his stuff – one tomato, one potato, one onion, etc. – onto the conveyor belt. “Want some help moving your items over?” I ask. “Yes,” he says, “I’m blind.” We transfer his stuff to the second line and talk about these hard times.

Mary is still trying all sorts of ways to get the SNAP card to work. She checks: there is $15 on the card. The woman is upset to hear that – she’s got $19 worth of groceries. The two old women – Mary and the customer – just don’t know what to do. I slip over and say, “Why don’t I just pay for this for the moment?” Mary looks relieved. The woman doesn’t look up. “No, no, I have the extra.” The card suddenly works and I go back to where my gentleman is finishing up.

“It’s only going to get worse,” I say.

“It’s already getting worse,” he says, putting out his hand. We shake. We part.

Once I have checked out, I stop by Mary’s register to praise her for her sweet patience. “Hard times,” she says, “I see it all here. People just want to eat.”

The Winter Olympics (2018) Opening Ceremony was a Message to tRump

We want peace! The historic decision by North and South Korea to drop the adjectives and march together as one Korean delegation was the focus of the PyeongChang Opening Ceremony. The neutral team flag was held by two athletes – a South Korean bobsledder and a North Korean ice hockey player. When the visual switched to the VIP box, South Korean president Moon Jae-in was shaking hands with North Korean president Kim Yong-nam and Kim Yo-jong, the sister of Kim Jong-un. A battalion of red-clad North Korean cheerleaders kept up their synched excitement. Then two women from the unified Korean hockey team served as the penultimate torch runners, dramatically ascending a steep mountain of steps together to hand over the torch to the athlete who lit the cauldron.

In that box also sat a moping, dour USA VP Pence and his wife. They alone in that stadium did not stand at the entrance of the host delegation of athletes.

Because of the big time difference, we had already heard about Vice President Pence’s petulant hostility towards these peaceful gestures. Profoundly tin-eared and anti-diplomatic, Pence’s behavior was rude and ridiculous. And scary. On the run-up to the Olympics, Pence had managed to pick a fight with Adam Rippon, the only out gay US athlete, and to belittle the attendance of North Koreans as “propaganda” and “hijacking” the Olympics. Sitting next to President Moon Jae, with the North Koreans and Bach behind him, only Pence sat and pouted. He kept his back stiffly towards to the North Koreans. At an earlier VIP reception, he had refused to shake hands with Kim Yong-nam (which even the Japanese leaders did) and left after a few minutes.

The speakers continued the call for peace. IOC President Thomas Bach made a puzzling decision to throw shade from the podium on Russia, banned from this Olympics due to a state-sponsored doping scandal from the last winter Olympics. But more significantly he emphasized the cooperation between North and South Korea.

South Korean President Moon Jae also spoke of peace and hope. His words were reflected in the rapturous reception the joint Korean delegation received from the stadium crowd. The whole Opening Ceremony seemed like a momentous effort to stop the insane war-mongering by the USA Administration.

Pence’s bullshit “mean boys” attitude was fully out-of-step with the general feeling in the stadium, where you felt that the whole world yearned for peace in the face of such freaky developments in the States since last January. The US war-mongering is not only a threat to the region, but to the entire earth. It stains everything with its coating of creeping fascism, even the technologically dazzling Olympic opening ceremony.