'Aboriginal' figure skating routine slammed in Australia

[demoleft]

Source: afp

AFP - They may be world champion figure skaters, but Russia's Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin have "got it all wrong" when it comes to their "Aboriginal" dance routine, Australian experts said Friday.

The Russian stars, favourites to win gold at next month's winter Olympics, wear dark skin-toned bodysuits complete with bright red loin cloths, white body paint and eucalyptus leaves in the original dance routine.

But the two-and-a-half-minute act has raised eyebrows in Australia, where experts said the music, movement and body decorations worn by the pair bear no relation to that of Australia's 60,000-year-old Aboriginal culture.
...
Indigenous leader Bev Manton, of the New South Wales Land Council, said Aboriginal people were rightly sensitive about the appropriation of their cultural heritage.

Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20100122-aboriginal-figure-skating-routine-slammed-australia

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[catbyte]

1. Eeks...

That's about as tone deaf as the Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians or Atlanta Braves tomahawk chop. Get a clue, people!! These are real people you're "honoring". I'll bet they wouldn't have thought about getting all dolled up in blackface. :puke:

Sheesh.

DIane

annoyed Anishnabe in MI

[swilton]

7. +1

[AspenRose]

21. +1000

[arikara]

25. Do you remember

the Fighting Whities? I don't know if they are still around but I thought the name was hilarious.

http://hightimes.com/entertainment/ht_admin/353

[Berry Cool]

28. For the record, Cleveland Indians fans do not do a tomahawk chop.

That's Braves crap.

[SpiralHawk]

2. "Doubleplusungood." - Republikon Indians of Cleveland

[Demeter]

3. I'm Sure Their Intentions Were Good

Cross cultural politics can be very touchy. A gesture of support can look like an obscenity.

[Maru Kitteh]

22. Especially if the costumes are that farking hideous. Looks like a 6th grade Halloween party

and would remain pretty damn questionable still.

[Roland99]

24. Like a Chinese knock-off of a Disney parade float.

[Downwinder]

4. And they had a riot in Paris when Nijinsky danced the Rites of Spring. n/t

[Cassandra]

5. That was because they thought he had gall...

not because he looked like ancient Gauls.

It was too sexual, even for Paris.

[Javaman]

6. um, wow, that was tasteless.

eeeouch.

It's like life imitating the onion. aka something that should never be done.

This is like if someone took the movie "strictly ballroom" and combined it with the worst of figure skating.

[demoleft]

9. imagine if they were dressed with simbolic garments and figures of islam or christianity?

i find the reactions excessive, though the sacredness of peoples' symbols can be a very sensitive issue.
the "show" always empties the sacred and debases it.

tasteless is the right word.

[Sultana]

10. Christians wouldn't make a big issue of it

...I know I won't.

[Javaman]

14. You must clarify that...

Thinking christians wouldn't make an issue of it.

[Coventina]

15. I can guarantee you a certain segment of Christians would. Remember Madonna?

Remember Madonna's "Confessions Tour" when she hung herself on the disco-mirrored cross? There was quite an outcry over that.

[msanthrope]

19. Skating Jesus? The Ameritaliban would freak out....n/t

[Nihil]

20. Well, He *was* supposed to have walked on water ...

... so at least this way would make more sense ...

:hide:

[marshall]

8. What next? Come to the US and do a routine in minstrel black face?

Pretty tasteless.

[EFerrari]

13. I wonder how many people helped this team put this together.

They probably didn't sew their own costumes, design their make up and coach themselves. None of those people had a clue? Amazing.

[Sultana]

11. Ugh, assholes

:eyes:

[izquierdista]

12. Aborigines don't figure skate?

What DID they do during the last Ice Age?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

16. As a long-time figure skating lover --

who has seen decades worth of "interesting" costuming, I have one thing to say:

Yeegads, that shit is ugly and tastless. :puke: They may as well be doing blackface, seriously.

[catbyte]

17. And the guy's costume looked EXTREMELY ill-fitting to boot...

[WolverineDG]

26. Ice Dancing is so fixed

it's almost a crime to call it a "sport" & have it included in the Olympics.

dg

[HeresyLives]

18. Gonna cause an uproar in Canada too.

'For one thing, this is British Columbia. For another, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will be held on the traditional and shared traditional territories of the Lil’wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations – known collectively as the Four Host First Nations.'

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/spector-vision/a-great-olympic-moment-for-the-conservatives/article1439967/

[Democrat_in_Houston]

23. BC? Vancouver? First Nations? Oh, my! That is not going to go over well, at all!

[Brickbat]

27. Generally speaking,

and I know this is a broad brush, but Russians aren't the most racially savvy people I know.

Here, I'll say it better: None of the Russians I know, and I know a lot, have a clue when it comes to racial sensitivity.

[AsahinaKimi]

29. Maybe they would have better luck

DRESSED as NaVi from the movie AVATAR...