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Pooches dazzle on dance floor - even with their two left feet
Man's best friend is cutting the rug (rather than chewing
on it) during this weekend's World Canine Freestyle dance competition in
Lakeland. Although majority of the human dancers are woman, some men are fearlessly taking up the sport. ''I am one of the rare men that can support
the fact that they work with women all the time,'' said Daniel Ratay of
Hollywood, one of three men who took part in this weekend's competition. Ratay and his partner, Tango, a black Labrador Retriever, have performed freestyle demonstrations at events and on television shows in Canada. They started competing when they moved to South Florida five years ago.
The dancers are scored on technical and artistic elements of their routine. Judges look at the content of the dance, the flow of movements, creativity and costumes.
Visiting judges Kathryn Hardman and Karen Sykes, top freestyle performers and judges from the United Kingdom, said freestyle is harder to judge than most canine sports because the handler -- or human dancer -- choreographs the routine. ''We don't know what the dogs are supposed to or not supposed to do,'' Sykes said. ``You can only judge what you see.'' Dancing with dogs -- or canine freestyle, as aficionados call it -- is an emerging sport in the dog world. Believe it or not, more and more people are dancing with their dogs. The organization that began five years ago in New York with 13 members has grown to about 1,000, with 14 clubs worldwide -- some as far away as Japan, Holland, Australia and Canada. Dog dancers expect to put up with a little joshing -- OK, a lot of joshing -- but they're serious about their sport. The World Canine Freestyle Organization, or WCFO, was founded in 1999 in Brooklyn by Patie Ventre -- a former publicist for dog sporting events who once was a ballroom dancer. Canine freestyle caught on in the early 1990s, she said, gaining popularity after dog owners saw demonstrations of dance routines at agility and other competitions. Ventre said three teams from Florida are part of the organization. Dancers say it's a fun way to bond with their best friends. And costumes are a must -- for people and their pups. After months of rehearsal, the team is headed for its first competition with a national dog-dancing title at stake.
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A foot shake, not a hand shake, is what Dan Ratay from Hollywood, Fla., and
his Labrador "Tango" are doing during their performance at the World Canine Freestyle Organization's 2004 North
American Nationals. RAUL RUBIERA/HERALD STAFF 
