30 years of IDO World Tap dance Championships
Side story 39
“ My first realization that there was an IDO World Tap Championships was when my daughter, Caitlin Gudat Haywood watched a video of the USA Tap Team from 2001. Along with her dance partner, Brett Perry, they persuaded me to go to the USA qualifier in Las Vegas, Nevada. They qualified as a duet and a soloist and were invited to attend as part of the USA Team at the IDO World Tap Dance Championships in Riesa, Germany in 2002. We live more than 800 miles from Gloria Jean’s School of Dance where the US-team for the IDO World Tap dance Championships in Riesa, Germany was rehearsing. It required us to fly the dancers every weekend to be part of that team as well as part of the team for the IDO World
Showdance Championships rehearsing in Boston.
After a full team rehearsal in Rhode Island, the team finally flew to Dresden and boarded buses to Riesa.
As a parent and teacher, I was anxious about the time, money and emotions that were already spent just to arrive at the Championships. The minute I walked through the doors of the arena my worries faded away and I understood it all completely. The energy, excitement and national pride where immediately present and palpable. The weeks in Riesa flew by with every day more wonderful than the last. Our duet took 4th place, my soloist took 2nd, and both the USA Group and Formations took the gold! Better yet, they made friends from all over the world that shared their love of dance and performance. I knew I wanted to return! In the summer of 2013, I was invited by Bill Fowler † to represent the USA as their V.I.P. judge that year in Riesa. I was thrilled and honored beyond belief. I arrived in Riesa with the same sense of excitement as in 2002. Before the competition started I was able to take my IDO Adjudicator’s Examination as well as my exams in Tap and Jazz. The weight of choosing the best of the best was heavy but I now refer to it as “the hardest job I ever loved!” When I returned to the USA I took the remainder of my IDO Performing Arts exams an eagerly awaited my next invitation to World Championships. I returned to judge in 2016 and 2019 and have also served as a judge for the IDO Continent v.s. Continent qualifiers and European Championships. The feeling of the Championships is both of extreme organization and wonderful chaos. The sound of metal on wood is non-stop and everywhere. The backstage is a blur of color, painted with the colors of hundreds of different national track suits. Languages of every kind are spoken and somehow understood. Adjudicators and officials happily work together to discover the winners while encouraging every performance. For me, it is close to a perfect world! The parade of countries, during which all the dancers join each other on stage with their national flags reminds me that people from every country, religion, custom, political stance, regardless of ethnic background, can find common ground and participate freely and enthusiastically together without conflict. Their smiles and impromptu dancing always makes me proud to be part of IDO and its commitment to these ideals. My most memorial moments are those spent on stage placing the medals around the necks of the winners. Knowing the pride of their teachers and parents, it is always a special treat. Watching the national flags rise as the anthems are played, especially when it is from my own country brings tears to my eyes.
I hope to return again and again to Riesa! There is no place or time like it anywhere else in the world.”
39 by Diana Gudat USA and her daughter Caitlin Gudat who had achieved the 4. place in the Duo Category this year with her partner Brett Perry. See also Who’s Who: Diane Gudat
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