30 years of IDO World Tap dance Championships
Side story Canada
BONNIE DYER’S MEMORIES AND WORDS OF THANKS FROM CANADA! I was introduced to the wonderful world of IDO by my good friend and colleague Matthew Clark. I have had so many fun, exciting and memorable experiences happen over the years that I am sure I could write a full book.
Our first team was truly a National Team and consisted of dancers from across Canada that would fly into Toronto for choreography. I would pick up at airport and the entire team would stay at my house for many weekends in preparation for the IDO World Tap Championships. I even used a 48 passenger bus (that I drove) to get them from my house to my studio for choreography rehearsals. ( I no longer have a bus license – so those days are over!) My first IDO competition was the IDO World Tap Championships in Dresden, Germany. I remember staying at the beautiful Hilton Hotel and the competition
was at venue not too far from the hotel. Some of my early and most memorable experiences were meeting so many people from so many countries and seeing how tap is performed in other parts of the world. Some of my favourite people I met was our interpreter Toby – who was so much fun! Just thinking of him brings a smile to my face. It was at this event that I also met the late Bill Fowler, even though we are from the same continent, we had never crossed paths before. When he arrived at the Dresden Hilton, he
looked like a movie star wearing a beautiful fur coat and he had the biggest and most welcoming smile. This event was also the first and last time that I met Mr. Polidori, where we shared a car to the event. He did not speak to me just looked at me strangely as I climbed into the car with him (I still remember that look to this day) However, the shining star of course, was the organizer Mr. Wendt – who at that time was under some stress as he was having issues with sponsors for the event. However, he put on a brave face and was welcoming as always. He always had a way of making everyone feel special (and still does) It was a great first experience, and coming 4 th just made it more apparent that we must return the next year – and every year thereafter.
Over the years we have had travel issues – but one of the most memorable one was when we were stranded in Amsterdam as all fights were cancelled due to the fog. KLM arranged a bus for us, and we travelled by bus to Riesa (why the bus could make its way through the fog and the plane could not is still a mystery to us) I think it took us about 10 hours and the only English movie
the bus driver played was “Speed” about a runaway bus! To this day we still talk about that bus ride. I have so many funny stories with airport experiences with bomb searches, body searches, rehearsing and redoing choreography in parking lot, searching for chicken and once even accidently someone set our table on fire at a restaurant. The kids got to keep the candles on their table – but the adult table had theirs taken away!
I remember our luggage not coming with all our costumes. It was so heart- warming when all the other countries lent our team something to wear. I think it was about 5 minutes after we performed our last number that Michael got word that our luggage had finally arrived. It is memories like this and the willingness and helping hands of these IDO dancers that helped our dancers with costumes, really made me realize just how very special the IDO dance family is .
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