Smiling and Dancing in the Face of Pressure
The Main Blurb The floor routine in gymnastics: It seems to be a bane for the men, but a joy for the women. Think about it: When you watch the men do a floor routine, they look like a robot when they are not leaping in the air. When they land and move around the floor, their legs are as straight as tree trunks. “Dance” to male gymnasts is a four letter word that should never be uttered. There is no music in men’s gymnastics. The goal is to do as many tumbling passes as possible in the allotted time and get off that thing. On the other hand, music is heard throughout the arena when the women are performing. It can almost be annoying when you’re trying to watch another apparatus because someone else is dancing their floor routine to some weird little piece of music. But they shimmy, they shake, they…smile! They almost seem to be enjoying themselves – for some of them, they actually are enjoying themselves! Normally when I am watching someone’s floor routine, it is fun