Interview 1999 - Luca and Loraine Baricchi

Interview2000
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1. How old where you when you started dancing competitively?
We start dancing when I was 9 years old and Loraine was 6 years old.

2. What where your greatest achievements before you started dancing together?
Previous greatest achievements, I was 5th at the last British Open and
Loraine was 3rd at the last British Open, but we would like to focus on
our life together and not on our previous experiences.

3. When did you dance together for the first time?
Loraine and I had our first "dance" in Italy after spending more then
three weeks in our first romantic holiday.

4. How did you meet?
We met in the dancing circuit and we felt this incredible attraction for
each other. At the end of August 1993, we could not resist our attraction
any further and we decided to start a all new life together, I guess this
was the best decision we ever took.

5. How did it feel when you first danced together?
When we first dance together, we were already great dancers and had
reached a great level of quality and understanding of dance mechanics, but
what made it feel amazingly special was the way we felt for each other.

6. Can you describe what dancing means to you?
What does dancing mean to us, this is quite a complicated question.
Giving a vision to a sound is really closed to the truth.

7. Have you ever danced Latin competitively?
We both danced Latin competitively and achieved good success in the
amateur’s fields.

8. What do you think are your strong points compared to other top professionals?
Loraine and I are capable of producing an incredibly powerful,
emotional, sensuous, inspiring, artistic and musical performance combined
with a great sense of style.

9. Where you pleased when Marcus and Karen announced their retirement?
When Marcus and Karen Hilton announced their retirement we felt a
mixture of  feelings. We felt happy as we knew it was going to be easier to
win the British Title on the following Friday, but we also felt sad as it
is always very emotional to see a Champion retire.

10. Are you looking forward to dance the next World Championships and probably
become World Champion?
We are really looking forward to the next World Championship, as
always, we are working very hard on continuing the development of our
performance as we want to dominate and win the World Title in the same way
we dominated and won the United Kingdom and the British Open Championship.

11. Luca you are Italian. What do you think of the "invasion" of Italian ballroom dancers
in especially the amateur field?
I think it is great to see so many talented young couples coming from
Italy, for the past 10 years Italy has been developing at an incredible
rate and I hope other countries will be able to do the same in the future.

12. What is it that makes Italian dancers so good?
I feel the artistic and emotional talent combined with the arrogant
nature of the Italian culture produces very competitive dancers that are
capable of been extremely effective on the dance floor.

13. Luca, which city in Italy do you come from?
I was born in the beautiful region of Emilia Romagna, more precisely in
Reggio Emilia which is set just on the valley of the Appennini Mountains.

14. Aren't you homesick?
I rarely feel home sick for many different reasons.
Firstly I used to travel quite a lot even when I was still living in Italy
as I used to spend two weeks every month in London taking lessons and
training plus I had to travel to practice as I never managed to find a
partner which was closed to home.
Secondly Loraine and I have a very active travel schedule which takes us
all over the World, we really appreciate the opportunity to do together
what we Love which is Dance in so many beautiful and culturally challenging
places.

15. Question for Loraine: What is it that makes Luca your ideal (dancing) partner?
What makes Luca my ideal dancing partner:  the fire, which is burning
inside him. Luca can be so emotionally and passionately involved with what he does that
he can be extremely inspiring. He has the ideal combination of Mind and Feel, he is extremely
talented but also extremely intelligent.
We are capable of discussing and developing our dancing life without
getting in any challenging situation, we believe in teamwork.

16. Question for Luca: What is it that makes Loraine your ideal (dancing) partner?
What makes Loraine my ideal dancing partner: How long do you have.
Firstly Loraine is an extremely gorgeous person and this helps.
She is for sure my ideal partner, she is extremely sensitive, capable of
receiving, absorbing and developing any type of timing, shape or feel I
dance.
You do not find very often grace, feeling, power and artistry all in one
amazingly gorgeous woman, which you happen to love.
I do consider myself very fortunate and I am not talking about my dancing
relationship with Loraine only.

17. Which dance do you like the most? Why?
It really depends in which mood we feel on the day, every dance can be
totally fulfilling if danced with the correct mechanics and most
importantly with the correct character.
Loraine and I spend a reasonable amount of time in Japan, where we have
the opportunity to perform many, many shows.
In each show one dance excels, it really depends from the mood and from the
atmosphere.

18. We know Loraine's sister is a top amateur dancer. Do you have any brothers
or sisters Luca?
No I am an only child, this definitely allowed my parents to dedicate
all their energy to help me achieving what I have achieved.

19. Do you teach?
Yes, Loraine and I love teaching even if this is not our priority at
this stage of our career. It is extremely fascinating to help other
talented dancer develop their potentials and therefore develop with them. We
sincerely hope that we will be able to produce and inspire future great
Champions after we will decide to retire from the Champions Stand.

20. Who do you admire in dancing (besides your partner)?
Loraine and I admire any dancer which is determined to be successful
and to develop their potential to the maximum.
In the Professional field we admire all the top fellow competitors, because
there is no doubt that each one of us has a special gift.

21. Can you tell us how it is to become as good as you are?
It is a great feeling to achieve what 8 or 9 years ago we thoughts we
could never reach, for example winning the British Open was like.........A
dream come true.  It makes us feel really proud of ourselves, but it also
makes us even more determined to produce even better dancing.

22. How much do you practice?
We practice an incredible amount of time, you see, practice is not only
in the dance studio, practice is when we walk, when we talk, when we are
sitting in the car thinking or feeling a dance, a movement or a
principle, a dancer is a dancer 24 hours a day.
I do not feel we are "practice mad", as we also take time to enjoy each
other, some time a break is needed to find the focus and the anger again.

23. Do you think you still can approve your dancing?
Loraine and I definitely feel more space for improvements in our
dancing; I guess the day we will feel we have reached our limits it will be
time to start planning the retirement. What helped us achieving this high
level of dancing is the addiction to look for more all the time. In a dance
performance there are so many areas to develop that I feel it is never
ending. We are great believers that limits in life are set by our own
expectations, so lets set very high expectations.

24. Can you tell what we need to become as successful as you are?
 Achieving great success is a combination on things, talent only will
not reach it, intelligence only will not reach it, determination only will
not reach it, been a "solo" dancer will not reach it.  A combination of
all the above is what makes a great dancer plus an incredible amount of
dedication and capability to be inspired but at the same time very critical
of your own performance.
Satisfaction and complacement are very dangerous words for a dancer, which
is searching for the ultimate performance.

I thank you very much for giving Loraine and I the opportunity to express
our feelings in this interview.

Luca and Loraine Baricchi.

source:http://www.dancesite.demon.nl/interviews/baricchi.htm