Jive, tussle, shimmy or walk the days away

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Sally Papso

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Caleb Rutner

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Tricialynn Morgan

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Moy Covalin

BEEHIVE CONTEST: Pssst! Planning to hit the outdoor Hairspray movie on Tuesday night in Memorial Park? "It's like a drive-in with no cars," says Tricialynn Morgan, events co-ordinator for the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ. "People should bring blankets and pillows and treats. We have concessions with drinks and two popcorn chuckwagons. It's a family event, so people can even bring their dogs."

And, you might want to get that Elvis pompadour or beehive hairdo happening, not to mention a '50s costume. While movie nuts dance to tunes from Hairspray, starting at 7 p.m., students from Scientific Marvel hairstyling school will be back-combing, swirling and industrial-spraying "do's" for people in the crowd (prizes for the best costume and hairdo). When the sun goes down, the movie starts up. Be there or be square!

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FIGHTING IT OUT IN AZERBAIJAN: Canadian national champion wrestler Caleb Rutner, 17, is packing his bags for Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea to compete with cadet-aged wrestlers (15-17) from all over the world. They're gathering in the capital city of Baku.

"I'm pretty excited, " says Rutner, the only wrestler from Manitoba to make it onto the Canadian team. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." Rutner, who's attending Grade 12 at St. Paul's High School this fall, just got back from a wrestling camp at the University of Western Ontario in London, where he trained with national champions on the junior world team.

For the 10 men and 10 women leaving Toronto on Aug. 18, a win at the cadet world championship is another step toward Olympic dreams.

"It's a very formal situation," says his dad, Dr. Toby Rutner, a Winnipeg psychologist and former college wrestler in the U.S. "The Turks, Iranians and Russians, and all the best wrestling powers in the world will be there. The athletes travel with coaches and physicians and trainers in their own Canadian delegation just like when you go to the Olympics."

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MOVE OVER, ZUMBA: Thanks to a dancer's Folklorama experience, an aerobic craze called Ethnofit is coming to Winnipeg from Mexico City. It originated with choreographer Moy Covalin, who was in Winnipeg to dance for Folklorama a few years back and felt inspired by the amazing variety of music. Instead of the Latin music used in zumba, participants in his creation sweat it out to a melding of music from countries such as India, Ukraine, Africa and Ireland.

You can see an Ethnofit demo at Folklorama's Saturday kickoff just before Papa Mambo and the fireworks. Or, you can catch a class at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Rady Jewish Community Centre, 123 Doncaster St.

Check out Ethnofit exercising online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v8VCF_dZN2xo . To book a spot in the class ($15) call 204-477-7497 ASAP.

Covalin is in Winnipeg to choreograph some dances combining Anajnu Veatem (20 dancers from Mexico) and Chai Folk Ensemble for the 19 shows at the Israel Pavilion (Week 2 of Folklorama) at the Asper campus.

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WINNIPEG CHARACTER: Who is that woman leading little tribes of walking athletes with "ski poles" in the hot summer weather? They're going at the speed of cross-country skiers all over Wolseley and Omand's Creek. It's 70-year-old former marathoner Sally Papso. She's the Winnipeg character everybody in the West End and Wolseley neighbourhoods knows for the big clock on her house that help bus riders at the stop outside her home know what time it is.

Urban poling or "nordic walking" is her passion.

"When you use these poles with the special ergonomic handles, and then keep your arms stiff, it's an upper-body and core sport, too," Papso said. "I first saw it in a health magazine, inquired about it, took the course and fell in love with it."

Now she teaches it to anybody who wants to try. You can't keep a marathoner down. "Walking itself is good," she said, "but put a pair of poles in people's hands and you use 90 per cent of the body's muscles and get a full-body workout." Want to try? Call Papso at 204-772-3339.

Got tips, sightings, unusual things going on? Call Maureen's tip line at 204-474-1116, email to Maureen.Scurfield@Winnipegfreepress.com, or send letters to Maureen Scurfield, c/o The Insider, 1355 Mountain Ave., R2X 3B6.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 3, 2012 B2