The Lost Sport Of Ski Ballet Makes A Triumphant Comeback

There are sports, and then there are sub-sports. Like surfing and tandem surfing (where a man rides a wave holding a woman on his shoulders so the two can perform gymnastic-like stunts during the slide).

Think that's pretty weird? Try ski ballet, skiing's stranger, more beautiful, and more acrobatic cousin.

MGG released a video earlier this month as an ode to ski ballet, and the video is enlightening: self-described as "a romance of alpine skiing, ballet, acrobatics, musicality, and figure skating, ski ballet combines the grace of dancing on snow, with awe-inspiring spins, flips, and ski control, all of which remain eye-wateringly extreme, decades on."

Check out ski ballet in the video below.

Not only that, MGG's campaign, aptly titled "Ballet's Back" is "the culmination of a dream to bridge the past with the present, and seeks to reclaim the glory of ski ballet - an extraordinary former Winter Olympic discipline, which was at its peak during the late 80s and early 90s - and to make the sport accessible for a new audience, by capturing its essence with modern photographic and videographic technology, in a way never witnessed before."

MGG captures 1992 Olympians Annika Johansson and Fabrice Becker at Saas Fee in Switzerland as they dance across the snow. In '92, Becker was a gold medalist, and Johansson took 5th.

As noted here, ski ballet was a demonstration sport at the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics.

Watch the original Olympic footage below.

The above clip shows Conny Kissling, a professional Swiss freestyle skier, at the 1992 Olympic Games. She competed in women's moguls that year, but apparently she also danced her way down the mountain for ski ballet, as well.

In that clip, Kissling was in her early thirties. She is now 62 years old.

Park skiing is often seen as more acrobatic than ski racing, because of how much time athletes spend in the air (and on perfecting their explosivity, flexibility, and, well, a lot of things that don't involve carving and speed).

But if park skiing seems acrobatic, ski ballet is almost completely gymnastics!

Is ski ballet related to buttering? Is it something your grandparents would be familiar with? Most importantly... when mountains open up, are you going to try it out this winter?

Related: Jonny Moseley Impresses With Tasteful Ski Ballet Skills

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