8A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2001
FLATTERY (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Jared Gabb/KMSA
Tim Flattery, onaga freshman, performs with his teammates of the Rock Chalk Dance Team during the Football Fan Appreciation and Kids Day held Aug. 23 at Memorial Stadium. Flattery will make his first performance during a game on Saturday
Jared Gab/KANSAN
Older sisters, Carly and Laney, also work for the family carnie business.
"I've been a carmie since I was born," Tim says. "My family, they don't want to do the normal, pattern things."
Born to dance
Tim blames - or better yes, thanks -
his dad for his love of dance.
When the Flatterys went to watch Tim's two older sisters in school programs, they'd have to sit in the back of the auditorium, because 2-year-old Tim couldn't resist dancing to the music in the aisles.
"Ever since I was very little, he always had music on - the Beatles or Michael Jackson - and I would always dance to it." Tum recalls.
So when Tim went to his parents and told them he wanted to start dance lessons, it didn't come as a shock. Vicki or Chris Flattery would drive Tim to Holton, 30 miles east of Onaga, twice a week. And there in a Holton dance studio, Tim discovered who he was.
"It didn't take long to see that the kid had a lot of ability," Vicki says. "And like anything, whether it's soccer or softball or any kind of sport or singing, when you see that, you foster it."
Tim also played guard for the Onaga High School basketball team. With just over a minute left in the first half, Tim would race to the locker room and swap his basketball uniform for his dance team gear.
Then, to the befuddlement of the opposing crowd who had seen that same kid on the court playing a minute ago, Tim would join his dance teammates for their halftime performance.
"You're a really fast change," Tim recalls his classmates telling him.
By the beginning of the third quarter, Tim was back on the court in his high tops and basketball uniform.
Tim was no stiff on the court. He scored 25 points in a junior varsity game his sophomore year and then nailed a dance routine that his team had been struggling with all week later that night.
Thick skin
Before Onaga embraced Tim as a
dancer and surrounding towns learned that he was the star of his dance team, Tim had to prove himself.
"I know a lot of people were fixing their eyes on me because I was the only one who was different." Tim says.
Vicki remembers sitting in the stands and biting her lip as she saw "some raised eyebrows and some snickers and some jabs in the ribs."
Then he would dance and "it was obvious that Tim excelled at this". Vicki recalls. "If he would have been no better than any of the girls or not even as good as any of the girls, then I think that the ribbing and snickering would have continued. But once he got out there and performed, honestly, pretty much all eyes were on him."
Tim said he realized he had to let his dancing speak for itself and learn to shrug off criticism with a thick skin.
So when Tim started thinking
about choosing a college, he had one thing on his mind: dance.
It was a forgive conclusion that dance was going to be his major. The only question was where would Tim take his talent.
Mom pushed for a junior college.
"I told him that I felt like he could get his education paid for through a junior college, because of his dancing ability." Vicki says.
Tim didn't want that. He wanted to show his ability on a bigger stage. He told his mom he'd been a big fish in a little ocean for too long. He was ready to be the little fish in a big ocean.
He was ready to learn and get out of his comfort zone in Onaga. And that's where the desire to be a Rock Chalk dancer came from.
This summer Tim and his mom drove to Lawrence for the dance team tryouts. Not surprisingly, Tim tried out in a room full of ponytails.
Once the initial shock wore off for the 75 women, they liked the idea of having a male teammate.
Rock, Chalk Dance Team coach Tasha Ruble said, "It's not weird or different for them because a lot of them have danced with males in their studios."
Tim immediately proved he belonged and when the judges tallied up their scores from the tryouts and he was among the top 22 dancers. He made the team and made history.
"I think he's probably opening up a lot of doors for other people who may have been nervous about doing that," Ruble says. "For him to come in and try out around 75 girls, that took a lot and I'm proud of him for doing it"
When Tim is dancing with the Rock Chalk Dance team, the 5-foot-8 lone male almost lost in the mix. Tim spins and leaps into the air in perfect unison with his female teammates. His movements are crisp and with a purpose. He rocks his head back and swails his shoulders to the beat of MC Hammer's "Do not pass me by." It in that moment where you finally see the difference.
As the women look to the sky and swing their heads back, their pony tails follow behind. But there's Tim in the middle, and his short, dark
blonde hair doesn't move with the music.
"Either way you're a dancer," teammate Katie Rose Hargreaves says, "whether male or female."
Tim says, "I just want them to know that just because I am a different
"I just want them to know that just because I am a different gender doesn't mean I'm doing the dance any different."
"They've already been jerks." McNeal savs. "The first week we were
"I said 'Are you OK?' Vicci recalls, her question met by silence. Finally Tim said, "Yeah, I'm just kind of worried about my teammates."
It hasn't just been the media who questioned Tim's place on the dance team. KU students have already made unkind remarks, not to his face, but to his friends.
TIM FLATTERY
Onaga freshman
When word spread to Onaga what was being said about Tim in the papers and on the radio, Vicki called to see how her son was holding up.
Tim knows what he's up against.
"I'm on a division 1 collegiate team. This is not going to be little Onaga where I'll
He will dance for his biggest audience ever this Saturday when 40,000 Kansas fans get their first look at Tim on the sidelines and on the field during the KU football game. Tim has won over his hometown and made people look past his gender. He was daring enough to go to a big college and try out for an all-women squad. Now comes the greatest challenge of all.
Tim's not in Onaga anymore. He's in Lawrence and the macho snickering is getting louder. A columnist in the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram made fun of Tim, writing, "Oh, sure, those Big 12 South teams win national championships, but how many have male dancers?" The Kansas City Star, Columbia Daily Tribune, local radio stations and sports Web sites like Deadspin.com also picked up on the news.
McNeal says, "Every night we go out, no matter if he's driving or someone else is driving, he'd dancing. And at the parties and pretty much anywhere we go, he dances"
As Tim drives to dance team practice in his 2004 blue Cavaller, oldies blast from his radio and Tim starts moving to the music. When Tim hears music, it's a natural reaction. He dances, even when he's sitting.
gender doesn't mean I'm doing the dance any different. It's not the girls are over there and I'm over here free styling. We're a team. We're together"
Sometimes that fact is lost on Tim's mom. When Tim would dance with his Onaga dance team, Vicki would videotape from the bleachers. Being a mom, she would of course zoom in on Tim.
Can't stop dancing
"I hope that they will watch his performance and they will let him prove himself", Vicki says. "And I feel like KU is a liberal enough school and they are open minded enough that they are going to look at this and say 'You know what, this is a pretty cool deal. And KU is a trend setter.'"
Tim would yell at his mom, "Mom, we're a team. How am I supposed to know how the team is dancing if I can't see everyone?"
His mom hopes people will give him a chance and that once KU fans see him perform, they will discover what the town of Onaga already knows, Tim Flattery can dance.
have half the school sitting in front of me knowing my name", Tim says.