News & Neuigkeiten » She noted:Ballerinas across the globe are upset t

BYU has formally notified the Big 12 of its interest in joining the conference and would be open to discussing a football-only option to get into the league, Cougars athletic director Tom Holmoe told ESPN.com.Holmoe said, however, that full membership with the Big 12 would be BYUs goal.Were obviously open to listening to what they want to do, said Holmoe, whose school has been an independent since 2011. Were going to go through this process with an open mind to listen to what they have to say.Because of its connection with the Mormon church, BYU does not play games on Sundays. That has created questions within the Big 12 as to whether the conference could make full membership work with the Cougars, should the league elect to offer BYU an invitation.The Big 12 stages several games in non-football sports on Sundays, notably soccer and baseball. The league also plays several of its non-football championships on Sundays.Shortly after the Big 12 announced Tuesday that it would be exploring expansion candidates, commissioner Bob Bowlsby said the league would consider football-only options, though it wouldnt be the leagues preferred route.Holmoe, however, said he believes BYUs no-Sunday rule can be resolved with the Big 12.I believe thats something that can be worked out, he said. Weve been in a lot of leagues through the years, and weve been able to work it out.There would be a difference in the Big 12 because that would be a Power 5 conference. Theyre going to ask questions. Well have our solutions, creative ideas of what we can do. Were going to do everything we can.Holmoe added that BYU would be willing to take partial distribution initially to join the Big 12 as well.Though University of Texas president Greg Fenves endorsed the University of Houston as an expansion candidate Thursday, Holmoe said he believes BYU has a compelling case to make to the Big 12.The criteria they list fit us well, he said. We feel very confident in what BYU is. George Kittle Super Bowl Jersey . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. Adrian Colbert Super Bowl Jersey . 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As a former dancer, Ive always tried to imagine which sport ballet might be comparable to, and the most I have been able to come up with is the marathon -- if the marathon required runners to be in character, with full makeup and smiling the entire time. Oh, and en pointe.And by en pointe, I dont mean perfect in the sense that my teenagers use the phrase today. Nope, by en pointe, I mean it in the true French sense of the word -- standing on the tips of your toes, separated from the floor by the tiniest barrier of fabric, cardboard and glue. Those pink, satiny pointe shoes -- and hours upon hours of blood, sweat and tears -- are what separate the women in Thursday night Zumba class from athletes like American Ballet Theatres Misty Copeland.?Anyone can go to a sporting goods store and buy Nike Zoom Lebron Soldier 10s sneakers, and anyone go online and buy Capezio Aria pointe shoes. And that is exactly what Vogue Espana did for a fashion shoot with Kendall Jenner. But owning Lebrons sneakers wont make you an NBA player. And neither will pointe shoes -- voila! -- magically transform you into Wendy Whelan.Reality-star-turned-model Kendall Jenner is a beautiful young woman. At 5-feet-10? and 119 pounds, the 20-year-old slides into haute couture with ease and is an accomplished runway model. And no one could call her modeling skills into question.But those feet! They are like dead fish. They are. Look at them in the Vogue shoot. They just dangle there. In ballet, there is a term for this: the sickled foot, and the dreaded dead fish comment is something ballet teachers say to their students to remind them to point, point, point their feet.Dancers oftentimes resort to medieval torture devices to improve their arches. Dont believe me? Google ballet feet stretcher. Ill wait. I have friends who short-sheet their beds and wedge their pointed feet tight between two sheets and sleep that way to improve their arches. Instagram, which has proved to be the perfect forum for ballet photos, has sparked a whole new movement in dance and is flush with photos and videos of dancers and their footwork. My favorite is Cuban ballerina?Dayesi Torriente Llanes, now a soloist with the Pennsylvania Ballet. ?I have seen entire ballet auditions go south based on the look of feet alone. I swear my mother, who studied under George Balanchine (he co-founded the New York City Ballet) at the School of American Ballet and danced with the San Francisco and Pennsylvania Ballet companies, worked at pointing my feet while I was still in my crib.dddddddddddd So poor Jenner and her dead-fish feet incurred the wrath of every ballerina from the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow?to the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle last week.She had to turn off the comments on her Instagram feed, and her vastly popular account (she has 66.3 million followers) is part of what made her so attractive to Vogue in the first place. Dance Magazine had Ballet West soloist Allison DeBona write an opinion piece about Jenners unfortunate attempt to stand up in pointe shoes after DeBonas Facebook post reacting to the Vogue Espana?photos went viral.DeBona, herself a stunning dancer, had just recently written her heartfelt Facebook commentary?faulting Vogue for exploiting Jenner by posing her as a ballerina.She noted:Ballerinas across the globe are upset that Vogue Spain hired Kendell (sic) Jenner to look like a ballerina in a video shoot. Well, Vogue Italia hired me to look like a ballerina in a video shoot. Some people originally commented on my video about how I was selling out by being too sexual. I was playing a role just like Kendell, except I have technique.There were plenty of comments from dancers who felt that Vogue Espana?should have used a real ballerina and had no business putting Jenner in pointe shoes and having her dance around suggestively in leotards and leg warmers. I agree. The publication is usually pretty good with the ballet accuracy, but shame on them and shame on Jenners modeling agent, whomever that might be, for not trying harder for authenticity.There were a million ways around it: Use a real ballerina for the action and then pose Jenner in the clothes. Or just pick another theme entirely -- such as horseback riding, ATVing, dirt biking, surfing or hiking, which Jenner herself recently listed as her hobbies.One thing I know for sure. Jenners unwitting participation in the ballet shoot fiasco of 2016 legitimizes the dance, if anything, because it once again shows haters that ballet is not just running around like a child just not caring. It is impossibly hard work. Kendall Jenner might have more money and fame than God, but shes not a ballerina. ?ESPN deputy editor Gabrielle Paese is a reformed ballerina who got her start with Maria Vegh at Harkness Ballet. She went on to attend the Pennsylvania Governors School for the Arts and train under the late Merce Cunningham. ? ' ' '