Style : ‘Cut Above’: Muscles and Grace Meet

First came “Pumping Iron,” a film about male body builders. Then “Pumping Iron II: The Women.” Now, on the heels of those two films, and riding the crest of the body-building craze, we have “Pumping Celluloid: The Couples.”

Not really.

What we have in fact is a training video called “A Cut Above” that weaves entertainment and sports psychology with practical body-building instruction; its stars are national and world mixed pairs champions Kevin Lawrence and Diana Dennis, considered by many the reigning king and queen of body builders.

The project was the brainchild of Jim Campbell, who co-owns Twin Cam Productions Inc. of Newport Beach with Karen Campbell (no relation), a syndicated sports therapist on cable TV.

Karen Campbell provides psychological commentary in the film, addressing such issues as “desire, motivation, stress, tension, control and personal development--taking responsibility for your own actions, not finding something or someone to blame when things go wrong either in competition or your own life.”

But probably the most salient feature of the project is the entertainment aspect--an original sound track and choreography that uses dancers from the Los Angeles cast of “Cats” in an outer space segment, for instance. (Adria Muldoon is the choreographer.)

The video will enjoy its premiere screening as part of the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon in February, after which it will be available both by mail order through fitness magazines and at regular video outlets.

“Body building today is where figure skating was 15 years ago,” said Jim Campbell Wednesday in KOCE-TV Studio One in Huntington Beach, where the video was being taped. “Right about that time, a guy named Toller Cranston came along and started putting choreography and interpretation into free-style figure skating. Now free style is the most popular and the most spectacular form of figure skating. Music and interpretation are part of the points.

“The same thing is happening to body building. Posing is about 50% of the points in the competitions. It’s becoming more arty, more show biz, more entertaining. So while the film is basically a how-to, a complete three-day workout in a 50-minute film, it also reflects that (arty) trend. We’ve lifted the posing aspect of body building almost to the level of a production number.”

The slight Campbell doesn’t exactly seem the body builder type. “No, my background is video,” he admitted good-naturedly.

On the other hand, Diana Dennis, who lives in Huntington Beach, says she’s been working out for 13 years, training competitively for five; she considers herself “one of the second generation” of women body builders. Dennis is the mother of two sons, 15 and 6.

A former accountant--”but don’t tell anybody that “--Newport Beach resident Kevin Lawrence, 33, has been working out in gyms since he was 12; like Dennis, he’s been training competitively for five years.

Together, the couple train at sports centers in Fullerton, Fountain Valley and Santa Ana.

“When we first met,” recalled Dennis, “we both knew we wanted to do pairs competitions. But we had no idea we would both be artistically inclined, too.

“My background is dance. I’d always wanted to dance pas de deux . I thought it sounded beautiful to put physique and dance together to create something new and really beautiful. We want the public to look at us and say, ‘Oh, we love to watch them perform,’ just as they would a high-caliber ballet.”

Mixed pairs competitions are judged half on physique, half on choreography; in the last two years, the couple have garnered the U.S., American and World Pairs Championships of the International Federation of Body Building.

“Most body builders,” said Lawrence, “their whole focal point is their body. You’ve got these guys who think that body building is power lifting--let’s be macho, let’s do these poses.

“For us, that’s secondary. You got the body, that’s fine. But once it’s there, what do you do with it? For us, the body’s only the beginning, a tool, our makeup.

“Body building should be something sensual, something artistic. It can be that way individually, although more with the women than the men.

“Together it’s a whole new arena.”