Snohomish County entertainment
Dance gets a sporting chance

By Diane Wright
Times Snohomish County bureau

JOHN LOK / THE SEATTLE TIMES With a swirling skirt and stylish steps, a couple practice their moves at the Dorothy Jayne Studio in Everett. The studio, which is run by former ballroom-dancing champion Olga Foraponova, will host a series of public performances Friday and Saturday.

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The boys furled their red-lined capes to the matador pomp of a pasodoble, a Spanish dance that tells the story of a bullfighter in the ring. The girls approached from behind to gracefully take the capes away for their own turn on the floor.

It was opening week in Everett at the Dorothy Jayne Studio, celebrating a centuries-old tradition — ballroom dance.

The studio opened yesterday with a series of public performances that will continue at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the studio, 2931 Bond St.

Led by master of ceremonies Stanislav Popov, the president of the Russian Professional Dance Union, the programs include exhibition dances by international dancers such as 13-time Russian dance champion Alexander Melnikov, as well as special choreographed presentations and dance instruction. This week also features a daily dance camp of classes for adults and children.

Ballroom dance has moved beyond the genteel push-pull of "he leads, she follows." It has morphed into a dynamic, highly athletic and competitive art form with a name to match: DanceSport.

Dancers are judged on presence — their demeanor, the way they're dressed — and on posture, form, footwork and musicality.

Ballroom dance The Dorothy Jayne Studio will present Olga Foraponova and David Hamilton in an American-style ballroom-dance performance at 8 p.m. Friday, and Eva Lucero and Patricio Touceda in an Argentine tango show at 8 p.m. Saturday, at 2931 Bond St., Everett. The New Stars DanceSport Dance Camp features daily classes for adults and children in jazz, rumba, samba, cha- cha, swing, tango, salsa, foxtrot, waltz and other dances through Saturday. Individual classes range from $10 to $18; the ballroom dance show is $25, or $50 with dinner. Information: www.newstars.org, 425-257-0102 or 425-750- 4313.

"Different dancers use different muscles, and in order to get proper movement, you have to use those muscles," said Peggy Stevenson, a former competitive ballroom dancer from Everett and former administrator of the New Stars DanceSport Club.

"In a champion competition, the aerobic activity demanded of those dancers is like a bicycle race," she said. "It's an art form as well as an athletic form."

With 78 member federations on five continents, DanceSport has been recognized by the International Olympic Committee but has yet to achieve medal-sport status. Membership in such groups as the U.S. Amateur Ballroom Dance Association has been growing, helped by such films as the 1992 "Strictly Ballroom" and the televising of "Championship Ballroom Dancing" on Public Broadcasting Service stations.

Olga Foraponova, the director of the studio, is a two-time U.S. national professional American-style ballroom champion, winning the U.S. DanceSport Championships in Miami in 1997 and '98 in the "American smooth" category.

	JOHN LOK / THE SEATTLE TIMES Dasha Zmazneva, right, is spun by her partner, Boris Zorin, at the Dorothy Jayne Studio in Everett. The two 14-year-olds from Russia are attending a dance camp at the studio.

She and her dance partner, David Hamilton, retired from competitive dancing in 1998. Now teaching high-ranking amateurs, coaching professionals and judging competitions around the world, she also runs the New Stars DanceSport Club for dancers 4 to 21. With a large student base in Seattle and the Eastside, she has had a long-standing dream of having her own ballroom in Everett.

She and her husband, Dr. Sanford Wright Jr., renovated a warehouse, transforming it into a ballroom theater and studio, with a 40-by-60-foot maple floor.

There are spotlights, microphones and a projection system capable of streaming video into Web sites for distance learning and competitions.

The studio is named after Wright's mother, Dorothy, who taught dance from Wenatchee to Everett from the 1920s to the 1960s.

New Stars member Connor Zion, 12, participated with the group in the 2003 Junior Olympic Games (DanceSport is a medal event in the Junior Olympics), bringing home two gold medals with his dance partner, Erika Bykov, 11. The New Stars also earned the team gold medal.

"Dance gives such an incredible base that he seems to excel in other sports as well because of it," said Connor's mother, Kym Zion.

"For us, it was a discipline, a way to express ourselves," said Andre Yeremin, a champion who started at age 5 and came to the United States in 1996, the year he graduated from high school.

"At the age of 14, 15 and 16, when we were representing Russia, for us, going somewhere to Italy, to Germany, it became more than art — it's a sport, a competition, where there is no time to do drugs, smoke or drink."

Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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