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by Patricia Hagen photos by Lesle Tomlin
Shall we dance? The answer is a resounding yes. People are pairing up to tackle the tango, count the quickstep and jump into jive. Just about every night of the week there's a party or a class - and sometimes both - at Starlite Ballroom and Dance School on the northwest side of Indianapolis. Continental Dance Club, which invites the public to dance to live music every Sunday night, crowds Starlite's floor with more than 100 dancers, about a 20 percent increase in the past few years. "This is the highest it's been in a long, long time," past president Bill Culley says. Indianapolis is part of a national ballroom boom. USA Dance boasts 22,000 members, a 650 percent increase since 1990. About 79 percent are recreational dancers and 21 percent are competitive dance athletes. "Everybody's talking about it," says Angela Prince of USA Dance. "It crosses all ethnic barriers. It crosses all age barriers." Dancers have been inspired by a wave of television shows, including ABC's top-rated Dancing With The Stars and PBS' America's Ballroom Challenge and movies like Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas. Even Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves is getting in on the act, having competed in the most recent season of Dancing with the Stars, where nondancing celebrities learn routines and compete with professional partners. Since 2005, Dancing With The Stars has helped to change the image of ballroom dancing, says Roger Greenawalt, who met his wife and dance partner Amy 25 years ago when they were the only two singles in a ballroom-for-beginners class. Instead of being perceived as a stodgy activity for old people, ballroom dancing is now seen as sophisticated and athletic. "Suddenly, people who knew absolutely nothing about ballroom" are critiquing footwork and costumes in debates at work, Greenawalt says. Among those leading the way on the dance floor are pro Kristiina Ilo, Kyle Brown and Lori Jones. The Indianapolis women share their stories on how they picked up their passion for moving across the dance floor.
Dance champion Kristiina Ilo takes the lead at Starlite Ballroom
Stylist Camas Brandt folds over a blond lock of hair so that it becomes part of an airy bun at the back of champion ballroom dancer Kristiina Ilo's head. Makeup artist Krista Mitchell dips a brush into a smear of dramatic red on the back of her hand, applying it to Kristiina's lips. The hour-long ritual in preparation for a photo shoot is one that Kristiina has undergone hundreds of times before. But almost always, she has been her own hairdresser and makeup artist, simplifying the process with false hairpieces. "Wow, that looks really good," Kristiina smiles, admiring her reflection in the mirrors of the small studio-turned-salon at the Starlite Ballroom on the West side. Kristiina exchanges the low-rise jeans, black sweater and beige slip-ons for a black-tiered spaghetti-strap gown, a chiffon scarf trailing down her back and a pair of sparkly black and silver shoes. She's ready for her close-up.
Top Soviet Competitors Vernon and Irene Castle. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Rauno and Kristiina Ilo. OK, maybe the last two aren't exactly household names, but these Soviet-trained competitive dancers have made a huge impact on the ballroom dance scene in Indianapolis since their arrival in the mid-1990s. Talk about a successful partnership: Twelve times they won the Estonian standard, Latin and 10-dance championships, which means they excelled in all the dance styles from cha-cha to waltz. Twice they won the all-Soviet Union 10-dance title. They represented the former Soviet Union in European and world championships, where they were finalists in the 10-dance competition. An only child born in Tartu, Estonia, Kristiina was raised in the capital Tallinn. Reluctant to share much about her parents - possibly a holdover as a child raised behind the Iron Curtain - what she will say is that they, too, danced ballroom competitively before she was born. They wanted the same for their daughter. "In whole Europe, the kids dancing was very big," she says. But it wasn't high on Kristiina's list of things she wanted to do at age 14. "The first two or three months, I didn't like it at all. At the beginning, for a teenager, it's kind of awkward to stand with a guy and try to dance." But after a couple of months, dancing grew on Kristiina. "It did come pretty easy to me," she admits. Because she was slender, musical and learned steps quickly, Kristiina was one of the 20 students out of 200 asked to join a competitive group. As a member of a theater group, Kristiina also was discovered at age 18 by a television director. She appeared in several commercials for products, including chocolate and apples, in her native Estonia. "They said they pay you for that, and it sounded kind of exciting," she says.
Love On The Dance Floor The romance of ballroom dance also spilled into her private life a couple of years later when Kristiina took a liking to Rauno Ilo, another student in the ballroom dance group. "We started going out together. Then we thought, well, maybe we should start to dance together," Kristiina says. Kristiina was 17 and Rauno was 19 when they became dance partners. "I think we were a good match, a very good match," she says. Within a few months, they won their first competition together. Two years later, in 1985, they married. Life in the Soviet Union was good for the couple, Kristiina says. As ballroom dancers, they were members of a privileged class. They were allowed to travel, and all their expenses were paid by the government. "Being young and traveling a lot, we didn't really see the bad side," she admits. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the Ilos moved to Baltimore, where they were invited to teach in a dance school. Living and working in the United States was "very difficult" the first few months, Kristiina says. "You're missing your own home and your own friends." The intent initially was to return to Estonia one day, Kristiina says. But life there became more challenging as the Russian government limited the availability of gasoline and sugar to punish the former state for seeking independence.
Strictly Ballroom Rauno Ilo escorts his wife to the mirrors in Starlite Ballroom. He carefully guides her through a series of poses - a deep back bend, a forward extension - trying to determine which ones will provide the best still photographs. The Ilos are perfectionists. They have to be. Ballroom dance is about image and illusion. Even the romance of ballroom dancing, as many women imagine it, is an illusion, Kristiina says with a laugh. Rauno agrees. In many ways, he says, the Ilos are opposites. "We never got along," he says, adding that they were typical of top competitive couples, who "fight like dogs and cats all the time." But the Ilos learned the key to domestic harmony early on: If they disagreed about dancing, "we never took it outside the studio," Rauno says. Gradually the Ilos made friends and continued their busy teaching and competitive careers as amateurs and then professionals from Washington, D.C. Over the years, Rauno says, the studio where they taught became too crowded, making it difficult to find room to teach or practice. "We wanted to open our own school in Washington, D.C., but it's very expensive there," Kristiina says. Then they heard about the Starlite Ballroom in Indianapolis. This was in the late 1990s, and Starlite's "fantastic" dance floor was empty much of the time. "We didn't know if we could build it up," Kristiina says. But they did, very quickly, once word spread about their credentials. Competitive dancers traveled from Chicago, Cleveland and other cities to receive training from the Ilos. "They've been a magnet for really good dancers in the Midwest," says Bill Culley, a recent president of the Continental Dance Club, which meets on Sunday nights at Starlite. Roger and Amy Greenawalt, who are national champions in the 45-and-older age group, say the Ilos have a reputation of being exacting technicians. "They have so much knowledge to convey," Amy says. "They'll whip you into shape." Kyle Brown of Westfield, who has been taking lessons with Rauno Ilo at Starlite for about 18 months, has worked with Kristiina to learn the feminine and elegant characteristics of the dances. "She has incredible talent," Brown says. "She can see what is wrong and how to fix it. She has a great eye." At 42, Kristiina no longer competes, concentrating instead on teaching group and private lessons, judging competitions and operating the Starlite, which she and Rauno bought in 2006. In addition to the Ilos, five instructors coach students, from beginners in group lessons to competitors training for national titles. Rauno continues to compete in pro-am events, partnering his female students. The Ilos completed a five-year process of teaching and undergoing exams to become certified for judging at every level of dance. And because of their top competitive credentials, both Ilos earned certification as world-class judges.
On The Home Front Along the way, the Ilos also became parents to Kathleen, a student at Indiana University, and 5-year-old Marcus. The Carmel residents try to instill a little bit of their culture in their children by speaking some Russian and Estonian at home. Kristiina says she's impressed by the number of young people participating in ballroom. "It's really picking up," she says. Their daughter is part of the trend, entering pro-am competitions with her father and competing with an amateur partner on the IU dance team. Kathleen had danced as a small child, but didn't want to participate during most of her teens. The IU sophomore says she had the typical kid attitude: "I didn't want to do what they were making me do." Last summer, she changed her mind and took a lesson from her father every day. "I got really hard-core back into it," says Kathleen, who recently won a U.S. championship at the bronze and silver levels. Now, she says, she appreciates having a mother who is a world-class dancer and judge. "She always throws in her little comments," Kathleen says. "She tells me, 'make sure you're smiling,' and do this and do that ... It's really nice." W Hagen has been writing about Indianapolis people and trends for 25 years. When she's not writing, she's teaching ice dancers and other figure skaters.
Kyle Brown mingles motherhood with mambo Kyle Brown slips on a pair of stilettos, squeezes into tight jeans and slides into a off-the-shoulder top, strutting like Sandra Dee in the musical Grease. Dancing a Latin medley that includes jive, samba and rhumba for a showcase at Starlite Ballroom, the 48-year-old skips and kicks, dips daringly and flaunts her funky '50s footwork. This is the same Kyle Brown who avoided dancing most of her life because she felt too shy to try. "I never touched a dance floor," she says. "I would watch from the sidelines." Somehow, two years ago, a friend convinced her to give ballroom dancing a try. "I wanted to do something active. I wanted to do something for me," says Brown, a mother of eight who had recently divorced. "I fell in love with it." After taking lessons at a franchise dance school, Brown wanted more detailed instruction. She turned to Rauno Ilo, owner of Starlite Ballroom. Soon, she started competing, dancing with her instructor in pro-am events. Brown already has won eight national titles in three styles - Latin, smooth and standard - in age-group events at the bronze and silver levels. "When you tango, when you waltz, you get to express those emotions in your life," says Brown, who recently moved from Zionsville to Westfield. She likes the complex combination of athleticism, artistry and emotion in the dances. "You have to understand your own body, your own movement, so you can become one on the dance floor. It's so thrilling to discover," Brown says. Ilo says Brown has the rare combination of physical ability, time and money to compete successfully in dance, which requires travel and expensive costumes at the national level. She also has the "right look" on the dance floor and is very determined, he adds. Ballroom lessons are part of their daily lives now, says Brown, who home schools several of her daughters. While one takes a dance lesson, the others practice or do school work. Camille, 16, and Angelique, 11, also compete in dance events, and Katherine, 9, has started taking lessons. In the past year and a half, the Browns have traveled to Texas, California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and North Carolina for competitions and educational sightseeing. It's "great fun," Brown says. "You get to wear the costumes. You get to meet a lot of great people. You get to see the best of the best dance. That's always great inspiration."
The Next Step Many dance studios offer group and private lessons and practice "parties." Dance clubs meet in various locations around town and welcome new members, including singles, couples and complete beginners. The Heartland chapter of USA Dance and Continental offers lessons and dance parties to practice traditional smooth and Latin dances; you'll see people doing both International and American styles. The Indy Dancers do ballroom and night club dances. Then, there are specialty clubs for aficionados of salsa, Argentine Tango, West Coast swing and other social dances. Here are a few dance studios and clubs in the Indianapolis area: > Starlite Ballroom & Dance School - Offers group and private lessons and other dance events. Call (317) 299-4740 or log on www.starlitedanceindy.com. > Continental Dance Club - Offers Sunday night dances and other events. Call (317) 767-4040 or log on www.continentaldanceclub-indy.com. > Indy Dancers - Offers a variety of dance events. Call (317) 767-5665 or log on www.indydancers.com. > Heartland Chapter - The central Indiana chapter of USA Dance offers lessons and dance parties. Log on www.indyusabda.org. > Fred Astaire Dance School - Offers private and group lessons. Call (317) 291-6500 or log on www.indyballroom.com.
Former ballerina Lori Jones gets into the swing Lori Jones mastered the triple step-triple step-rock step pattern of the new swing dance choreographed to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" then looked at Jonah Schneider, her instructor at the Fred Astaire Dance School. What new trick, she wondered, had he cooked up for the ending? "He dropped me down, and I did a split," the 42-year-old dance student says. "I was surprised I could still do that. I was, like, yeah!" The past two years have been full of fun accomplishments, like finding her long-lost splits and learning to move in strappy sandals with three-inch heels, says the director of information technology at Bridgestone Firestone Diversified Products. Jones was new to Indianapolis - transferred by her company from her native Nashville, Tenn. - and looking for some new activities when she decided to give ballroom a try in 2005. "Dancing With The Stars came on, and it inspired me to seek out a studio. I was missing dancing anyway because I'd been away from it for a while," she says. She grew up in ballet and other dance classes and had even owned a children's dance studio in her hometown. The Carmel resident, who is single, says she enjoyed ballroom from the first lesson but had to reprogram her ballet-trained mind and body. The balance and footwork is different in the two types of dance, she says. Then there's the problem of partnering. When dancing solo, you know what to expect, Jones explains. "You know your routine; you know exactly what comes next. When you're partnering, you have to follow," she says. "It's been very different to not know exactly what I'm supposed to do and have to depend and wait on someone to give me directions." Jones, who also plays tennis and golf, is impressed by the workout she gets from ballroom. "I think of it as cardio. It's basically two hours of interval training," she says. Planning to dance for many more years, Jones has set some goals. She wants to pass the bronze level and graduate to silver, which will require her to demonstrate steps, or figures, in front of a judge. And, after she completes her master's degree in business administration in May, she might train for regional competitions.She also wants to get stronger, adding three weekly strength-training sessions to her busy schedule. "It helps with balance and speed," she says. "Ballroom dancers move so quickly."
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