About the Authors

Robert Abrams

I started ballroom dancing in middle school. I had no choice. My parents thought it was an important social skill, not realizing that no one my age did this stuff at the time. I did learn a sense of rhythm, and some basic conception of dance patterns. This proved extremely valuable when I started dancing with the Swinging Slugs as a staff member at UC-Santa Cruz. Slowly my obsession deepened to the point where I started taking private lessons. For a while my hands would start to shake if I didn't go out dancing two or three times a week. I think I have my addiction under control now.

My graduate training, at Cornell under the direction of Dr. Joseph Novak, was based in science education. I am always on the lookout for fresh theoretical territory, and so I started trying to connect Dr. Novak's ideas about learning theory to the area of dance.

I have studied with several teachers in California, including Rebecca Weinfeld, Rebecca McMurdie, Lynne Caryl, Robin Horn, Magda Mendez, and Katie Lake. Steve Hughes has provided assistance as a coach and a choreographer. I currently study with Michelle Officer.

Mila Gorokhovich

I was born in the coastal city of Odessa, Ukraine on the 8th of May 1984. In search for better opportunities, my family immigrated to the United States in 1989. The immigration process had us stay in Austria and Italy over a period of six months. I began kindergarten in Queens, New York City, where we lived for a few years until we moved to Westchester, due to my father's work. Since I was five, I have been a very serious piano player and have entered a few competitions. I won first place in the Queens College Piano Competition (at age 12) and Honorable Mention awards (at age 11 and 13).

In fourth grade, my mother made me attend weekly ballet classes to get rid of my hunchback. Although I protested at first, I grew to love ballet and eventually, I took daily classes in Westchester from dancers who performed with the New York City Ballet as well as in Manhattan from Yehuda Maor. Yehuda Maor agreed to train me to be ready to audition for the Royal Ballet School (in England), which became my ultimate goal.

I worked very hard to achieve this goal, including participating in a work-study program to help pay for my classes, arranging to leave school early to be able to take up to two classes a day and attending intensive summer programs with the help of scholarships from my high school. At sixteen, I auditioned for the Royal Ballet School, but I did not make it.

At the same time, I always enjoyed writing and composing poems. In 9th grade, I entered a poetry competition created by the National Library of Poetry. As a result, my poem was published in a book entitled "Skyfall of Diamonds" that is currently located in the Library of Congress.

Currently, I am a junior at Valhalla High School in Valhalla, Westchester County. This past year, I have made the decision not to pursue ballet as a career, but to concentrate more on college and prepare myself for this new life that most of my peers have always considered, as opposed to me. It was a difficult decision, but, from experience and other reasons, I realized that with my physical attributes, the odds of me becoming a soloist or a principal with such a company as the Royal Ballet is unlikely. I told myself that I would either achieve my goal or not pursue dance professionally. Because I proved to myself that I could not get to that goal, I decided to explore my other ambitions.

One of my aspirations is and always was, to travel and explore the world and its people. I think that if I had remained attempting to be a professional dancer, I would not get to the high level of being in a world-class company and I would be limited in how I could explore the world. Thus, I do not regret the decision I made. I was fortunate enough to travel to England, Spain, Sweden, the Virgin Islands, as well as most of the east coast of Canada. To broaden my views towards future possibilities in the international career field and to come in contact with people from all over the world, I volunteered at the United Nations. I hope to pursue a profession in international studies or business.

This coming year I am secretary of the Valhalla International Fund (an organization that allows students to travel abroad) and I enjoy participating on the volleyball team, writing for the school newspaper and performing on the piano.

Although, I am dancing now as a hobby (from Maralyn Miles and Yehuda Maor), I am glad to have the opportunity to combine my love towards dance with writing for this website.

Karen Kao

Karen is a swimmer, a therapist, and a dancer.

Rachel Levin

Rachel is a recent graduate of Stanford University, and currently dances in Los Angeles, California.

Lynne Lubash

Lynne works for a progressive company that offers its employees free dance instruction.

Yvonne Marceau

Pierre Dulaine and Yvonne Marceau began dancing together in 1974 and soon won the British Exhibition Championships four times. After extensive teaching, performing and coaching around they world, Pierre opened a dancing school in New Jersey. This prompted the founding of a dance company, American Ballroom Theater which brought ballroom dancing to the concert stage. Operating as any ballet or modern dance company, ABrT performed in London, Berlklin, Lyons and throughout America. During this period, Pierre and Yvonne were spotted by Tommy Tune and asked to join the workshop for the Broadway bound show Grand Hotel. After nearly 3 years on Broadway, they went on to open the show in London. Retirement from performing followed Grand Hotel, but they are both active teaching at such prestigious schools as The Juilliard School, the School of American Ballet, and the Actor's Studio. ABrt has developed an outreach program which teaches ballroom dancing to public school children in NYC and is currently in 26 schools city wide. Pierre has just opened a dancing school in NYC.

Awards include: Dance Magazine Award for Lifetime Achievement and Astaire Award for Best Dancing on Broadway.

Television appearances: Live with Regis and Kathi Lee, The Kennedy Center Honors (1992 for Ginger Rogers), A Tribute to Fred Astaire.

"The essence of ballroom dancing is fantasy and these two offer whole worlds in a swoon, a spin and a backbend. Their spectacular lifts are seamless. If Grand Hotel can be distilled into a single image, surely it is Marceau and Dulaine - gorgeous and perpetually dancing."------NEWSWEEK

Kalay Mordock

I began dancing at the age of 4 when my mother enrolled my restless spirit in ballet. Since that time, I have explored jazz, modern, Japanese, African, Latin, Carribbean, Haitain, swing and ballroom. I have studied primarily in New York City under wonderful teachers such as Jonathon Wolken (Pilobolus), Lynn Simonson, David Storey, Katiti King, Laurie DeVito, Djoniba Moufflet, Pat Hall, Youssouf Koumbassa, Lynn Barr and Gabrielle Roth at studios such as The Dance Space and Djoniba's Dance and Drum. Currently, I am teaching African and African based dance, and choreographing for children's theater up in Ithaca, NY.

Rodolfo A. Windhausen

Rodolfo A. Windhausen has participated in the tango scene for more than forty years. Born in Argentina to a family that loved tango, he was also a jazz and arts critic for Argentine newspapers before moving to the US in 1978. His father, while in Germany in 1930, arranged the premiere of Enrique Santos Discépolo's famous tango, "Yira Yira," first performed in Berlin by Juan Llosas' Orchestra. Rodolfo is a journalist by trade, and writes for El Once Tango News of London, ReporTango, NY, El Tangauta, Buenos Aires, as well as for United Press International (UPI) and several Latin American publications. Rodolfo, who is also a connoiseur of Cuban music, has translated tango CD liner notes for Milan Entertainment, has interviewed many famous tango performers and musicians. He has translated opera CDs and writes regularly for andante, a classical music website of New York-London-Paris. (You can read his other articles at http://www.andante.com)

Roberta Zlokower

Roberta, a native Bostonian and former School Administrator, is currently a Consultant in Education, the Arts, and Financial Development. She's also an active alumna of Skidmore, Bank Street College, and Columbia, where she received an Ed.D. in Curriculum. Roberta is also an alternate to the Executive Board of a West Side Political Club. Roberta dances, on an advanced level, Salsa, Argentine Tango, Swing, and to some degree, most Ballroom Dances. She has been a DanceSport Studio student for the past five years and studies Argentine Tango privately with Carlos DeChey. She also has taken private Tango lessons with Pablo Veron and private Samba with Charles Porto. She enjoys the Tango Milongas at Reba and Trey's SPICE, Danel and Maria's Bailemos Tango (for whom she is Contributing Editor and Photographer for Tango Times), Carlos and Pamela's El Recodo, DanceSport's Salsa parties, Midsummer Night Swing, and is often seen at La Belle Epoque and La Nacional. Roberta dedicates all her articles to her fantastic and lovable dance partners.

Persephone

Persephone lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Persephone joined Michael, the "Shag Daddy", in 1997 and together they travel across the western United States teaching and performing Lindy Hop, East Coast Swing, Balboa, and St. Louis Shag. Persephone is filled with the spirit of dance. She is known to have exclaimed "Gotta Dance!" upon being asked to dance.

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