Pay Attention ABC
Angelina Chernova, a 12-year-old Russian immigrant, has steppe-size dreams and some saucy ballroom steps to back them up. Her goal? "Be a champion." Oh, and ABC? She likes the idea of a show called "Dancing With the Kids."
Born and raised in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad), Russia, Angelina started dancing when she was five. She said, "Because my mom told me that it's really pretty. I didn't want it that much but when I came to the ballroom studio...I saw people dancing and I really like it."
"First year I didn't have a partner because my dad thought that I don't need the partner, and I don't need to go in competition first year because I don't know anything--you know, only basic steps. So he didn't want to pay money to dance just a little bit, so he say, 'You can dance second year.'"
At six years old, she entered her first competition and waltzed, quickstepped, cha-cha'd and jived her way to a top three finish in a field of about 30-40 competitors. "First competition, I won third place and I was crying. 'Why did I win third place?' And all the people saying, 'Well, it's so good, because you were in competition and you got in finals. It's so good. Nobody do that.' And I was kind of excited."
In Russia, Angelina was accustomed to dancing two to three hours a day, six days a week. When, at age 11, she landed in Las Vegas, her routine changed abruptly. She found that the ballroom schools here were mostly for adults and the dance studios that do teach kids don't compete. It has made it hard for her to practice, to judge her competency and to compete effectively within her age group.
"When I came here we didn't find any ballroom for kids." Nevertheless, undeterred, she set out to dance. Why should small things like age and height difference slow her down? She said, "I dance with my teacher."
"It's hard because when I came here, first teacher, he danced absolutely not like my teacher in Russia. He danced different way, so he teach me another way. And I would say, 'My teacher in Russia, he didn't say that it's right. He say that it's this way.' He say, 'I'm professional.' And when I came to this teacher, second one, he's teaching me same way as my teacher in Russia. I like him better. He's fun."
He's fun because he teaches her in a manner consistent with the form she's used to, a form she thinks is faster and requires more precision. Her first teacher slowed her down. "When my first teacher, he was dancing jive, my dad was, 'What are you dancing? Are you dancing waltz or jive?' I was like, 'Dad, it's jive.' He's like, 'That's not International jive. It's American jive.'"
Style, however, is not her biggest problem. It's finding a partner her own age so she's not restricted at competitions. With that goal in mind, she's been known to approach the boys in dance classes and try to persuade them to switch to ballroom. Until then, she competes in the "Mixed Ages" groups with her teacher, Tony Delgado. Most recently, she left a competition in Los Angeles with a first-place trophy and with bigger dreams--a kids' version of "Dancing With the Stars."
She's also a pretty good critic of the nuance of movement. She said, "It's really hard to learn to do the hips. I learned this when I was really, really little, so now it's not hard to do. Some people think that if you turn your hips, your butt's going to go away from you. So you have to learn so your butt can be in your body and you have to work your hips. It's the hardest thing to do."
"Well, arms are hard to do, too... because in Latin you just move your arms so it can be pretty but in Standard it's always in set position. It's hard for boys because you have to not hold girls. You have to make a straight line so you can have a pretty position."
And Angelina, confident in her own "pretty position," offered encouragement for novice ballroom dancers. "I would tell them that they can start dancing and it'll be more interesting for them. Just even for fun...They're going to have a pretty body. They can be straight up."
So even though Angelina worries about a partner her own age, she's already won awards dancing with her teacher and she's got an "in," having met Tony Dovolani, her idol from "Dancing With the Stars." Maybe she should stick with adults; they've brought her luck thus far. What do you think, ABC--a spin-off that pairs kids with professionals?