Dressed to the nines in our best cocktail attire, my co-worker and I headed over to Dance With Me studio in Ridgefield. The studio is one of a handful owned in the tri-state area by DWTS pro-dancers Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Tony Dovolani, along with a few other partners.
The holiday party made for a fun, interactive and casual evening where guests—including students and members of the studio, and non-members as well—were encouraged to sip wine, sample hors d’oeuvres and head onto the dance floor for ballroom dancing with some of the best, including Maks, his brother Val Chmerkovskiy, Tony, and number of the dancers from the show’s troupe.
Though I never made the journey onto the floor—everyone seemed to be a bit more skilled than this dance-terribly-alone-in-her-room girl—it was impressive to see men and women of all ages gliding and maneuvering effortlessly on the floor. Some, with Maks and Tony.
“The point of this event is to say, ‘We are here. We’ve always been here,’” Maks said. Though Maks, Val, and Tony are all resident coaches at the studio, their busy schedules don’t allow them to be at the studios all the time. That’s where the staff comes in.
“We can’t clone ourselves but we can certainly train people to do what we do,” Tony said. “We were lucky enough to find a lot of people who share the same passion for teaching.”
And there’s certainly a lot to be taught at Dance With Me. Patrons can partake in private or group lessons, choreography services and fitness classes. “We have a lot of different programs, but generally the point is the same,” Maks says. “We just want everybody dancing.”
Who knows, with the New Year to be celebrated, and resolutions to be made, maybe the urge to dance will even blossom in wallflowers like me.