Ballroom Dancers Seek Next Big Step

A few years ago, Kathryn Vaughn was a bored bookkeeper searching for a hobby to liven up her life. “It was so dull,” recalled Vaughn, who was then living in Colorado. “All I did was eat and sit around with my family.”

She took a few country-and-western dance lessons. But then her teacher introduced her to ballroom dancing. The romantic music, stylish moves and elegant costumes proved intoxicating. Vaughn realized she’d discovered not an after-work hobby but a new life.

Vaughn, now 25, began seriously training. By 1996, she’d acquired enough skills to teach ballroom dancing (also known as DanceSport). One of her students was a handsome pastry chef named Christian Clayton, now 31, who had competed in the U.S. Culinary Olympics.

Love bloomed between the two, and they made plans to become professional competitors. Last year, they entered about 25 competitions together, making it to the quarterfinals in some events.

They moved to Southern California, home to some of the nation’s best ballroom-dancing instructors. And they began training with a five-time “international-style” U.S. champion, Heather Smith-Veyrasset, and three-time “American smooth” U.S. champion David Hamilton.

The Santa Ana couple’s work and training schedules are grueling. They practice three to four hours a day, train with their Los Angeles coaches eight times a week, teach dance six to nine hours a day at the Londance Studio in Santa Ana and travel to as many as four competitions a month. To earn extra income, they occasionally perform at benefits.

Virtually all their income is funneled back into their dancing, Vaughn said.

Their training fees are more than $900 each month and, Vaughn said, may soon double as they increase their lessons to improve their skills. Competition expenses--air fare, hotel accommodations and entry fees, set against lost income from missed days at work--are prohibitive. Then there’s costuming: Vaughn’s ballroom gowns cost $1,800 to $3,000; Clayton’s specially made tail coats are about $1,500.

Add to this an incredibly difficult road ahead. Though most professional couples eventually specialize in either American smooth or international-style ballroom dancing, Vaughn and Clayton have chosen to study both so they can compete domestically and abroad.

By learning international-style ballroom dancing, in which partners face one another throughout the dance and never break their embrace, Vaughn and Clayton will be able to enter competitions throughout Europe, where the style is favored.

But by studying American smooth style, a “Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers” type of dancing that permits the partners to separate--considered by some to have more “television appeal”--Vaughn and Clayton not only will be able to compete domestically, but they may pick up more exhibition work.

Smith-Veyrasset encouraged the duo to enter more East Coast competitions, despite the expense, so judges there would become familiar with them.

The most important ballroom dancing competition in the United States, the U.S. DanceSport Championships, is held each September in Miami.

At that event, the two top couples qualify to represent the U.S. in the World Professional DanceSport Championships, said Robert Tang, a Toronto-based professional ballroom dancer and chief executive of DanceScape Corp. (https://www.dancescape.com).

Competition is keener overseas, particularly in Britain, where many champion dancers have been training since they were 6 or 7 years old. The “Wimbledon” of ballroom championships is the Blackpool/British Open Championships, held in Blackpool, England, each May. Winners of this legendary competition gain instant international recognition. But no American couple has ever won it, Tang said.

Other important European competitions that Vaughn and Clayton may wish to eventually enter include the UK Open Dance Championships in Bournemouth, England; the Elsa Wells International in London; the German Open; and the Italian Open, said Eva Allen, creative director of DanceSport UK (https://www.dancesport.uk.com).

Judges will evaluate Vaughn and Clayton on their floor craft (ability to strategically move along the dance floor among other couples), footwork, technique, precision, musicality and ability to dance as one.

“It’s harder than it sounds,” Allen said.

Charisma is also important. “Some couples, when they walk on, have the ability to make you look at them even before they dance,” Tang said.

But what appear to be elegant, gentle gatherings of couples performing to music are just as much battles as dances. To gain judges’ attention, which they may have for only 15 or 20 seconds, couples might craftily maneuver close to them, launching into their best figures once they have established eye contact, noted John Lawrence Reynolds, author of “Ballroom Dancing: The Romance, Rhythm and Style” (Laurel Glen, 1998).

“More than one judge has had to physically step backward to prevent a collision with an overly enthusiastic couple who insisted on sweeping so close they appear to be inviting the judge to share the next figure with them,” Reynolds wrote.

In recent years, some couples have stooped to what competitors call “dirty dancing”: committing reckless or aggressive moves intended to throw off competitors. Others engage in “shadowing,” attempting to intimidate rivals by dancing close behind or in front of them.

The most skilled couples, however, when confronted with such antics, make imperceptible changes in their choreography to avoid collisions, while feigning unawareness of the offenders. As they dance on, they’re expected to continue to register expressions of unbridled joy.

Smith-Veyrasset implored Vaughn and Clayton to be respectful of other couples throughout their dance career. And during a competition, if they become disturbed by another couple’s actions, they should not show it.

Additionally, Smith-Veyrasset warned them that, in tough times, they may become frustrated with one another. Spats between partners are common and can occur for many reasons. “It can be: ‘you’re heavy,’ ‘you’re pulling me,’ ‘your right hand’s too tight,’ ‘stay in your own space,’ ‘you’re not moving with energy,’ and ‘stop leading!’ ” Smith-Veyrasset said.

“I’ve seen girls take off their rings and toss them,” she said, adding that, like Vaughn and Clayton, a high percentage of ballroom dance partners are in relationships. “I think marriage is easier.”

“If you have a total disagreement, take it to the coach,” she said. “Know that it’s a sport, and keep it a sport. Enjoy each other, and don’t take it home.”

Both Vaughn and Clayton concede that their chosen career is a very difficult, unusual and expensive one. Some professional dancers end up anteing $15,000 to $20,000 annually for expenses.

But Vaughn and Clayton say they’ll persist, despite the costs. They believe they can be world-class champions and are determined to succeed.

The couple is aware that even top ballroom champions can’t subsist exclusively on prize money. Most stay afloat by teaching (earning up to $150 an hour), performing in exhibitions and enlisting corporate sponsors to offset expenses.

Attracting sponsors is the couple’s next goal.

“We’re like struggling actors,” Vaughn said. “It’s so hard to afford on our salaries.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

This Week’s Career Make-Over

Name: Christian Clayton and Kathryn Vaughn

Occupation: Professional ballroom dancers, dance instructors

Desired occupation: World-class ballroom dancers

Quotes: “Winning a national championship is our No. 1 goal.” --Kathryn Vaughn

“What I like most about [DanceSport] is the blend of artistic expression and competition.” --Christian Clayton

Meet the Coach

Heather Smith-Veyrasset is a five-time U.S. International-Style ballroom dance champion. With her husband, 10-time U.S. ballroom dance champion Victor Veyrasset, she also has won the North American Championship twice, the Ohio Star Ball Championship five times, and the Asian Pacific Championship once. Smith-Veyrasset is based in Rancho Palos Verdes.