Columbus Monthly / May 2012 / Super Students: Anastasia Maria Gordeeva

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Super Students: Anastasia Maria Gordeeva

From Russia to the ballroom

You get 90 seconds. That’s it. An excruciatingly brief slice of time to showcase months of hard work, with 11 other couples snapping, slinking, shimmying and swiveling hips on the same dance floor as you execute your best cha-cha. Switch to the samba and repeat.

The Ohio Star Ball, held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center each November, is recognized as one of the largest ballroom competitions in the world. Anastasia Maria Gordeeva, 19, has competed three times in Latin ballroom—the cha-cha, samba, rumba, paso doble and jive. Although the Reynoldsburg High School senior has yet to win or place, she relishes the experience.

“You grow and learn from competition,” says Gordeeva, who has placed first in smaller contests. “The whole week before, you go through the routines in your head. It’s about muscle memory. The judges just stare with their clipboards. You have to smile, not be tense, not bump into anyone.”

Gordeeva discovered dance relatively late, at 13. Her mom, Olga, says it was all about the dress. “Anastasia saw a red dress I had designed and her eyes got large like saucers,” the professional seamstress and costume designer remembers. Gordeeva’s coach and mentor, four-time U.S. national ballroom champion Bill Sparks, claims it began when she watched a young friend dance at the studio: “Anastasia was a bit tomboyish and thought it was not her thing, but her ability was apparent from the start.”

The 4.0 valedictorian, who moved here from St. Petersburg, Russia, with her mom and brother in 1999, checks in at her high school campus for orchestra practice—she’s a violinist. Then she travels to OSU for macroeconomics, political science and the like; she’s amassed 35 college credit hours.

She also works two jobs. At Panera Bread, she’s behind the counter serving up lattes and smoothies. At the Youth Ballroom Dancesport Academy, where she trains with Sparks, Gordeeva instructs youngsters in the finer points of ballroom dance: rhythm, foot placement and attitude.

“Make sure you get that full range of motion,” she implores. Three small girls and a boy face the mirror, hands on hips, right feet perfectly pointed. The little blonde in the sparkly silver skirt briefly slumps. “Stay tall!” Gordeeva says firmly, then, smiling, continues. “Two, three, four and one, cha-cha-cha!”

Gordeeva readied six pairs, ages 6 to 13, for the Arnold Youth DanceSport Classic, held in early March. “Most got first place!” she exclaims, beaming. “But the preparations were grueling.” At the same time, the three-time Arnold Classic dance competitor and her partner, Duy Phan, were polishing their own routines. For the competition, Gordeeva went heavy on the tanning mousse and slipped into a sizzling black and silver sequined dress designed by her mom.

Her plans to study international business at OSU in the fall have been shelved for a teaching and training opportunity at a large dance studio in Wisconsin. “Going professional opens many doors in dance,” Gordeeva says.

With this job, explains Sparks, “She gains business skills, improves as a teacher and, most importantly, as a competitor.”

He smiles, blue eyes twinkling. “She could be a champion.”