Business Profile: Arthur Murray Dance Studio, Mount Kisco
The popularity of the television show “Dancing with the Stars” has made ballroom dancing more appealing and accessible. The varied dance styles and seeing how they can be applied to modern music has made people flock to local studios.
One place to learn is Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Mount Kisco. The studio, operated by champion dance partners Yuliya Zubava and Andrei Svirydzenka, helps people to learn how to dance through private and group lessons. Students understand dancing is truly a team sport.
“People may initially come because they need to learn to dance for a wedding or because they saw something interesting on television, but they stay with it because they realize that they get so much more out of it,” Zubava said.
It’s not only more fun to dance than going to the gym, but there are plenty of health benefits as well. The mental and emotional rewards are personally fulfilling, even life-changing.
Dancers gain self-confidence and learn to relax. Through group lessons and practice parties, participants become more at ease, allowing them to shed their shyness and get more fun and enjoyment out of their social life.
By attending group activities, which include dance showcases and competitions, the students form bonds with other dancers and create lasting friendships and relationships. Many couples also admit that dancing has rekindled their romance.
Lillian Melchner of Mahopac initially started taking lessons because she participated in a charity dance contest. She fell in love with dancing, and a year after she won the Hillside Food Outreach’s “Dancing With Our Stars” competition, she continues to take lessons regularly. Her husband, Charlie, now joins her.
“It truly is the very best hobby I could have imagined and my husband even enjoys taking lessons with me, Melchner said. “We love Andrei and Yuliya, and our instructor, David [Dowding], and have met and become friends with so many wonderful people. The atmosphere that has been created at the studio is contagious; the students just want to have fun and dance.”
Zubava and Svirydzenka have gained international acclaim in dance competitions around the globe for two decades. The two began their dancing careers in Minsk, Belarus, where they met as child dance students. With separate partners from 1992 through 1996, they were junior, youth and amateur Belorussian champions in the categories of Standard, Latin and 10-dance, and represented Belarus in European and world championships.
They have been competing as a duo since 1998 and have racked up top 10 finishes in International Dance Sport Federation (IDSF) competitions in Eastern Europe. Their second-place finish in the IDSF Open Championship in Belarus won them the honor of representing the country in the IDSF World Amateur Latin Championships, which brought the couple to the United States to compete in Miami in September 2000.
The talent and skill that Zubava and Svirydzenka bring to the dance floor they were sought out as instructors. The pair has affiliated with Arthur Murray for the past decade and have been managing the Mount Kisco location since it opened on Sept. 19, 2009.
Zubava and Svirydzenka continue to compete professionally, often with their students cheering them on.
Giving back to the community is important to the couple. They have donated thousands of dollars worth of gift certificates to organizations that have requested raffle or auction items. They have also donated their own time and talents, providing free training and have partnered with novice dancers to compete in “Dancing With the Stars” type competitions for organizations such as Hillside Food Outreach.
“They understand that the money raised from the Dancing With Our Stars competition goes to feeding the people in our program,” said Hillside Food Outreach Executive Director Kathy Purdy. “We are so grateful that they volunteer every year.”
Arthur Murray Dance Studio is located at 175 Main Street in Mount Kisco. For more information, call 914-864-0710 or visit www.arthurmurraymtkisco.com or www.dancelessonsmtkisco.com.
Editor’s note: Faith Ann Butcher is competing in the Hillside Food Outreach’s Dancing with Our Stars competition. Her partner is Andrei Svirdzenka.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
