by Jacquelyn Thayer
The ballroom has served as the better part of life’s stage for Latin professional Ilya Ifraimov.
Ifraimov entered the ballroom world as a teenager in Russia, tackling first the formation team discipline before transitioning into individual competition, a move that prompted a relocation to Israel in 1995 at the age of 18 to further develop a career that took him across the world to compete. In 1999, an invitation to instruct at Princeton’s Fred Astaire Dance Studio would set him on a new path as Nadia Goulina, an 18-year-old instructor who brought her own credentials as a junior champion for Russia, offered a partner match–despite one key difference in their ballroom foundations.
“For her it was a switch going from Standard to Latin,” he said, “but she was young, ambitious and talented, so it was not a problem for her.”
Ifraimov and Goulina perform the Paso Doble in 2011
Like many professionals, the duo balanced their teaching efforts with a rising career in the Latin division, achieving the finals at major competitions including Blackpool. The field, though, was crowded.
“It was a journey where a lot of things were happening with very, very tough conditions to compete in in the United States,” he said. “Very tough level, great, talented people were competing. Like any other, pretty much, but we were concentrating on that style of dancing and it was hard.”
The couple, however, eventually attained championship status together, including a victory in the Professional Latin division at 2008’s North American Dancesport Championships at home in New Jersey. And they found some opportunity to broaden horizons in preparation for one final round at the 2007 Ohio Star Ball in Columbus.
“When you make the final there, there’s one more competition you have to go through, the Showdance competition,” he said. “We had the famous routine people choreographed for us, called Transformers based on that movie, and we won that championship as well. So it was a fun career, a lot of great experiences.”
Ifraimov and Goulina’s performance in the 2007 Ohio Star Showdance event
While Ifraimov and Goulina make their primary career in guiding competitors in the Dancesport realm, Ifraimov’s recent work with the ice dance couples of the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills has meant a radical reconsideration of technical approach, shifting ideas of Latin movement from floor physics to those of the ice. But in the bigger picture, Ifraimov sees few differences between readying ballroom competitors and those on skates.
“Competing to me is like trying to be the best you possibly can, and to me there are three factors to be a successful competitor: some kind of talent, a work ethic, and to be very, very smart about what you do, who you are, and what you’re trying to portray on the ice or on the floor,” he said. “Those three things are there for everyone to the point where should I have to choose between talent and being smart, I would choose being smart.”
“It’s just very important, because we’re all different people–you can look at the cha-cha basics or the rumba basics between five, ten people, and they’re all going to approach it in a slightly different way, because we hear music slightly different,” he continued. “Skaters are different because we’re competing, we’re being compared to other people, so it’s not only how well you do, but it’s also depending how well other people do. And therefore the strongest package wins. They have to dance very strong, you have to believe in yourself, and you have to believe in your product and deliver the product.”
Despite the key role that competition has played in his career, though, Ifraimov concludes that dance’s greatest benefit may be its most personal.
“There’s a lot of things we can’t express verbally and there are a lot of things we can express throughout the movement, and sometimes verbally isn’t going to do it,” he said. “The different movement expresses something deep down, what’s in there that’s really dying to get out of you.”
