Each week Integral Ballroom welcomes two tiny dancers to their studio who love to show off their big moves . Murrysville ’ s James Berk and Madeline ( Maddie ) Zalewski light up the dance floor as they partner for various dances including the waltz , foxtrot , cha cha and more as the studio ’ s youngest dancers .
James , son of Lindsey and Tim Berk , and Maddie , daughter of Stephanie and Tom Zalewski , live on the same street , are neighborhood friends and are enrolled in the same first grade class at Sloan Elementary .
“ I have been dancing for two years ,” explains Maddie . “ I liked to watch my big sister , Olivia , dance with her partner , so I started looking for a partner — and found one on my street !” James couldn ’ t resist saying yes when Maddie asked him to be her partner . “ It is fun to dance with Maddie ,” he says .
The two were recently featured dancing the foxtrot during Integral Ballroom ’ s 2017 Showcase .
“ I love learning new steps and putting them together to make a dance ,” says Maddie . “ My favorite style is the waltz because it is challenging and fancy . The cha cha is really fun , too !”
“ Ballroom dancing is my favorite ,” adds James , “ especially the box step .”
He and Maddie take lessons from Luanne O ’ Brien , a teacher at Integral Ballroom for nine years . “ She ’ s a great teacher because she is nice when she points out our mistakes and makes dance class a lot of fun ,” says James .
Though the two share the same passion for dancing , they enjoy different things outside of the ballroom . Maddie ’ s favorite subject in school is science and she enjoys the class experiments . She hopes to follow in her mom ’ s footsteps and become a pharmacist one day , and looks forward to using her dance training to come up with a fancy dance for her wedding .
James enjoys STEM at school and loves to work in a group and build things in class . His hobbies include soccer , swimming , drawing , reading , math and computer games . He aspires to be an author one day .
Though the young dancers have not participated in any competitions yet , they are not ruling out the possibility in their dancing future . “ We have not done any competitions yet but hope to try one someday ,” says Maddie . “ We had our first performance at Integral Ballroom ’ s 2017 Showcase . It was fun having our friends and family cheering for us !” n
MURRYSVILLE ❘ SUMMER 2018 13