Maksim Chmerkovskiy Or How I Left the Soviet Union and Learned to Love Dance

Page 20 T cjnews.com T HE CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS February 26, 2009 And now for something completely different: Maksim Chmerkovskiy or How I left the Soviet Union and learned to love dance By ANDY LEVY-AJZENKOPF with the Stars, shortly after the Staff Reporter troupe hit Toronto for their show at the Air Canada Centre. It’s a typical immigration story really. “Toronto was fun and I used A young boy grows up in oppressive Soviet-era to coach up there,” he said. Ukraine, unaware that he’s Jewish but encouraged Now on his fourth tour cho- by his family to nurture a burgeoning reographing and ability to dance. dancing with Eventually, the boy’s family the company, manages to take him and his brother Chmerkovs- to America to start a new, freer life, al- kiy, 29, jok- lowing them all to discover and express ingly lamented their Judaism without the threat of his hectic daily governmental reprisal. schedule. “We Oh yes, and in the process the family work from 8:30 unleashes upon North America one of p.m. to 10:30 the finest ballroom dancers the world p.m., then it’s has seen. s t r a i g h t t o OK, maybe not that typical a story. the bus for an The dancer’s name: Maksim (Maks) average six-hour Chmerkovskiy. Maksim Chmerkovskiy ride to the next Fans of the hit ABC TV show Dancing city, then it’s with the Stars know him by his work on rehearsals all day before start- the show – he first appeared in season two – as much ing the show again in the next ing the show again in the next Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Laila Ali as for his dashing looks and fancy footwork. town,” he said, adding that he Heebonics caught up with Maks in North Carolina loves his job. last month in the middle of his North American tour Chmerkovskiy began dance that time,” he said. “Every now and again, we cel- lessons at the age of four but admitted he didn’t ebrated [a holiday] that I didn’t know what it was. My exactly like it for a long time. family now celebrates our Jewishness openly.” “I despised dancing lessons until I was about Once in America – the Chmerkovskiys settled 13,” he said. “I played other amateur sports…but in Brooklyn, N.Y. – Maks attended Brooklyn’s Sinai when we came to America I was shy and [dancing] Academy Yeshiva for a time and was interested in allowed me to socialize and make friends in the learning Yiddish, but said he eventually left because studio.” he wasn’t getting the education he wanted to fulfil The change of scenery didn’t just help him ac- his more secular goals and aspirations in dance and climatize to a new North American lifestyle, it also sport. helped him and his brother Valentin – himself a cham- Now that he’s tasted success on many levels – pion ballroom dancer – discover a love for dance and Maks has won numerous ballroom dancing titles the vision about how it could lead to a lifetime of worldwide, including the prestigious La Classique fulfilment. du Québec contest in 2003 – he said there are only Chmerkovskiy told Heebonics that he’s been ap- a couple of things he really hasn’t done yet that he proached numerous times to try his hand at acting feels he needs to; one of these is to dance for his as well, but so far he’s been loathe to jump into the fans in Israel. thespian’s role. “I’ve been asked to come visit Israel and I’d love “I’m good at dancing and that’s what I want to to go,” he said. “To be honest, my mom is afraid of do,” he said, but didn’t totally rule out a jump to the the [security] situation there, so she worries. But big or small screen as an actor saying, “If the right definitely, one day it’s one of the stops for sure.” script comes along,” he might consider it. In the meantime, Chmerkovskiy will be back for For now, he doesn’t want to spread himself thin his sixth go-around on season eight of Dancing with and insists he’s managing his career and time “care- the Stars, which premières on March 9. fully” in the hopes of one day owning and operating This season he’s partnered with Hollywood actress his personal tour and company. Denise Richards and will face off against his fiancée, That day may not be that far off, as Chmerkovskiy Karina Smirnoff – the two got engaged on New Year’s the entrepreneur already owns a family-run chain of Eve – and her dancing partner, Silicon Valley com- dance studios across New York and New Jersey and puter guru and philanthropist Steve Wozniak. is a co-founder of the non-profit Dance Team USA, a Asked what advice he has for children consid- charity dedicated to recruiting, supporting and train- ering entering the world of competitive dance, ing future ballroom dancers. Chmerkovskiy answered, “It’s a tough road and In reflecting on his Jewish roots, Maks recalled it requires a lot of mental strength. I tell kids… growing up in Ukraine in the early 1980s as a time it’s not about doing steps, you just have to have where his family had to hide its Judaism. passion. And to remember this motto, which “Looking back at the way I was raised, we were I remind myself every day, ‘If you fail to prepare, not raised anti-Semitic like everybody else was at you prepare to fail.’” CHECK OUT OUR BLOG @ HEEBONICS.CA.

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