Kris Kasperowicz, owner and operator of the "Kasper Dance Studio", 3201 N. Long Ave., was born in Olsztyn, Poland. He met his wife Ela in 1975 in "Miraz", Poland's largest dance club. During their first two years together, the pair danced modern jazz and started ballroom dancing for the fun of it.
Poland has six levels of competitive dancing including International Style. Kris and Ela moved up through the six levels quickly and became finalists. They were second in all of Poland five times. In 1980 they started to teach at the Miraz Club, and they traveled to take lessons from the best teachers of dance and dance instruction technique. When they passed the Teacher's College of Dance, they became professional teachers.
Because they were finalists in the Poland competitions, they competed in Germany, Italy, Austria, Holland, Norway, Russia, Czechoslovakia, England, Hungary and Bulgaria. They were finalists in many of these competitions and took second place honors in Germany.
Kris and Ela continued to take lessons, attended seminars and spent many hours practicing on dance floors of competition camps. In 1981, after six years of dancing together, Ela, who was also born in Olsztyn, and Kris decided to get married. Their son, Matthew was born in 1985 while Kris was serving in the army.
Since Poland has only International Style, this is what they taught. Soon they began to teach competitive dancing to couples and also modern jazz formation. The jazz formation was number one in Europe making Poland the champion. This was followed by the Ballroom Formation Teams. Kris and Ela coached 17 couples in International and took the best to construct the Formation of eight couples. With the help of German Dance Association they bought costumes and music for the team.
This Formation Team became the future of Polish dancing. The team won first place in Poland twice, and first place in the International Competition in Germany, Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe. They were third in Europe and won fourth place in the world twice.
After so many successes with the Formation, the World Dance Association asked Kris and Ela to organize the first Eastern European Championships. It was a great honor for Poland and the Polish Dance Association. They asked Kris and Ela to be the directors of the event. They organized 16 international competitions with all European countries participating.
When they were chosen to participate in the Polish Dance Association Committee it gave them the opportunity to change Polish dancing even further. They opened the TV School of Dance and reached the masses making dancing very popular. They built dancing into the curriculum of schools - even the pre-school. As a result, five and six-year old children were introduced to ballroom dancing.
Kris came to the U.S. in 1990. When he had established a home and secured them a position teaching children and seniors at the Interclub, Ela followed with their son. They took an intensive course in English and gradually their dance classes increased in size. They conducted workshops, seminars and established formations for children and adults.
Their students participated in competitions in Illinois as well as Milwaukee and Madison, WI, Ohio, Indiana and Miami, Fla. Many students earned first place awards. In 1994, at the United States Ballroom Dance Competition (USBC) in Miami, Ginger Merel received five first place medals in the Latin Division making her the "Number 1" in the U.S.
On May 25 1995, Ela and Kris traveled to Blackpool, England to see the Annual Competition in the Wintergardens, to attend seminars and purchase new tapes. When they returned, they opened their own studio under the name of Kasper Dance Studio located at 3201 N. Long Ave. in Chicago.
Their son Matthew has received several awards in different competitions he has entered. Kris and Ela advise parents to start their children in dance classes as early as five or six.
