TTL: Ballroom Dancers Take Second In World Competition

Ballroom dancing has become popular in the last few years thanks to TV reality shows dedicated to the competition of dancing, but long before Dancing With the Stars Nicholas Stevens and Alexandra Gutkovich were practicing their moves.

In today's Through the Lens I went to the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Dallas to catch up with the couple that has the dance world talking about the "Texas Couple".  You see most of the big time competitors from the US are from either New York or California. To have someone from Texas on the big stage is rare.

Alexandra is actually from New York.  The 12 year old moved to Dallas so she could partner with 14 year old Nicholas Stevens.  Yes they're just barely teenagers.  Stevens parents are the owners of the Arthur Murray Dance Studios in Dallas and Plano and have coached the couple over the last year.

Nicholas started dancing when he was 4 and Alexandra when she was 6.  Last year her coach said their was a boy from Texas she should partner with and the two seem to work well together.  So well that they kept winning competition after competition. First they won a regional contest then won three separate national competitions and were sent to Paris to represent America in the world competition.

Zach Stevens said it was like a Rocky movie where the underdog just beat all the odds and the unknown "Texas Couple" had somehow managed to come in second in the world competition.  The next day they took first place in WDC Paris Open.

Watching the two dance, it's like they have been together for a lifetime.  They move around the floor like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers instead of two young teenagers who have barely been dancing together a year.  They tell me they practice 2 to 3 hours a day six days a week.  That is dedication, and it seems to be paying off.