Man Dances with the Stars

By Dmitry Kiper

Alec Mazo, a local dance instructor at Genesis Ballroom in the Inner Richmond District, was recently declared a winner on the TV show "Dancing with the Stars."

Mazo, along with his dance partner and star of the daytime soap "General Hospital" Kelly Monaco, went from scores in the low teens (an average of three judges' scores) at the start of the show to a perfect 30 by the show's conclusion.

"I don't think we deserved the low scores," Mazo said. "As a professional, you look at these things and take it with a grain of salt; TV's unpredictable."

Practicing up to five hours a day, everyday, was not particularly difficult for Mazo because he's a professional dancer who has won first place in national and international dance competitions. His difficulty lay in the fact that TV cameras were on him like nectar-starved bees on flowers. Monaco's problem was the opposite: having a camera follow her every move did not bother her, but making the right moves was a challenge.

Part of the top-rated show's appeal was watching a celebrity attempt to master ballroom dancing at a rapid pace in the course of just a few weeks with a professional dance partner guiding their every step. The difference in experience could be measured in hours, not years.

Working with Monaco was difficult, Mazo admitted, because she had absolutely no dance experience. She is an actress, he said, so she learned to act like she knew what she was doing.

The show was a success in England before it came to the U.S., like other shows, including "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and "American Idol." Mazo called the producers because he heard they were going to create an American version of the show. He was eventually asked to go to Los Angeles for an interview and the rest, as they say, is television.

"People say TV changes you. I was very afraid it would change me," he said. "What was surprising to me was how easy it is to stay true to yourself."

After being away for three months, Mazo came back to San Francisco in late July, so he hasn't yet had the chance to locally ride the wave of his newly found fame. In Los Angeles and Las Vegas, however, fans of "Dancing with the Stars" have recognized him. He said he was born in the former Soviet Union to hard-working parents - his mother was an engineer and his father a successful businessman. When the family decided to immigrate to the U.S. in 1991, he was 13 years old. Mazo has been dancing since the age of 5, but it was never a top priority until he started dancing at Genesis DanceSport, also known as Genesis Ballroom, on Clement Street.

In 1994, after two years of residing in the Richmond District, Mazo's parents opened Genesis, which now claims to be "the largest ballroom dance school for youth in California."

"Our school is built on word of mouth," he said. "Everybody who's been here has been here for a long time." There are approximately 150 students, 20 instructors and many national and international competitors at the school.

"I don't look at dancing as art," Mazo said. "I look at it as a sport. It's mostly sport, part art.

"In Russia, dancing is perceived as a sport," he said, adding that in the U.S. dancing is viewed as something feminine, which explains why he did not brag about his hobby in high school - not that he tried to hide it.

While a student at George Washington High School, Mazo became a dance instructor at the age of 17 at his parents' dance studio. After graduation, he pursued computer science at U.C. Berkeley, but after a less-than-inspiring job experience at Wells Fargo, he changed his major to cognitive science with an emphasis on psychology. Mazo is now the CFO of the studio, which gives him less time to teach. His perspective on dance may seem a bit surprising.

"I don't really have a passion for dance," he said. "I have a passion for competition."

The freedom he speaks of has allowed him to travel the country and the world, and recently, to star and win in a top-rated television show and to be on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Larry King Live." He says, however, that his focus is on Genesis.

"We want to be successful here," he said.

Genesis Ballroom is located at 404 Clement St. For more information, call (415) 221-7125 or visit genesisdancesport.com.