This interview was done as part of research on Margaret Batiuchok that George Woolley did in 1995 and 1996.

George Woolley: In your thesis you say dance is your love and your life. When did you become aware of your love of dance?

Margaret Batiuchok: At age 3 or 4 I loved spinning in my living room. I orchestrated spinning contests with my brother and sister, which I would always win - I could keep spinning the longest (and not get dizzy and fall over). I danced the polka with my father from age 5 and up. He'd spin me around the floor real fast, covering lots of space, literally sweeping me off my feet. When I was about 6 I used to love to watch my cousin Mickey, and the teenagers, lindying at their weekly Monday night rock 'n roll hops at my family's summer community clubhouse. I wanted to be one of them. In the fifth grade I took a six-week ballroom dance class after school, white gloves and all, which I loved. That was my only formal dance training 'til I was 20 and I didn't do any partner dancing 'til I was about 30.

Then when I was a student at Mt. Holyoke College, I was thrilled and viscerally moved to see Alvin Ailey's Dance troupe give form and movement to the blues music I loved and had been listening to. When I moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts I saw New England Dinosaur, a modern dance group, do a really cool conceptual piece that sparked my analytical creative side. Then when I was part of a collective running a natural foods restaurant and cafe in Minneapolis that had great blues music every night, I found I couldn't sit still. At age 20, I moved back to Boston to begin my study of dance. I started with Afro-American, jazz, modern dance and then ballet. I was a regular at a weekly free style dance event called Dance Free. I went to Connecticut College for their American Dance Festival in the summer. Then I was accepted at the California Institute of the Arts and got my BA there in modern dance and choreography.

George: When did you decide to make a career of partner dancing?

Margaret: After I graduated from Cal Arts with a BA in dance, I went back to NYU to get into physical therapy school. Although I got in, I was getting A's in the pre-med courses, so I decided to become a doctor instead. During this time I started social dancing at a club called City Limits. I was there 5 nights a week, doing country western 4 nights and Swing on Thursdays. It was there I met George Lloyd and 6 months later we won the Harvest Moon Ball. I decided becoming a doctor wouldn't allow me enough time to dance. I started teaching dance and switched over to the dance department at NYU and got my masters for doing research on the Lindy.

George: What was it like dancing with George Lloyd?

Margaret: Dancing with George was natural, smooth and graceful. It was like riding a cloud, with impeccable rhythm and elegance. It was delicate and light, yet soulful and cool. He could lay back, just holding me and groove, or could really take off, depending on the song and his mood.

George: You do a lot of traveling and I know dance is not an easy way to make a living. What makes it all worthwhile?

Margaret: The feeling I get from dancing.

George: And what's that feeling?

Margaret: It's a feeling of physical power and mastery and at the same time a sparkly transcendent connection with the universe. It's like tapping into a higher power through a physical activity.

In performing it's achieving those rare moments, when after disciplined technical work, I can relax and be fully present spiritually; I feel physically confident of my steps and my expression, so I can express something greater through my dancing, only fully knowing what that is at the moment because each moment reveals itself spontaneously. At the same time I am able to feel that the audience is somehow right there with me able to feel what I feel. Something is transmitted through a magical openness. This rare occurrence is what I dance for. The magic feeling of it makes all the work worthwhile.

Socially with a partner, it is feeling different nuances, qualities and feelings together, spontaneity, living out a fantasy together or feeling funny, thrilling or physical sensations that somehow have dance meaning (wit, charm, flow, a ride, or dynamic punctuation). It's magic that just happens together with someone at what feels like the "right" moment. I love the dance embrace and the way it feels, the way my partner touches me, the support I get for what I do and the support I give him, loving what he does and who he is at the moment in the dance.

© 1996 George Woolley and Margaret Batiuchok

Note:

A version of this interview (with a number of changes by the editor) appeared as part of an article "New York: Margaret Batiuchok" in the January 1997 Jitterbug Magazine.