Pairs of dancers glide across the floor at the Fred Astaire Dance Studios in Madison. Couples sway their hips as they practice their dances, including rumba and other styles of ballroom dance.
Nearly all the instructors at this studio were born in Ukraine, where ballroom dance is like little league baseball in the United States. Tetiana Lutsenko, the studio’s owner who first started dancing at age 3, explained how dance is deeply embedded in the country’s way of life from an early age.
“As soon [as] they start to walk, they start to dance,” she said.
Tetiana Lutsenko, owner of Fred Astaire Dance Studios, announces the start of the dancing event Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
About a decade ago, Lutsenko left her home country and came to the U.S. without friends or family. She then joined this Fred Astaire Dance Studio about a year later before becoming its owner in 2018.
She lights up when describing what dance can mean for someone. Her mission is big: enrich life through the power of dance. That can mean getting healthier through movement, finding a new spark with a spouse or boosting self-esteem by dressing up in fancy, beautiful costumes.
But ballroom dance offers something more for the Ukrainian instructors at the studio. They feel a bond to the home they left and worry they might lose forever.
Dancers turn on the dance floor Thursday, March 6, 2025, at Fred Astaire Dance Studios in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Worried for their home country, instructors find refuge
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago, tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have died, although exact estimates are hard to come by.
Current and former Wisconsinites have been raising funds for Ukraine and working to welcome those who are fleeing the war. Through September 2023, nearly 160,000 people arrived in the U.S. through the Uniting For Ukraine program, according to a November 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The program’s future is unclear, however, following its suspension after President Donald Trump took office in January 2025.
Lutsenko said she did not want to comment on current events surrounding the war. But she recalled the first few months after the invasion when she was physically in Wisconsin but functionally living in Ukraine’s time zone about seven hours ahead. She wanted to stay in touch with her family while they were awake. At times when she lost contact, perhaps due to a power outage, she rushed online to see if the area was bombed.
“Awful, awful, awful,” she said.
Dancers prepare to start a new song Thursday, March 6, 2025, at Fred Astaire Dance Studios in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Dance instructor Alexandra Babenko is from Zaporizhzhia, the same hometown as Lutsenko. The two used to dance together in Ukraine. When the war started, she and others were always on their phones, even during Wisconsin dance competitions. Over time, she said it became too hard to wake up every night, checking to see what happened.
“You feel like you cannot help, like you can do physically absolutely nothing to help those people,” Babenko said. “That was the worst part. You cannot go there. You cannot see them. You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, today. So, that was the hardest part for me.”
Some instructors at the Madison studio, such as Babenko, came before the invasion, but others fled the violence over the last few years. Lutsenko has acted as a beacon for others, showing what life is like in Wisconsin and helping any way she can through the immigration process. She said her staff members are “like my babies.”
While judging a competition in Ukraine, dance instructor Nastya Latanska spoke with a friend who knew Lutsenko. That friend offered to connect the two. Things moved fast from there. Latanska heard from Lutsenko, then took about a week to think about leaving Ukraine and spent three more weeks relocating across the world.
Business at Latanska’s dance studios in Ukraine had slowed down during the war. She mostly worked with kids, and parents were quickly fleeing to other cities or countries.
Latanska took her chance in Wisconsin. At first, she was nervous. New language. New country. New people. She found it hard to trust others she didn’t know. But she soon found them to be friendly, and they helped her continue what she loved doing. Ballroom dance was more than just her work.
“For me, ballroom dancing … I can forget about all of the problems,” she said.
Nastya Latanska, left, dances Thursday, March 6, 2025, at Fred Astaire Dance Studios in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Dance is the connection to the home they left
Dance instructor Kateryna Zozulia started dancing in Ukraine when she was 4 years old. It has become her entire life. She said it’s how she expresses herself and disappears from the world.
She said it hurts to watch the news. She came to Wisconsin nearly two years ago at Lutsenko’s invitation. How does she take care of herself?
“Dancing,” she said. “That’s pretty much it. I’m trying to — OK. This is happening. This has happened to me. This is emotionally hard. I’m trying to come to my [workplace] to give people positive energy, and that’s what helps me to stay positive.”
Kateryna Zozulia, left, and a partner take to the dance floor Thursday, March 6, 2025, at Fred Astaire Dance Studios in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
A few days after instructor Anastasiia Shaparenko turned 4 years old, she started to dance. It’s what she said gives her life’s brightest moments. She loves to teach dance because she can see others have those moments, too.
She’s also from Zaporizhzhia. She came to Madison a few months after the invasion. She said she didn’t hesitate to join the studio. Dance brings her closer to who she is, and it brings her closer to other Ukrainians.
“Sometimes when you go into dance floor and you hear name of professionals, never less than half is Ukrainians. It feels like, ‘Oh my God. It’s so good,’” she said with a smile. “I’m so proud to be part of this community.”
Shaparenko hopes her new friends in Wisconsin can visit Ukraine one day. She wants to show off the beautiful places, the kind people, the tasty food. She appreciates her life in the U.S., but she misses everything in Ukraine. The nature there. The holidays. Her friends.
Anastasiia Shaparenko, right, dances with a partner Thursday, March 6, 2025, at Fred Astaire Dance Studios in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Studio owner Lutsenko has tried to adapt to life while her home country is at war. She also struggled with being far away from loved ones, feeling like she cannot help them.
Lutsenko is grateful for social media and video chatting, where she’s one click away from some connection. If she gets a call — even if it’s the middle of the night — she answers.
Every Saturday, she talks with her mom who is still in Ukraine. Even if they don’t have much to share, she just wants to know that her mom is OK. Hearing that type of update can be the “biggest reward through the day,” she said.
Nastya Latanska, left, and a partner dance together Thursday, March 6, 2025, at Fred Astaire Dance Studios in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
When Lutsenko feels depressed, stressed or nervous, she looks outward. She looks forward. She looks back home. Who else needs help? Who else might like an offer to come work at a dance studio in Wisconsin?
“Let me bring families of my friends. Let me help them. Let’s try to help them to find a job here in the United States or maybe, I don’t know, find apartments,” she said. “So for me, my friends or my employees become my second family. And everything I could not give back to Ukraine, at least I try to give them here while they’re here in the United States.”
