In the warm ambiance of the rehearsal space, freshman Daniil Babenko’s movements are precise, mesmerizing and weave seamlessly across the polished floor. For Babenko, ballroom dancing is not just a pastime, but a professional sport that he hopes to showcase on the world stage as a representative of Team USA at the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Inspired by his mother’s career as a dancer, Babenko’s ballroom dancing journey began early at the age of six and continued after moving to the United States last July. With his mom’s encouragement and support, he trained under various top instructors and coaches, driven by her constant push to help him excel.
“In the first few months, I wouldn’t tell my father, because he wanted me to be a soccer player,” Babenko said. “But when I started getting very good results my father saw it, and he was very proud of me, so he started supporting it a lot.”
To balance intense training with school, Babenko’s days begin early as he attends the gym at 6 a.m. to build muscle strength, a crucial factor of ballroom dance training. After school, depending on To’s and his coach, Victor Fung’s availability, he commutes to Los Angeles or San Diego almost every day to train or practice choreography. He completes all leftover classwork or homework while traveling.
“He’s definitely a hard worker,” social studies teacher Virginia Nguyen said. “I can’t imagine how much he’s doing to stay balanced in pursuing something at such a high level while at the same time trying to live the teenager life and being new to the United States. There are so many levels of challenge for Daniil to overcome, but he does it with such a big smile. That inspires me as a teacher and also his classmates here at Portola.”
Despite his busy schedule, Babenko is always considerate of To, who also has an eventful schedule filled with auditions and rehearsals.
“Daniil is always willing to work around my schedule and all my auditions,” To said. “It’s definitely hard because we don’t live super close, but we always try to find time to practice. For example, today, I was on set, but we still had to get our practice done.”
The pair celebrated their one year partnership anniversary on Oct. 27 and plan to continue dancing together for years to come. Babenko said that he feels lucky that meeting To at a dance camp became the foundation for an incredibly successful partnership.
“Usually, how tryouts happen is your parents see children on social media and text each other, so it’s not in the kids’ opportunity to pick who they want to dance [with],” Babenko said. “I was very happy to meet Reagan because I never knew what to expect, but when she came in, I danced with her and she was very light and awesome.”
Their next competition is the Ohio Star Ball, a legendary ballroom dancing event taking place in Columbus, Ohio late November.
Babenko is still navigating how he can embrace his love for both dance and his studies. However, with an enduring passion for both, Babenko is confident that when the time comes, he will be able to choose the path that is right for him.
“My father likes to call it like the future doors,” Babenko said. “When I go to the future, I will be able to pick. For example, if I love math, I can be a very good engineer or programmer. If I choose dance, I can be a good dance teacher. I love both of them.”
