They danced their way to romance — and a spot on TV
The daters
Luka Milacic-Perusina and Jenalyn Saraza Pacheco are professional dancers who have trained 40 hours a week for many years to rise to the top of the ranks. They were World Pro Exhibition vice-champions at the prestigious Blackpool Dance Festival in the U.K., which is the oldest ballroom dance competition in the world, and Undefeated Amateur World Cabaret Champions. They’ll compete on the season premiere of “Canada’s Got Talent” Tuesday on Citytv.
The dates
Luka “Our story began over a decade ago when we were just teenagers. I was 16 and Jenalyn was 13. Our dance coach paired us together for a trial lesson as dance partners, and after that first class we never looked back. One of the first things I noticed about Jenalyn was her unbelievable talent for dance: this small girl was 13 years old and doing moves that would put pros to shame!”
Jenalyn “I was drawn to Luka’s strength and dedication. It also helped that he made me laugh quite a bit, since I was quite shy at that age. Through high-pressure situations and competitions, we learned about each other’s strengths, dependencies and how effectively we could work together. It actually got to the point where everyone in our lives started to think we were dating because of how strong our connection was. We didn’t even see our relationship becoming romantic until we started creating romantic storylines in our routines and had to act as if we were in love. Through years of spending an overwhelming amount of time together, acting as if we were in love through dance made us fall in love with one another. We made a mutual decision to give the romantic side of us a chance (when Luka was 21 and Jenalyn 18) and see where it goes.” Luka After waiting for years to find the right time, I finally asked Jenalyn out to lunch. I worded it to emphasize that I wanted this to be a personal time for us to connect away from the dance floor.”
Jenalyn “For our first date, we did one of Luka’s favourite things in the world: we went out for lunch at a diner by his house. Both of us were incredibly nervous and did not know what to expect. We ended up having an amazing time filled with laughter and meaningful conversation. It was during this date that we realized we wanted something more than just a friendship.”
Luka “She didn’t get too upset when I realized I didn’t order enough food and started taking some fries off her plate. She slid her plate over to me and gave me the rest of her fries. That’s when I knew I may have found my person!”
Jenalyn “Nowadays, some of our favourite date spots include a walk on the Harbourfront, going to the Scandinavian spa in Blue Mountain and Anejo for the best tacos and margaritas. We also love La Cubana and Lula Lounge.
Luka “The most challenging periods in our relationship happened early on in our dance career — we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be the very best — and did not know how to effectively communicate the high levels of emotions we had when we were under pressure. A lot of our arguments were caused by miscommunication and because we were both stubborn and passionate perfectionists.
Jenalyn “As we grow older — and have more responsibilities put on our shoulders beyond dance, like taking care of our families and fulfilling responsibilities at our jobs — we’re lucky to have had those learning curves with each other when we were younger, so we try to learn from those mistakes and listen to each other as effectively as possible when times are tough.”
Luka “Making time for dates is definitely a huge challenge, given our professional commitments. As we grow older, there’s a lot of things we want to commit to but we still try to enjoy life the best we can. We have learned that we can’t train to the point where we have no free time together and it’s a balancing act that will continue to be a part of our lives as we try to build our future together personally and also professionally.”
Jenalyn We rehearse at DanceLife Studios by day, but we still have some fun dance nights there, too, plus we hit the Beach ballroom and El Rancho for dancing dates. We never get tired of dancing together.”