DANCER Ryan Di Lello’s parents met and fell in love through dancing.
As the saying goes, history repeats, and Utah-bred Ryan met his wife Ashleigh through dancing as well.
“We met at a dance studio. She immediately stood out, and I said to my friend, ‘wow – who’s that gorgeous girl?’”
Ryan counts himself lucky. Ashleigh had just broken up with her last boyfriend, and had vowed to be single for period.
“When I met her a few days later, she was like ‘oh well, this break is out the window’. I must have done something right,” laughs Ryan.
The pair’s decision to stick with their dance partners at the time to keep the relationship and dancing separate inevitably meant they ended up competing against each other.
“I’d give her a kiss, and then walk onto the dance floor, and say ‘you’re going down’. It made it interesting,” Ryan laughs.
But love prevailed, and the couple have now been happily married for five-and-a-half years.
After the wedding, Ashleigh and Ryan finally became partners in dance, and after they reached the final six of American hit show So You Think You Can Dance, have been gracing screens internationally. They were the first married couple to be on the show.
“You had to get used to cameras being in your face, but it was a wonderful experience,” says Ryan.
Now, they are coming to Wellington as the stars of Burn the Floor, a blend of Latin and ballroom dance, first performed for Elton John’s birthday in 1998.
It took years of hard work to reach this level of ballroom dancing. Ryan began dancing when he was four, and Ashleigh, when she was only three.
“I come from a dynasty of dancers, so it’s in my blood. At a young age, I’d play with my toys on the dance studio floor as my mum would teach, and I’d copy the moves,” Ryan says. “Mum said I’d even give her ideas sometimes.”
At 12 he thought he might give sport a try instead…until a couple of pretty girls joined his dancing class, “so I stayed”.
He says it was a good choice. After his trip to New Zealand, Ryan will have danced in 23 countries.
For Ashleigh, the rise to the top was more difficult. After becoming a United States Junior American Latin (dancing) finalist at the age of 12, she was struck down with a life-threatening illness after a trip to Hawaii, and had to stop dancing.
Despite having horrible symptoms, doctors were unable to diagnose her correctly for two years.
“She told me that she used to pray that they’d find cancer or something, because then at least she’d know what she was fighting,” says Ryan. “She had pain in every joint, she was wasting away and going yellow.”
Then, a specialist realised that Ashleigh had contracted a rare parasitic disease in Hawaii, and was able to treat it.
Finally back on the dance floor, disaster struck again when Ashleigh suffered a serious back injury, and spent a year-and-a-half in rehab.
Ryan says it’s amazing that after such a long break, she’s now top of her game.
“She’s a fighter. When she was in all these hospitals getting treatment, she was going through her dance routines in her mind, and that’s what helped her cope. Even though the doctors said she’d never dance again, she said she’d prove them wrong, and she has.”
Burn The Floor, St James Theatre, June 26-27.