With a subdued confidence, 99-year-old Leo Bialek waltzed his partner across the dance floor.
Time was, Bialek and other smartly dressed dancers gathered almost nightly to sashay to live orchestras performing wistful numbers like “As Time Goes By.”
Bialek, of Orland Park, will turn 100 on Nov. 24.
“All my people are all gone. I lost my wife, I lost my daughter, I lost my son. I lost a lot of people I worked with. They’re all gone,” he said.
Gone, too, are the grand ballrooms whose wooden floors could accommodate hundreds — Trianon, Midway Gardens, and most recently, Willowbrook.
Clutching the hand of his partner, Bialek said, the only thing remaining from those golden days is Chicago’s Aragon.
He added, “And me.”
On Sunday afternoon, two years to the day after a fire swept through the once grand, yet aging Willowbrook Ballroom, Bialek and about 100 regulars from the now-gone Willow Springs venue, gathered at the Glendora House in Chicago Ridge to commemorate the former dance hall’s glory days and salute a once flourishing pastime in Chicago history.
While the Teddy Lee Orchestra played, the dancers — some in dresses and jackets, some in Halloween costume — tangoed and twirled to “Stardust” and “Spanish Eyes.”
Nearby, band leaders Steve Cooper, Steve Anthony and Ron Smolen, all of whom once had regular gigs at the Willowbrook, enjoyed the throwbacks that included the most requested number, Harry James’ “It’s Been a Long, Long Time.”
Cooper, of La Grange Park, recalled that fateful day in October 2016 when repair work to the Willowbrook’s roof ignited a blaze that brought down the long-standing icon, along with any smoldering hopes that ballroom dancing might one day make a comeback in these parts.
“Ron (Smolen) called me at this exact time — 2 p.m. — to tell me the Willowbrook was on fire. I said, ‘It’s not gonna be that bad, but it was bad. It was very, very sad,’” Cooper recalled.
Word spread almost as quickly as the flames and, he said, a steady stream of mourners began lining up along Archer Avenue.
“The day after the fire, Steve and I were sitting in the restaurant across the street watching the crowds. It was a Saturday afternoon in Willow Springs,” he said. “You would have thought it was (Chicago’s) State and Madison at rush hour.”
Smolen, whose motto is “Every Night is New Year’s Eve,” said though there was talk for awhile of rebuilding the Willowbrook, a place where everyone from Count Basie to Al Capone to Resurrection Mary are said to have left their mark, the site has now been sold.
Anthony’s band was the last to play at the venue just days before the blaze.
“Now when I drive past, it’s very sad,” he said. “I played there once a month for 30 years. My parents used to dance there before I was even born. So for my family it goes back to the ‘40s.”
The Orland Park resident said big band music is special because “it’s romantic.”
“The sound, the rhythm, it’s touch dancing. Ballroom is a period of romance that doesn’t exist much anymore,” Anthony said. “I think it will always be there to some extent but it will never come back like it was.”
The reason, he said, is that people don’t dance like that anymore.
“They don’t really understand the fox trot, waltz, tango and rumba. A few dance clubs and studios still do it. But it’s not mainstream anymore,” he said.
This, he added, despite the popularity of television shows such as ABC-TV’s “Dancing With the Stars.”
Carol Crosson, who lives in the town of Willowbrook, said the ballroom’s regulars stay in touch via email. They also gather regularly at the Glendora.
Singer Peter Oprisko said, “For a while there, a few months after the fire, it kind of looked like it was going to be the end of ballroom dancing.”
He and bandleader Lee approached the owner of the Glendora House about continuing the dance sessions on Sunday afternoons.
“Two years later we’re going strong,” he said.
But while the events draw many of the former Willowbrook regulars, he and others say, there are few newcomers.
Young people are too distracted, Oprisko said. Everyone is too busy holding their phones to hold a dance partner, he added.
“The technology may be beneficial, but it also has changed our culture,” Oprisko said. “People are missing out on live events because they’re so worried about documenting them.”
Leonard Ratliff, of Chicago, blames the ballrooms themselves for dancing’s demise.
“They never worked hard to bring in younger people. Unless you grow the crowd, it’s gonna die off,” Ratliff said, taking a break from the dance floor. “I think you have to bring in younger people at a cheaper rate and you have to probably give them lessons.”
Ratliff learned how to dance through classes at the University of Chicago.
“My favorite is the bolero, which they don’t play here,” he said. “But all dancing is magical.”
Lydia Svadlenka, of Hometown, said when the Willowbrook closed, “I felt like I lost my best friend.”
She and husband Ed Svadlenka danced at the ballroom regularly for 34 years before its tragic end. Now they dance at the Glendora and a handful of other places, always seeking other Willowbrook alumni.
“We’ve gotten to know each other better as a result (of the closing),” she said. “We used to sit alone at the Willowbrook, but now when we recognize other dancers we all sit together. We’re closer now.”
Ninety-one-year-old George Zima learned how to dance when he was 8. His sister, a ballerina, took him along to dance school and he trained in that classical style as well as character and acrobatic dancing.
His affinity for dancing and acting landed him gigs with Bob Fosse, Ethel Merman and with Mary Martin in the stage production of “Peter Pan.” He was featured on the Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason and Perry Como shows.
Today, the Winfield, Ill., resident is happy just to spin his partner in a waltz or three.
Dancing, he said, is such a calling that even if you tear down the fancy dance halls, the dancers will find a place to gather.
“Sure it’s sad that the Willowbrook closed,” he said. “But you have to make the best of things.”
His dance partner, Heidi Moss, agreed.
“We all miss Willowbrook,” she said, “but Glendora is a very nice place.”
And, what matters most, she added, “We get to keep dancing.”
This content was originally published here.
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