By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
March 5, 2000
Maia Wilkins used to daydream about what her wedding would be like. She would be wearing a beautiful gown, standing next to her ballet dancer groom. They would be flanked by dancers, who would scoop her up and gently toss her in the air down the aisle.
Then maybe she’d do a little tap dance afterward.
“I think I saw too many movies,” Maia says. “I had a definite idea in my head of what a wedding should be like.”
When Maia gets married this August, there will be no tossing or tap dancing.
But she will have a ballet dancer groom by her side: Michael Levine.
The two met at the Joffrey Ballet and began dating six years ago.
“Usually you’re partnered with different dancers,” Michael says. “But around the time that I joined, several male dancers had left. So Maia and I found ourselves partnered with each other for several pieces in a row. We worked really well together and got to know each other.”
After a recent rehearsal downtown, Michael and Maia look content as they sit on the floor and nibble pizza. But in the beginning, neither was eager to turn the working relationship into a personal one.
“I had a crush on him from the beginning,” Maia says. “But I had always said to myself that I would never date a dancer. I didn’t think that it would be the best thing for me.”
During their first year together at the Joffrey, the pair spent a lot of time working together and chatting. Then when the New York-based company moved to Chicago, Michael decided to accept an offer from the American Ballet Theatre and stay in the Big Apple, while Maia moved with the Joffrey here.
“It wasn’t easy,” Michael says. “We were chasing each other around the globe basically. Maia would be in South Korea dancing with the Joffrey and I would be there with the ABT a couple weeks later.”
Adds Maia: “Our phone bills were ridiculous. But we made it work.”
In 1997, Michael rejoined the Joffrey and Maia in Chicago.
Engaged since March 1999, the couple enjoy cooking together and fixing up their new Lake View condo. They also get a kick out of visiting the city’s museums.
“When I first moved to Chicago, I spent most of my free time going back to New York to visit Michael,” Maia says. “But now we really feel like we’re a part of the city and are taking advantage of everything it has to offer.”
They’ll be married this summer not far from Tahoe. She will wear her mother’s vintage wedding gown and he will don a custom-made three-piece suit designed to match the off-white color of her dress.
As for dancing at the reception?
“Maybe a little swing dancing,” Michael says. “We took lessons and really enjoy how it feels to dance with each other.”
