It all began in 1975 when Elzbieta Jagiello, a dancer in the ballet group "Miraz", saw Krzysztof dancing in a high school dance competition in Olsztyn. It was then that Miraz, under the direction of Maria Jolanta Felska, began preparing their new Kung Fu routine.
Krzysztof didn't immediately take advantage of Ela's invitation to the group. It took a few months before Piotr Galinski and Krzysztof Kasperowicz, two boys from the oldest neighborhood in Olsztyn, decided to embark on their dancing adventure. They both earned admission into the dance group and began to learn their first dance steps.
For the following three years, Elzbieta and Krzysztof followed slightly different paths. Elzbieta, as Mariola Felska's assistant, showed interest in teaching dance while Krzysztof, along with his then partner Karolina Felska, advanced through the ballroom ranks. It took until 1978 for the two aspiring dancers to become Krzysztof Kasperowicz and Elzbieta Jagiellow, ballroom dance couple. Three years of daily training resulted in the couple obtaining the "S" class in the Latin-American dances and the same followed in the Standard dances a year later. In 1980 they took creative control of both Miraz and the International Dance Competition for the Olsztyn President's Cup. After obtaining category I dance judge's licenses, they often participated in competitions both in Poland and abroad as judges.
For the next ten years, ten couples trained at Miraz received the S class and many more obtained A, B, and C class.
- Leszek & Anna Romankiewicz
- Waldemar & Danuta Tylinscy
- Bogdan & Malgorzata Wienc
- Krzysiek & Aleksandra Kulig
- Piotr Galiński & Renata Wysocka
- Arek Pavlovic & Iwona Szymańska
- Jarek Kuźmowicz & Ewa Banach
- Andrzej Materna & Barbara Szarłata
- Andrzej Majewski & Anna Schlueter
- Wiesław & Malgorzata Frelik
- Tomasz Grochalski & Teresa Bojarowicz
- Piotr Babińczuk & Iwona Kozłowska
- Tadeusz Karpowicz & Elżbieta Chylińska
- Leszek Ostrowski & Aleksandra Niewińska
- Artur Żelechowski & Małgorzata Pińczuk
- Adam Król & Danuta Niemczynowicz
- Jarosław Chojnacki & Barbara Malinowska
- Robert Linowski & Anna Lalak
- Mariusz & Katarzyna Korzeb
- Robert Wota & Izabella Beszczyńska
- Andrzej & Ula Blażejczyk
- Jarosław & Dorota Falgowscy
- Tomasz Dyl & Lidia Banach
- Grzegorz Fidurski & ....
In 1985, the Miraz Standard Formation Team was born, winning honors such as:
- third place at the European Championship
- fourth place at the World Championship
- first place at the German Open
- first place at the Czechoslovakia Open
- four straight Polish Championships.
For his accomplishments at Miraz, and especially with the formation team, Krzysztof received the Stanislaw Wyspanski award for young artists.
In 1990, their Dance Emigration began. Krzysztof and Elzbieta
Kasperowicz moved to the USA and settled in Chicago. For their first
five years in the US, they taught at Interclub.
Then, in 1995, they
started their own school,
Kasper Dance Studio, which in June of 2010
celebrated its 15th anniversary. They keep a solid relationship with
dancers and teachers in Poland, and the studio has hosted teachers such
as Krzysztof Wasilewski and Karolina Felska. Shows at KDS have been
given by Leszek and Anna Romankiewicz, Krysztof and Aleksandra Kulig,
Mariusz and Justyna Korzeb, and Lukasz Wisniewski and Agnieszka
Filipczak.
Krzysztof and Elzbieta are members of the National Dance
Council of America. They are licensed judges in International Ballroom
and Latin, and also American Smooth and Rhythm.
In 2005 they founded an
International Dance Competition: the Windy City Open, which has hosted
shows by two professional Polish couples:
- Sergey Surkov and Melia in
2007
- Michal Malitowski and Joanna Leunis in 2009.
KASPER DANCE STUDIOKASPER DANCE STUDIO on FacebookWindy City Open20 lat na emigracji - po polsku