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Magic happens when Neli Petkova and Woodrow Wills walk into a ballroom dance competition.<\/p>\n
When the music strikes, they join together as one, launching themselves forward with power and grace as they sweep through turns. Petkova arcs back and slowly reveals a smile that seems to say all is right in the world. But that smile covers pain rooted deeply in the Twin Cities.<\/p>\n
On July 15, 2017, Petkova and her fianc\u00e9, former dance partner Nic Westlake<\/a>, were struck by a light rail train that blew through a stoplight going 29 mph, smashing into their vehicle and pushing it sideways down the track.<\/p>\n Both of the bones in Petkova\u2019s left forearm snapped in two. Westlake was unresponsive. She stumbled out to get help and fell unconscious by the smoldering wreckage. A stranger dragged her away, fearing it would explode. Westlake, 29, died from his injuries two days later, leaving Petkova, 27, with their shattered dreams.<\/p>\n As an amateur couple<\/a>, they had been ranked seventh in the world and were on the verge of joining the rarefied ranks of professional ballroom dancers. They planned to marry and dreamed of owning their own dance studio.<\/p>\n Now, Petkova finds herself climbing through the rankings of professional competitors with Wills, still grieving the loss of Westlake.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is really no coming back, unfortunately, from this,\u201d Petkova said before an annual ballroom competition in Bloomington, which draws some of the premier dancers in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cNic was kind of everything to me. We danced together. We worked together. We lived together. So having all of that and then, it disappearing in seconds, it\u2019s definitely changed my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n Petkova started dancing at age 8 in her native Bulgaria. She moved to Minneapolis in 2008 to attend Henry Sibley High School as an exchange student in her senior year with hopes of building a career in dance. Later, she took courses through Dale Carnegie Training, studied management and leadership at Metropolitan State University and managed Dancer\u2019s Studio<\/a> in St. Paul.<\/p>\n Westlake, a gregarious computer programmer who took up dancing through the University of Minnesota Ballroom Dance Club<\/a>, met her at a dance party. They began competing together in 2011.<\/p>\n In addition to teaching, Westlake and Petkova volunteered with U Partner Dance, a nonprofit that supports major amateur competitions in the Twin Cities. Westlake created websites for the nonprofit, wrote software to calculate competitors\u2019 scores and was the \u201cscrutineer\u201d (a kind of referee) at the events. Petkova handled social media. They were on their way home from a meeting with the nonprofit when the accident occurred.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t really see the train coming,\u201d Petkova said. \u201cAs we were crossing the intersection we really saw it at the last minute, and that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n Recovering, not recovered<\/span><\/p>\n Petkova had surgery to repair her arm and her brother, who lives in New York, flew out to care for her. She underwent months of physical therapy to regain her dexterity and chiropractic care to help mitigate the scar tissue.<\/p>\n She also \u201cstared the walls\u201d a lot, and thought about giving up dancing.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think Nic would have wanted me to continue dancing and work towards accomplishing the goals we had set and the dreams we had,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n To do so, however, she\u2019d have to find a new dancing partner.<\/p>\n Nels Petersen, head coach of the U\u2019s ballroom club, tapped his connections. And within a few months, Petkova started fielding calls from prospective partners around the world. She tried out with five of them, including Wills.<\/p>\n The two seemed to sync, but she worried the partnership wouldn\u2019t work because of their styles: He\u2019s trained in a formal British style of ballroom dance, while her Italian coaches stress a more dynamic, punchier one. Still, she committed to the partnership because she felt compelled to get back on the dance floor.<\/p>\n Although she\u2019s a U.S. citizen now, Petkova moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, last year to train with Wills. (Their relationship is strictly professional, she said.) While she misses the Twin Cities, her students and colleagues, she\u2019s glad to be away from where the accident occurred.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t go anywhere near the light rail. I don\u2019t cross it. I don\u2019t want to look at it. I don\u2019t want to hear it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Professional debut<\/p>\n Backed by a cheering section, Petkova and Wills made their debut performance at the Snow Ball DanceSport<\/a> competition in Bloomington in 2018. They took first place in the International Ballroom style as \u201cRising Star\u201d professionals. She also performed a special dance in Westlake\u2019s honor.<\/p>\n Donna Edelstein, organizer of the Snow Ball, said she admires Petkova\u2019s resilience \u201cbecause so many people would be crushed by something like that, but she kept going.\u201d<\/p>\n