Corky Ballas

Corky Ballas has been dancing since he was six years old, he started out as a Flamenco dancer, he then later tried out the style of American Style Latin dancing referred to now as ‘Rhythm’. In this photograph he is dancing an American Style Swing with his teacher Elizabeth Cortez, in the Pro/Am Juvenile Division, in 1966 in Houston Texas . Corky’s dad, George Ballas Sr., owned and operated a 64,000 square foot dance studio: the largest dance studio ever in the world, called Dance City USA, with 125 teachers on payroll. There has never been a studio this large since 1964. Corky’s father sold the studio and later went on to invent the Weed Eater. Corky’s mother was a famous Flamenco Dancer that appeared in several movies and studied with Carmen Amaya in Spain. Corky’s parents are Spanish and Greek.