Geneva Merchant of the Week: Vargo's Dance

Professional therapist Humphrey Klinkenberg believes that dance, not French, is the language of love. He ascribes five categories to expressions of love and says that dance “ticks off all of the love languages boxes." Jamie Vargo, owner of Vargo’s Dance, would surely agree. She has seen couples fall in love all over again as they learned to dance with one another and that is the most rewarding part of her work.

Although Jamie has enjoyed dancing from a very early age, she didn’t realize it would become her life’s passion until she discovered salsa dancing as a young girl living in Mexico City, where her father had come to build homes for Habitat for Humanity. She at first demurred when a young man asked her to dance. She didn’t want to dance, and her Spanish was not that good. But she finally gave in and before she knew it, four hours had gone by and she was still dancing and loving it.

Returning to her home in St. Charles, they drove past a dance studio that was offering salsa lessons. Jamie took it as a sign and signed up for lessons. She took lessons every day for several years and decided that she would like to teach dancing someday, too. But she also majored in political science and Spanish Business and Translation at NIU in case her plans didn’t work out. While Jamie taught at dance schools in St. Charles over the course of the next nine years, she began formulating a plan for the type of dance studio she would like to open.

Living in Mexico, she had developed a love for the Latin culture. Vargo’s studio is designed to give the appearance of a Spanish hacienda. Softly lit by the flickering glow of candlelight and elegant chandeliers, it provides the perfect atmosphere for couples learning to move to the sensual rhythms of the salsa, the merenque, and the bachata. The mood is set for couples to relax and enjoy one another’s company as they learn new dance steps together.

Vargo’s specializes in ballroom dancing for adults. Although they teach group classes, including Zumba, they usually recommend private lessons because couples learn more quickly at their own pace. In a class, the instructor has to teach at or just above the skill level of the slowest couple to keep the class moving and to avoid putting any undue stress on anyone. Private lessons build confidence more quickly and help couples avoid feeling self-conscious, which often happens in group classes. Jamie says she can also correct individual mistakes, like elbow position, when working with a couple, something which would be impossible in a group setting due to time constraints. Couples choose which dances they want to learn from country to Latin and everything in between. Or they can ask Jamie and Chad for suggestions. But the goal is always to have fun and to do what you want to do.

Chad LeVrouw joined Jamie shortly after she opened her new studio in August. Chad chucked his advertising career to teach dance. He knew enough steps to get hired by a franchise studio in downtown Chicago and they trained him for three months before he ever saw his first student. Chad took a huge pay cut, but the joy of learning to dance and being able share that with couples he taught was far more rewarding. When he moved to DeKalb, he started looking for a place where he could teach dance. There was nothing in DeKalb, and he was thinking of going to Naperville, which has quite a few dance studios. But driving through Geneva, he noticed the newly opened Vargo’s Dance studio. It was everything he would have wanted to do in a studio of his own. And Jamie was looking for one more male dance instructor.

Some of the students Jamie and Chad teach are young couples about to be married. Chad and Jamie work with the couple to help them prepare for their wedding day. Some couples have a particular song they want for their first dance, and they’ll learn to dance to that song as part of the instruction. Other couples just want to learn enough to feel confident when they go out on the dance floor because they know everyone will be watching. Chad and Jamie work with them to make sure they are confident and ready for that big day.

Most of Vargo’s students, though, are couples over 40, many retired, and looking to take up dancing as an activity they can both enjoy on a regular basis. They have more leisure time and you can only do so much travelling. Dancing gives them something to do around town that is fun and healthy. Studies have shown that dancers have a reduced risk of dementia because dancing is not only a physical activity, but it also engages the mind as you learn the steps. According to Chad, dance is an exercise that does not require one to be in peak physical condition. Like golf, you can dance as long as you can move. And unlike golf, at least here, you can dance year round.

Jamie and Chad encourage couples to incorporate their dance lesson as a part of date night. A romantic dinner afterwards is the perfect way to cap an intimate evening begun with dancing at Vargo’s. Geneva has so many great restaurants to choose from. Chad says Geneva is the best date night town he’s seen outside Chicago. Jamie says there are a lot of hidden gems in town. It takes time to find them, but once you discover them it really makes you fall in love with Geneva. A lot of couples take that advice and many continue their dance lessons beyond the five recommended basic lessons. They want to learn more steps and to improve their skills and they really enjoy it as part of a night on the town.

Chad reflected on the fact that most of their students arrive at their door at one of two major turning points in their lives. When they’re about to get married and ready to make a lifelong commitment to one another and at retirement, when couples are looking to renew that commitment and regain the intimacy that sometimes gets lost over the course of building a career and raising a family.

Sometimes the process is emotionally draining and physically exhausting. Sessions can become very therapeutic as couples work together on patience and team-building. It touches many people very deeply because it’s something they may have wanted to do for a very long time, but for some reason or another they never found time. But everyone feels better for having made the decision to learn. Their only regret is not having done it sooner.

Perhaps no one feels better about the success of the couples learning to dance than Jamie and Chad. It’s obvious that they both love their work and care about their students. Their enthusiasm is contagious. I think it’s even beginning to affect me. If I’m not careful, I could present Vargo’s with their greatest challenge yet. Dorothy would love it.   

Join us at  from 6:30 to 9:30 Wednesday, Nov. 2, when we get a chance to meet Michelle Dene Reagan, the owner of at 207 S. Third St. Dene Gallery specializes in artistic jewelry.