About Tommye Giacchino
Tommye Giacchino will be the Master Teacher teaching the vocational Dance Teacher Training Program and Certification at Ballroom University.
On any given day you can find Tommye training teachers, dance studio managers as well as top amateur and professional dancers. She travels the country as one of the top competing Pro/Am females and as a judge for National dance competitions. She is sought after to train staff and students in other schools throughout the U.S. She is also a DVIDA examiner for amateur students wanting to pass graded examinations and professionals wanting to earn a teacher’s certification.
She has been honored with numerous Top Teacher awards, as a highly recognized Pro/Am teacher at numerous competitions, and holds 5 NADTA championship Certifications. She tirelessly works to make Latin and ballroom dance accessible to everyone in the Chicagoland area by advising schools, festivals, and dance programs on curriculum as well as by offering expert commentary at public events and on television.
Tommye Giacchino began her career in her mother’s dance studio in Chicago, where taking class every day was a way of life. In her younger years, baton twirling and modeling were Tommye’s serious hobbies, becoming a National Twirling Champion at 12 years old, then coaching two teams and one individual to State Championships by the ripe age of 15. In addition to twirling, Tommye’s modeling career took off with more than 100 television and radio commercials, national print and placements, professional theatre performance and numerous beauty pageant titles. Tommye’s ballroom dance technique is supported by a foundation of 26 years of training in ballet and other forms of dance.
After seeing a live ballroom dance competition, she was hooked. She soon began competing in Amateur Standard and then, after turning professional, had numerous Rising Star successes in American Smooth. This was followed by a partnership with Gregory Day in 1996. In just three short years, the two were “United States Rising Star Champions,” US Open Cabaret Champions and winners of “The British Open Invitational Exhibition Championship” known to most as Blackpool. Gregory and Tommye have since traveled the world to perform and coach, taking them throughout Asia, Europe and almost every state in the USA. In addition to working for world-renowned jazz and ballet companies such as Gus Giordano, River North Dance Company and The Joffrey they have also performed extensively with major symphonies such as The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and The Elgin Symphony. They have been featured artists and have provided expert commentary on television programs around the world: PBS’s Championship Ballroom Dancing, “America’s Ballroom Challenge,” Eurosport, ESPN, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and WGN.
Tommye’s business career started in marketing for the Marriott’s, which turned into traveling the country and covering projects for Hanna-Barbera, Hallmark Cards, United Artists, and special events at the White House. That training gave her an edge to take over and grow a family manufacturing business. The family business was not her passion but working the company for years and making it grow allowed Tommye to sell the company and follow her passion for ballroom dancing. Eventually she co- created one of the area’s most successful ballroom competitions, Chicago’s Crystal Ball, and then her most rewarding and successful business adventure yet -Chicago’s most popular Latin and Ballroom dance schools, Chicago Dance. Now she continues to follow her passion for sharing her love of dance by launching the Ballroom University.
