For this very successful software engineer, ballroom dancing came as an unexpected hobby before tuning itself into so much more: a way of life where discipline, hard work and family were the ingredients not to just win competitions, but to live and fulfill life. Winning medals never changed who she was and through it all, she and her twin sister became affectionately known in the ballroom world as “team Soria.” She thanks her 19-dance training for keeping her in shape and constantly learning everything.
1. Introduction
Mercedes and her twin sister Paulina came from Ecuador to the US in 1994, with a scholarship to attend college in Tennessee.
However, they sadly discovered that dancing was not much of a culture in their new neighborhood like it was back home. One day, Paulina saw an ad in the newspaper asking for people who love to dance ballroom. The twins jumped at the opportunity and immediately fell in love with ballroom dancing. After a few months of training as “teachers in training” at Dance Connection, they decided to do it as a hobby, instead, to balance their professional careers as engineers better: one in computer science and the other in computer engineering.
2. First competition
By the middle of 1999, the twins thought that competition would be fun. Their first competition was Volunteer State 1999, and it was primarily a competition between the two of them, with each having her own pro partner – Ben Ermis (photo – left) for Mercedes.
The result: Mercedes won everything except for Merengue, which Paulina won. Paulina never let Mercedes forget that “you placed 2nd in Merengue!”
The sibling rivalry accompanied their whole lives, especially as members of the Chess team for their country, Ecuador – They loved the national Chess games. Overall, the twins just thrived in competition under pressure.
3. Rhythm
In 2000, Mercedes focused on Rhythm and competed at her first OSB, making the final (Bronze). Paulina was there to experience it with her, but she did not compete.
During those times, her studio ABC (American Ballroom Center) also experienced much success, winning the best studio honor at many competitions around the country.
4. Smooth
Ben and Shalene Archer were 3-time undefeated US Smooth champions. So, it was just a matter of time for Mercedes to excel in Smooth. She did after OSB 2000, winning 9-dance championships at such competitions as Volunteer State, Holiday Dance Classic, and Michigan Dance Challenge.
5. Latin
The first television dance competition the twins ever watched was the world’s Amateur Latin championship. They never got excited about any dance style more than about Latin. So, having done the 9-dance already, Mercedes decided to pick up Latin. Same results: many wins, medals, trophies, and a qualification to dance in the BOB finale at OSB 2005.
6. Ballroom
To round it all up, Mercedes finally picked up Ballroom and competed with Ben around the country, winning 10-dance at Holiday Dance Classic 2004 (Bronze) and 2005 (Silver).
By this time, she was dancing, on average, 20 hours a week for this “part-time job.”
7. 19-dancer and “team Soria”
Mercedes thoroughly enjoyed dancing all styles. Paulina suspended her dancing for a while before resuming it in earnest. As a result, some friends simply called them “team Soria” when they entered the ballroom at various competitions.
Mercedes enjoyed travelling and training with her twin sister very much. She loved the support system of Nashville ballroom dancers as a family.
8. Focus
Mercedes thoroughly enjoyed competing in all four styles as well. But then she set her sights high on one Open championship and decided to focus on just one style: Rhythm.
After making the finals in all the competitions she attended with Ben, including 5th in Open Rhythm at OSB 2007, they decided to train harder for a win at OSB 2008.
At Volunteer State Dance Challenge 2008, she placed 2nd after the then-reigning OSB Champion. So, OSB 2008 would be her time to win Open.
Unfortunately, that was her last competition before a 15-year break kicked in …
9. Derailment
Mercedes was not only doing great at her hobby of ballroom dancing (to which she also added an amateur partner as well), but also climbing the corporate ladder at a “Big 4” professional service firm. Her work was very demanding, and she needed to have an MBA to advance her career. So, she had to make a difficult choice: to continue training hard for ballroom dancing or to dedicate herself to earning an Executive MBA. She chose the latter, reluctantly suspending competitive ballroom dancing for “two years.”
She went on to get an MBA from Emory University and did classes at Harvard Business School and MIT in Business Strategy and Artificial Intelligence. As a result, what she thought would be “two years” was almost 15 years, as she also got married and moved away from Tennessee. Most significantly, she helped her husband Bill start a Silicon Valley Robotics company (Knightscope, Inc.).
If you have been successful with one startup, you should know how hard the work can be: It takes over your life, with a 16-hour workday being required.
Even while working on the startup, Mercedes never stopped going to at least watch the OSB annually, as rooting for her Nashville friends brought her much joy. She also did a bit of amateur dancing while in Silicon Valley and placed 1st at some amateur comps.
After founding a thriving ballroom dancing community in San Jose, CA, Mercedes decided to try to dance again. She has no pro partner yet, but she took lessons from a pro lady who was a finalist at Blackpool. Mercedes dipped her toes into ballroom dancing again and did some fun events like showcases and team dances.
Yes, Paulina showed up to cheer for her all the time!
10. The empty feeling and the shock
Mercedes did a little bit here and there, but what she craved the most about ballroom dancing was the competition aspect. Training, fitness, discipline, camaraderie between competitors, and hard work towards a goal were missing from her ballroom innate.
There was always that feeling in the back of her mind that something was missing.
The pandemic came in 2020. Like most people, Mercedes stayed home, but, by then, Paulina had moved to Silicon Valley. So, Mercedes was grateful to be with Paulina again, and they talked a lot about getting “team Soria” going again. They decided that as soon as the pandemic was over, they would find pro teachers, resuming competitive pro/am ballroom dancing together.
Unfortunately, Paulina would not be a part of “team Soria” again. She suddenly passed away due to an accident in July of 2020. Mercedes was very distraught and could not imagine competing without Paulina by her side. So, she stopped dancing altogether…
11. Wake-up
In 2022, Mercedes woke up, realizing that the best way to honor the memory of Paulina was to do what brought them so much joy: She would compete again and win as Paulina would have wished: She would make her sister be proud of her again!
So, after a 15-year break in ballroom dancing, she competed again …
Now, with Giovanni Leanza as the teacher, she focuses on Latin, competing all the way toward USDC 2024 …
Giovanni is from Italy. He is fun and accomplished. He and Mercedes have developed a great partnership. Very importantly for Mercedes, she now has new friends at the studio to train with and to enjoy dancing together.
12. Closing
Mercedes prides herself on continuous learning as a C-Level executive at Knightscope as well as a ballroom dancer. She has lived her life with and without competitive ballroom dancing, concluding that with is far better than without.
Mercedes aims high in Latin at USDC 2024 and/or OSB 2024! She is training for it. But whatever the result, she is sure that Paulina would be cheering on her from heaven …
