Kato teaching students.
Alex teaching students.
Alex Tecza and Kato Lindholm are professional ballroom dancers who met online in 2002 and became partners in life and dance. At that time, Kato identified as female, and danced with Alex as a traditional duo.
After Kato transitioned to male in 2016, the couple continued their partnership but were not allowed to compete in mainstream National Dance Council of America (NDCA) events as a same-sex duo.
In September of 2019, the NDCA, which governs competitions across the country, ruled that a couple will now be defined as a leader and a follower without regard to sex or gender.
This rule change allows Alex and Kato to compete in whatever categories they want to. Their androgynous choreographic style, in which follower and leader roles are fluidly switched, and their gender-neutral costuming, is starkly different from ballroom norms.
As Alex says, “When we go dancing at the competition, we go full out to dance and to compete. We don’t go just with the political message. But our sheer presence is a political message.”
