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Dancing To The Beat Of Love

By Staff

February 9, 2006 | 12:00 a.m. CST

Carlos Silva and Lori Thweatt consider themselves physical people, and it shows in almost everything they do.

It’s after 8 p.m. on a Wednesday, and Carlos, Lori and their 9-month-old daughter, Elina, are enjoying their first time all day as a family. The couple sits on a carpet square, which covers one-eighth of their living room’s hardwood floor.

A radio sits atop a small table in one corner. It’s the room’s only furniture. Babbling happily, Elina crawls amongst toys and examines ones that catch her eye.

Before Carlos and Lori were married in May 2004, they lived very different lives. Carlos grew up in Maranhão, a state of Brazil. Curious to learn English and to experience another culture, he moved to Columbia. He spent time in larger cities, but eventually he returned to mid-Missouri.

Lori grew up in northern Boone County and spent 20 years living in an old farmhouse with no running water. Different as they were, their paths crossed one September night in 2003 at a mutual friend’s party.

“I came over to her, and I said, ‘Listen, you dance good,’” Carlos says. “And she was like, ‘Oh, I just do my own thing.’”

Lori picks up her daughter and gently bounces her in front of the large mirror in one corner of the room. Elina squeals and reaches for her reflection.

Carlos watches her as he continues his story. Lori wouldn’t give him her number, so he gave out his instead. When Lori called two weeks later, Carlos had a problem. “I had no clue who Lori was,” he says. The words barely escape before he starts laughing, and Lori joins in. “You forgot me,” she says, as if she could take that call back. “Nevermind then.”

Before returning to the carpet, Lori swoops up a rattle from the floor and hands it to Elina. She sits on her mother’s lap and gives the rattle a few experimental shakes.

Used to the noise, Carlos gives the rest of the details. Despite his mental slip, he made a date with Lori at Lakota Coffee Company, and the relationship progressed from that point. Lori went on a trip to Guatemala and returned in January 2004. Carlos popped the question in February, and shortly after getting engaged, she went on a trip to Mexico.

“He asked me to marry him and have children,” Lori says. Carlos slips in the next sentence: “And then when I said that, she left me for almost a month. She went to another country.”

Soon after exchanging vows, Carlos and Lori bought a house on West Broadway. Lori says she liked the massive yard that surrounded the dark-brown house, and Carlos says he liked its hardwood floors. He planned to convert part of the house into a dance studio. Tired of sitting on the carpet, Carlos lies down on his side. Elina takes advantage of the moment and starts climbing on his legs.

Carlos has been dancing most of his life. During his teenage years in Brazil, he’d go out with friends and dance samba. He learned salsa and merengue in the United States and met a Russian woman who persuaded him to start teaching in 1994. Now Carlos teaches dance from their home, and Lori helps with the instruction. An assorted group of college students, musicians, massage therapists and other professionals take these weekend courses, which are for beginning and intermediate dancers.

Patrick Peritore, a political science professor at MU, is one of Carlos’ intermediate students. He says Carlos is very patient and nonjudgmental, which is important in an instructor. “Most people feel foolish as it is,” Patrick says.

“It’s always fun,” Lori says. “It’s a small group. You get to know these people, and you get to watch them be awkward and then learn something and then come back.”

But the couple does more than help people find their Latin groove. Carlos works part time for an apartment building owner and attends the Massage Therapy Institute of Missouri.

Carlos wants to become a licensed massage therapist like Lori, who has a private business above Tellers Gallery & Bar. She’s been massaging her small loyal band of clients since 1986.

Elina is off the carpet and crawling near the room’s cold fireplace. Carlos hunches over her; his hands lightly touch her sides as she continues her burbling. Elina is always with one or both of her parents. Lori calls it attachment parenting, which means Carlos and Lori have few moments to themselves. “It’s like having company all the time,” she says.

Carlos stands and begins tossing Elina into the air. The family sets aside every other Sunday to do something as a family, such as taking a walk, renting a movie or working on the house.

Otherwise, Lori says their time is scheduled tightly. “Most nights we’re all three tired, so usually it’s dinner and bed,” she says. “That’s it.”

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