In Memoriam: Janis Maria Merluzzo

Eight-time USA Dance amateur ballroom champion Janis Maria Merluzzo died peacefully at her Sarasota, Florida on June 5, less than a month after being diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer, surrounded by her family and her longtime dance partner, Daniel Fugazzatto.  She was 73.

Janis was born on December 23, 1947 in Providence, Rhode Island to Tina Carlotti Merluzzo and Louis Francis Merluzzo. Her gifts of athleticism and grace were evidence from a young age. She began studying ballet at the age of 3 and eventually trained and performed with the Providence Ballet. Her commitment to dance would remain strong for the rest of her life.

Janis spent three decades teaching physical education, health and psychology, primarily at Mahwah High School in New Jersey. During her teaching tenure she impacted the lives of hundreds of students, several of whom she remained in contact with until her death.

In 2002, Janis retired from teaching and moved to Sarasota, Florida, where she had previously vacationed. She soon became re-immersed in the dance world, this time training in ballroom dance which, she always said, required her to “un-learn” much of what she had instilled during her ballet training.

It was at the Sarasota studio where she first took ballroom lessons that, in 2004, she met Daniel Fugazzatto, a multi-talented professional musician, who would become her competitive dance partner and closest companion. Within six months they began competing as an amateur couple on the USA Dance circuit, performing all dances in both American and International styles in the Senior I and II divisions. They won their first National USA Dance championship in 2010 and would go on to win seven more titles before retiring from active competition in 2017. In recent years they performed frequent exhibitions at Gulf Coast events and dances, at many of which Daniel also supplied the musical entertainment.

Her competitive involvement soon led to Janis assume the reins of the Sarasota White Sands Chapter of USA Dance as its president and driving force. She would remain on the board for more than 15 years, filling every role except Secretary/Treasurer. She increased the chapter’s activities, visibility and membership and put into place responsible bookkeeping and accounting practices.

Janis organized the chapter’s weekly dances and music selections, initiated frequent special events (many of them fundraisers for cancer organizations, food banks and other charitable causes, or tributes to veterans) and was instrumental in encouraging other local amateur couples to try competing. In recent years, she and Daniel recruited and trained the chapter’s first formation team, which performed for local groups and at several Florida competitions.

Dance was not Janis’s only interest. The walls of her home were filled with the results of her award-winning work as an accomplished amateur photographer. She was an avid and astute reader and a creative and gifted crafter, excelling in the art of paper quilling. She also maintained a disciplined exercise routine, keeping pace with women half her age.

Janis never met a challenge she wasn’t willing to take on, nor one she didn’t think she could conquer. Wherever she chose to direct her energy, it was with commitment, purpose, capability and confidence.

She is survived by her brother Robert and his wife Cheryl, of Narragansett, RI and their children, Steven and Michael; her sister Lois Merluzzo of Connecticut and her children Rachel Gordon and Alexander Handweger, and her life and dance partner, Daniel Fugazzatto, of Sarasota, Florida. At Janis’s request, there will be no public funeral service or memorial; a mass will be held in her honor in Providence, RI. Donations may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, which assists wounded veterans of military actions since September 11, 2001.

The dance world will miss her energy, talent and dedication.

--by Carrie Seidman