She fought cancer on the dance floor

Wednesday, April 8, 1998 | 10:20 a.m.

Nationally acclaimed Las Vegas ballroom dancer Donna Medrano competed with such enthusiasm and poise that one judge commented in a magazine article a few years ago that she was "the best" female performer at a major competition.

Medrano instilled that competitive desire in the hundreds of UNLV students who took her ballroom dancing classes since 1989, including her formation dance team that won numerous regional first place trophies.

Medrano's recent plans were to start a local high school ballroom dancing program to encourage teenagers to get involved with the sport that will make its Olympic debut at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.

For the past three years, Medrano also battled breast cancer. On March 28, she lost that fight at age 39. But family and friends say Medrano's indelible spirit and her aspirations to achieve the best in herself and for her students will live on.

A memorial service for the Las Vegas resident of 17 years is set for 2:30 p.m. April 19 at the Assembly of God Calvary Community Church, 2900 N. Torrey Pines Drive.

In the mid-1990s, at the U.S. Ballroom Championships, Medrano placed 13th overall with then-partner David Fernandez.

"This is a very sad loss for Las Vegas and the dance community," said Fernandez, who now is partnered with Medrano's friend Josie Lopez. Together, they operate the Step By Step School of Ballroom Dancing in Las Vegas.

"Donna wanted to put Las Vegas on the (ballroom dancing) map, and she did that with the success of her formation dance team," Fernandez said. "She never settled for second best."

Fernandez noted that in an issue of Dance Beat, a ballroom dancing publication, professional dance judge Stephen Cullip of Seattle said Medrano was "the best woman on the floor."

Medrano's husband, Rene Medrano, said his wife wanted to make her presence felt during competitions and leave her mark on the sport.

"In competition, she displayed such zeal and professionalism," he said. "She taught her students to have that competitive zeal not only on the dance floor but also in life after they had earned their degrees."

Carol Ray, who founded the UNLV dance department in 1976 and was its first chairman, hired Medrano in 1989.

"When Donna walked in (for the job interview) she lit up the room," Ray, who today is a UNLV dance professor, said. She was so tall, thin, beautiful and talented.

"Hiring Donna wasn't merely the act of filling a position. She was the quintessential role model for dancing -- a dancer's dancer."

When Medrano took over, UNLV offered just two beginners classes in ballroom dancing. Today, under Medrano's leadership, eight classes ranging from beginner to intermediate to advanced dancing are offered.

And, despite the pain she endured battling cancer, Medrano remained on the competitive dance floor job as long as she could. She competed up until late 1996 and taught her final class last October.

Born Donna M. Gamble on Feb. 18, 1959, in Oklahoma, she was raised in Louisiana. Medrano began dancing at age 3, but did not take up ballroom dancing until 1978. She was introduced to it at a disco when she saw a professional dance couple do the cha-cha.

"It was touch dancing and the music was contemporary," Medrano said in a 1994 SUN story. "They were just wonderful."

Medrano became an instructor for Fred Astaire and Arthur Murray dance studios. She moved to Las Vegas in 1981 and opened a dance studio at Jones Boulevard and Sahara Avenue with ballroom dance coach and judge Pete Taylor.

Standing about 5 feet 9 inches tall, Medrano danced in stage shows in Lake Tahoe and was in the "Moulin Rouge" troupe at the Las Vegas Hilton for five years.

Shortly after becoming UNLV's ballroom dance teacher, she established the formation dance team that won the Southwest Regionals and other major competitions.

While she was teaching several classes at both UNLV and the Community College of Southern Nevada, Medrano was competing with Fernandez in major events nationwide. They won several titles in the rising star division, the class just below open competition.

In 1995, Medrano was diagnosed with breast cancer. A year later, she ended her six-year partnership with Fernandez so that he could find a healthy partner and continue to advance his career.

Fernandez said such unselfishness on the part of Medrano was not surprising. He also said that her pride would not have allowed her to continue to compete at a level below the high standard she had set for herself.

Medrano then concentrated on her teaching, stressing the value of exercise, even for dancers who had no desire to compete on the pro or amateur levels.

"Ballroom dancing is a disguise," she told the SUN. "People come in and exercise, but they don't realize they are exercising. When they are done, they realize it."

Five months ago, inoperable cancer spread to Medrano's spine. She was bedridden for several weeks and died in her sleep at her home.

In addition to her husband, Medrano is survived by her mother, Jackie Gamble of Houston; two brothers, Wallace Gamble of Houston and Russell Gamble of Lafayette, La.; and a sister, Jackie Murillo of Houston.