Ex-Olympic gymnast spins and twirls for rumjungle diners

Kirk Baird

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000 | 8:53 a.m.

If Youlia Galenko has lost a step, you wouldn't know it.

The former rhythmic gymnast who won a gold medal for Russia in the '92 Olympics is 26 now -- in gymnastic terms, that's nearing middle age.

But as the slender Galenko emerged onto the narrow dance stage perched above the bar at the rumjungle restaurant, she was almost hypnotic as she strutted, jumped and seemingly glided to and fro, twirling a glowing rope above and below her, and everywhere in between to the pulsing beat of the music.

Even as the dance floor and bar was crowded with patrons busily soaking up the atmosphere and themselves, everyone seemed to at least look up and notice her. Bedecked in a tight suit with phosphorescent green markings under intense neon lights, she was difficult to miss.

Then as quickly as she emerged, she vanished behind the steel frames of the scaffolding. The whole routine lasted but a few minutes, but Galenko seemed pleased with her performance. In fact, she was actually quite happy to be performing again.

"I'm not too old for gymnastics," Galenko said backstage between routines. "Doing this show gave me an opportunity to prolong my career.

"You finish gymnastics at an early age -- 18 or 19. That's it, you can't compete anymore," she said. "That's why it's good for me to do this."

For Galenko, who was born in Moscow, gymnastics have been a part of her life since the age of 8 -- two practices a day, almost every day. "We have to sacrifice," she said, laughing.

But after winning the gold, all that came to an end. She had worked most of her life for one shining moment, achieved it, and then, nothing. Nothing at all. The next day, Galenko said, she was old news, so to speak, and soon people began to forget about her. "Not that I have sad memories," she's quick to add, "but that's the reality of it."

So, she came to the United States later that year with a traveling show of dancers. Galenko liked the country so much that when she was offered a role in an international production in Los Angeles, she took it.

When told of her plans to live in the United States, she said her family was supportive. "I was raised to be independent because I was making decisions all my life," Galenko said.

When the producer of the show later moved to Reno and offed her a job in '96, she decided to take it. This time she would be mixing more of her gymnastics background with dance.

Then came her involvement in rumjungle's night production. Now taking the stage every Thursday through Saturday, five times a night, Galenko made her debut New Year's Eve. And although there are some similarities to her performance on the gymnastics mat, such as the props -- ribbon, ball, rope -- there is the notable difference in the styles of music and routine.

In her gymnastic days, she would perform carefully choreographed routines to mainly classical pieces. At the rumjungle (at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino), she never knows what music will be playing -- although it's always high-energy dance tunes -- so she cannot map out dance numbers. Rather, she simply has to improvise.

Working with the props while in considerably smaller work environs than Galenko is accustomed to takes, in her words, "a lot of coordination." But when asked if it was more difficult than her gymnastics routines, she smiled.

"You cannot compare the styles, both are challenging in some way." But, she added, in the rumjungle, "I don't have the pressure of the competition. And there are no deductions from judges."

There's also her aerial routine in which, with a harness, Galenko attaches herself to a wire stretching across the club. She then zooms out across the dance floor, about 15 feet high at some points, and twists, rolls and flips to the music while people stare up in amazement. Periodically she'll pause long enough over one spot where male patrons reach to touch her outstretched hands.

Sometimes they'll offer her a drink, she said with a laugh, not thinking about how she can keep it.

Although she admits to being afraid of heights, Galenko said that the aerial display doesn't bother her. In fact, it ties in nicely with her attitude toward living.

"I think all your life you should try something different, try something new," she said.

As for her future, she and her husband of five years would like to have children -- two, to be exact. And Galenko plans on enrolling in dental school to become a dentist like her mother. Being a dentist is something she said she always wanted to do -- maybe even more than gymnastics.

Until then, however, there's her performing, which she said she'll probably retire from in three more years.

"Then again, who knows," she said. "I might be doing it until I turn 40."