Maria Thiakos is a UIC flames dancer. She first auditioned for the UIC Flames at the beginning of her freshman year in the fall 2008. She first started out with ballet when she was four years old. She did ballet for four years. Maria explains, “After I turned eight, I quit ballet and took up figure skating. I skated for eight consecutive years and also was a part of the poms teams in Jr. High and High School on the side.” After her high school graduation, she stopped skating and started dancing again with UIC Dancing Flames.
She says, “After my first year, I took a year off from the team because of Architecture school, but once I switched my majors, I came back to the team during the spring 2010 auditions.”
Maria switched her major to communications. She said, “I figured I would have several opportunities for jobs after graduation with this major.” She thought communications would be a good major for broad range of fields. After she graduates in May of 2012, she plans to get a job in the field of public relations in the entertainment industry. She also plans to continue dancing and wants to audition for the Chicago Luvabulls.
She will also be appearing on MTV on a new show that is currently untitled with Dan Savage who is a dating/sex columnist. She says, “I was first was contacted through Face book about the show and after several conversations with casting producers, they loved my story and chose me to be filmed talking with Dan about it.” She was filmed at her apartment which took about three hours. “I shared a personal relationship issue I had with him, and he gave me great advice for it. I learned a lot from Dan. This was definitely a highlight of my senior year!”
Between classes, dance practices, events, and work she doesn’t have much free time but she tries to make time for her friends. She says, “It’s unfortunate that I can’t hang out with my group of friends as often as I would like to because we’re all pretty close just like a family. However, I still manage to squeeze in a fun night out here and there!”