While the dance is the epitome of Peruvian tradition and culture, two of its greatest proponents are living in a much more modern world a hemisphere away. Maria Del Mar "Mary Mar" Robles and her brother, Carlos, have won a combined 18 dance championships. The two emigrated to Sunnyvale from Peru with their family eight years ago, and it was only since they arrived in the United States that they started racking up the trophies.

Their reign over the Peruvian dance world may be slowing down, however. After graduating from Fremont High School in June, Mary Mar just began her freshman year at Santa Clara University, studying economics and finance with an eye toward law school. And Carlos may find himself just as busy—as a freshman at Wilcox High School, he's planning on playing three sports in addition to participating in band.

But the two, as American as they can be with matching cell phones and sibling squabbles, still love dancing. "When I dance, I feel like I'm a girl in Peru again," Mary Mar says. "My teacher would tell me the story behind the dance, so it's a way to keep the culture alive."

At that, Carlos raises a wary eye. "I dance to win," he says with a grin.

Before the school year began, the two had a last hurrah of sorts. Mary Mar shook off a recently dislocated right knee to dance both with her brother and another partner at a competition in August in San Bruno. "This competition was new," she explains, "and I figured that it wouldn't hurt to dance on [the knee] one last time." When brother and sister danced together, they placed second in the competition—second only to the current world champions in this form of dance. They later found out the winners weren't technically eligible for the award, but they say it was OK.

"We were on their level, and that's what we wanted to prove," Carlos says, "that dancers from the U.S. could be just as good."

Mary Mar and Carlos' dance education did begin in Peru, where the two were born. Mom Maria was a kindergarten teacher there, while dad Ronald served in the Peruvian army. When Mary Mar was six, a dancer relative recommended that she go to a dance academy.

"A lot of families dance together," Maria says. "It's a family activity."

Much Peruvian dance takes place in large groups of dancers, while the marinera is just for two. And while the Robleses weren't competitive dancers themselves, as a young couple they enjoyed attending one of the big annual dance competitions that take place in the city of Trujillo. Enrolling Mary Mar for dance lessons seemed like a natural step.

It was also natural for Carlos to pick it up as well, though no one knew it at the time. He was 3 when his big sister started taking lessons, and his love for the music pushed him to practice on his own.

"Since I was shy, I would always go to the bathroom and copy what the teacher was doing," he says. Someone finally caught him there, and he made his dancing debut at a festival at the school where his mother taught.

"I spun around 360 degrees in the air and landed on my knees," he says. The move caught many spectators by surprise.

But the two didn't begin their lessons in earnest until the family came to the U.S. in 1996. Ronald's mother and sisters already lived in the U.S., and his position with the army seemed vulnerable in a changing political environment. After getting their visas, the family settled in the same house in north Sunnyvale where they still live, and became citizens several years ago. Ronald now works at Cisco Systems, and Maria is the assistant director at a local day care center.

"Once we came over here, we got better really quickly," Carlos says. The two joined the rich ethnic dance scene in the Bay Area, getting to know fellow Peruvian dancers in Hayward and San Francisco. Their first dance group, called El Tunante, formed at the prompting of the Peruvian consulate to bring the Peruvian community together.

They're now part of a group called the Kanchis, which dances regularly at events like the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and Cinco de Mayo parades, and gets its various members together to learn new steps.

"We're learning all sorts of dances with the Kanchis, from all over Peru," Mary Mar says. "A lot of the people in that group are friends of our family, and they all get together and dance." In fact, Mary Mar met her boyfriend of two years, Chris, through her dancing. They were originally partners—and hated each other.

At first, Carlos and Mary Mar didn't dance together because their different stages in development posed a problem. "The dance doesn't work well when you're different heights," Mary Mar says. "Our teacher said that he wanted to find us partners."

Once partners were found and costumes were bought, both dancers were caught up in a whirlwind of competitions across the U.S. that left medals, sashes and tons of framed pictures in their wake across the walls of the Robles home. Trying to remember which competition was which is difficult even for those who participated in them.

What is not easy to forget is that Mary Mar has won four "national" championships and Carlos has won 14—a national championship in the Peruvian dance world is not one given once a year, but is rather the name of the title bestowed at certain competitions. Carlos has also racked up six titles called "Champion of Champions"—an intimidating title indeed, but one that he enjoys defending across the country.

"I love traveling and I love planes. I've flown an airplane before," he says. "I'm thinking about being an aeronautics engineer."

He dances outside the competition circuit as well—he'll perform for money at weddings and other events with partners in the area. "I feel really good when I'm dancing, like I have a special energy," Carlos says. Both the Robles children bring friends to local competitions to cheer them on, even if those friends are more familiar with American sports than with Peruvian dance.

But through the confusing mass of competitions and locations stands a unique experience—in 2000, Mary Mar and Carlos performed separately in Trujillo, Peru, at the same competition their parents had enjoyed attending when they were young. "It was like going to Disneyland, we were so excited," Mary Mar says. "There are 350 couples competing, and it lasts a whole week."

The competition is held in January, right at the height of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, making for some uncomfortable situations for Mary Mar because women dance the marinera with bare feet. Practicing outside in the sun for five hours a day was difficult, but making it inside the arena was all worth it.

"You walk out through the tunnel, and there are thousands of people there. There's so much noise," Carlos says. "It's so scary out there."

The two persevered over their anxieties, though—Carlos was ranked 18th at that competition, while Mary Mar got 28th. They have returned to the same competition several times.

After Carlos caught up to Mary Mar's height, they began to compete together, and won the title at Festidanza 2003 in San Francisco last summer. Because winners in Peruvian dance competitions aren't allowed to compete for the same titles twice, Carlos will largely be prohibited from competing until he turns 20 because of all the titles they won while in Mary Mar's age group.

It's doubtful that he'll continue to compete with her in any case. Mary Mar wasn't able to keep up with his title-winning pace in high school because of her myriad activities. In addition to bringing her dancing expertise to the Fremont Featherettes, she was also on the mock trial team, vice president of the student body, a member of the Latinas Club and a participant in the drama program.

Her schedule will likely be even more packed due to the demands of college. She's thinking about starting a Hispanic folkloric dance group at Santa Clara, but her interests have already shifted to her potential career in law, which is why she's thinking about getting involved with student government.

For now, Carlos is staying busy with contests in Los Angeles and New Jersey, competing with various partners who live in different parts of the country, and will likely continue performing for hire as his job. So even if Mary Mar is starting to leave Peruvian dance behind, Carlos will always be around to indulge her.

But even though the marinera requires siblings to impersonate romantic partners, it doesn't stop Mary Mar and Carlos from having normal sibling rivalries.

"When we dance together, we would get in arguments, but we have a way of communicating without talking," Carlos says, adding on an example of a stereotypical younger brother in a matter-of-fact fashion. "But I would tell her that if she danced with another partner, that she was going to lose."