Dr. Christopher P. Kales, M.D.
April 26, 1956-January 23, 1992
Photo courtesy Rush University Medical Center Archives
Dr. Christopher P. Kales got his start in skating at the Wagon Wheel Figure Skating Club, training alongside Janet Lynn, David Santee and Kath Malmberg with coach Slavka Kohout. He made his national debut at the 1969 U.S. Championships in Berkeley, placing eighth in the novice men's event. The following year at the U.S. Championships in Tulsa, he placed third in the school figures in the same event, and seventh overall. At his last trip to the U.S. Championships in 1976, he finished eighth in the senior men's event. He went on to make his mark in the ballet world and become a respected physician in Manhattan, specializing in internal medicine and immunology. In 1984 he recalled, "My family told me I must make a choice - dance or become a doctor. As it turned out, I got to do both. I tried out and was accepted by the Joffrey Ballet but discovered I would have to wait six months before actually joining the company. Rush Medical College had given me a year off, so the Joffrey company found me a place in the Theater Ballet of Canada. I danced with them for a year. I [discovered that the] idea of muscles was no longer important... and that the performance as a whole was more important than the actual mechanisms of dance. I returned to medical school, feeling that treating the whole person - a [holistic] approach to medicine, if you will - was the direction I wanted to take." He passed away on January 23, 1992 at the age of thirty-five.
Christopher's obituary from "The New York Times": "Dr. Christopher P. Kales, a physician and a former professional ballet dancer and national figure skating competitor, died Jan. 23 at New York University Medical Center. He was 35 years old and was a resident of Manhattan. He died of encephalitis resulting from complications from AIDS, said Patrick M. Webb, his companion of 14 years. Dr. Kales was born in Chicago and grew up there and in Rockton, Ill. He learned ice skating as a teenager and became a gold medalist in competitions sponsored by the United States Figure Skating Association. He ranked eighth among senior men when he last competed in 1976. While teaching skating part time, he earned his bachelor's degree at Yale. He then studied ballet for a year at the David Howard school, a prominent studio in Manhattan, before enrolling at Rush Medical College in Chicago. He took a break from his medical studies to perform with the Theater Ballet of Canada, based in Ottawa, in 1981 and 1982. He returned to Rush to finish his medical degree in 1984. He is survived by his parents, Mildred and Rudolph, of Chicago."
*Source for inclusion: Robert John Quinn's Memorial Books, The History Project (Boston and Massachusetts LGBTQ+ Archive)
