Much apologies for my delay in the latest news with the Slavik and Ekaterina partnership!
Ekaterina just announced last week that she will be retiring from competitive dancesport
Very sad news for all the fans we had eagerly anticipated this partnership to blossom!
I wonder what was behind her decision to quit? In her letter to Dancesportinfo she mentions that she wants to continue her education of psychology and
philosophy, together with study of literature and creative art....so perhaps those were her reasons. Her dancing will sadly be missed!
Does anyone know what will happen to Slavik now? I hope he finds a suitable partner soon...
Slavik Kryklyvyy will be dancing with Ekaterina Lapaeva! How exciting! I had written about this being a potentially good match more than a year ago here.
I do not think they are involved in a romantic relationship, so I hope that they will have the chemistry to make this partnership work. His partnership with Hanna Karttunen definitely needed this!
Thanks to a very astute reader for sending me a link with an interview with Slavik to alert me of this new partnership! Thanks to another reader for his comment to my post that alerted me to this!
Slavik definitely has a good chance with Ekaterina. She is a seasoned pro and I hope they will make this partnership work. He definitely needs to dance with her for more than a year to establish this partnership first then see if they can progress further in the ranks. I am predicting that they should make the finals at least.
This girl is fabulous I think! Just look the passion and charisma she brings in this WSSDF Latin video with Anton Karpov! She definitely has a style all her own for sure.
This is definitely Slavik's last chance to rise to the top I think. His age is catching up, but he is still a brilliant dancer. I think Ekaterina is definitely a better woman to reach for the top with than Franco's choice to dance with Olga Muller. I have high hopes for this partnership! (Please make it work Slavik, if you reading this!) What do you guys think? Will he finally find someone he can rise to the top with?
Anna Melnikova and her new husband, Justinas Duknauskas debuted a full out show with five dances in Hong Kong. Forgive the video for being pretty dark.
Anna's hair has gotten really long with extensions, so she actually looks a bit like Karina Smirnoff from far away. Her dancing and her style in the video reminded me a bit of Ekaterina Lapaeva, especially if you watch the cha cha portion. It appears she really wants to move on from her old partnership and create a unique style of her own with Justinas. She is still amazing and would deserve to be one of the top six ladies in the world.
Youtube comments were fairly harsh comparing Justinas to Slavik Kryklyvyy and Stefano di Fillipo. Of course, when you are being compared to the legendary Slavik, it will be hard to measure up on the first try.
Like I said before, Justinas is very young. They have potential. Will they make it into the finals in a major competition? Probably not yet with them being so new, but definitely in the top ten.
UPDATE: Ekaterina has decided to retire, so Slavik is now out of a partner!
UPDATE: Thank you very much to the kind readers that have alerted me that indeed Slavik has a new partnership with Ekaterina.
Few weeks ago, I had said that Slavik Kryklyvvy's dance career was over because the chances of him getting back to competition with Karina Smirnoff were slim.
However, the only top and single lady left, Ekaterina Lapaeva ( the former partner of Justinas Duknauskas) is really underrated and luckily very good.
This lady hasn't received that much attention, but just by watching this rumba of her and Justinas, you can see how special she is. She is very dramatic in her expressions like Karina and some of her intricate body movements remind me of Joanna Leunis. She also is very emotional like Melia, but with much better technique.
Slavik Kryklyvyy has the reputation for dating and losing his dance partners.
The latest rumor from is that Slavik will get back with Karina Smirnoff...but only for shows. Dancesport.ru reported that Slavik said this at the Rhythm 2010 tournament, but he says this is still undecided.
Which brings us to the question: is competition over for Slavik?
Slavik is now 34. Bryan Watson, former world champion was 39 when he retired.
It didn't seem like too long ago when he was ranked second in the world with Karina Smirnoff and ranked third Elena Khvorova.He had a brief partnership with Hanna Karttenen, but you could just see in they had no connection on the dance floor.
His latest partnership with Anna Melnikova was by far the most promising after Karina.
They had chemistry, she's a good height for him, and she's also very talented.
Yet, Slavik's reputation for losing his partners remained when they broke up after only a year of dancing.
Slavik is known for difficult to partner. Elena has said this and there were constant rumors of fighting between him and Karina.
I've noticed that his choreography has also really changed. With Karina, the figures were more connected and there is less separation.
In his samba with Anna in the UK, you can see the use of more solo choreography.
Personally, I think Slavik could not break into the top 4 because of the choreography, not because of his or Anna's technique.
For Slavik to make it, he needs a lady that is good and a partnership that will last. The top 6 ladies are now all taken and in fairly stable relationships. The closest single top lady is Ekaterina Lapaeva, who recently spilt from Justinas Duknauskas.
Slavik could do what Franco Formica did and dance with his best student and make her his partner. Oxana Lebedew is now a star.
Hopefully it isn't over for this brilliant dancer, but his odds aren't looking great at the moment.
They were ranked top 5 in the world and it seemed that Slavik Kryklyvyy had
finally found someone he actually looked very good with post Karina. Although he had higher results with Elena, Anna and him had this unbelievable chemistry!
But the impending split looked real, if you look at the World Super Stars rumba from this year. The song choice, Micheal Buble's "Always on your mind" is a break up tone and Anna doesn't appear to even want to go near Slavik. Towards the end...and you can just see that at 5:16, Slavik doesn't want to let this beautiful woman go.
They were dating they began dancing together. Slavik has a history of dating his partners-from Karina to Elena to Anna. So does Anna. Anna dated Stefano di Fillipo and Slavik and now is rumoured to be dating Justinas Duknauskas!
Slavik is rumoured to be dancing again with Karina Smirnoff! Let's all hope that it's true...or I can't see Slavik making the top 3 with anyone else. I hope that Karina will stop wasting her talent on Dancing with the Stars and finally be crowned winner in Blackpool.
Meanwhile, since Justinas and Ekaterina split up around the same time and Anna is rumoured to be dating Justinas, my bet is that we will see them on the dancefloor together very soon!
