Slavik and Karina dance again at Blackpool 2015!

There was also a special treat at Blackpool with Slavik and Karina dancing again.

If only they would compete again at Blackpool...with all the retirements, if they trained hard they would have a good shot at the finals I think!

The video of their beautiful rumba is below:

 

Big Surprise: Justinas Duknauskas and Anna Melnikova split!!!!

NOTE: Rumor is that Anna Menikova and Nino Langella will be dancing together. They should be on fire! 


Wow just news that  Justinas Duknauskas and Anna Melnikova have split!

What a surprise! They were married and both intend to continue with new partners. A

Justinas and Anna at their wedding

All the content in this blog posts are property of Ballroom Dance Gossip. 

Could this mean they broke up in their professional life as well? I know they have a daughter together and I was wondering what happened to Justinas on Anna's instagram as there recently there have been very few pictures of him. None since 5 months ago anyways!

I am saddened by this and I hope they both continue their respective dance careers. Any thoughts on who they should partner next?

Should Slavik try again with her as a partner? I just watched Ballroom Dancer again and it really did seem like he loved her and then lost her to Justinas. He needs to be gentle with her though and dance with her and not do all the solos he does in a competition.

If Slavik wants to come back, I think that he should dance with Anna or any other amazing girl, but he should lower his expectations a bit initially. I think they could have been in the Top 3 if he had persevered and not been as hard on her. Sometimes winning is about waiting for the couples above you to retire...

I don't want to speculate, but I am guessing a rift might have been caused due to the fact that Anna and Justinas dance results were quite disappointing and they didn't seem to gel together as dance partners the way Anna used to with Slavik or Stefano or Justinas did with Ekaterina.

Comments are Youtube were always quite critical about this partnership and about the fact that Anna was simply more talented than Justinas. I don't necessarily agree with that that was the reason their partnership failed,  as I just think that as a couple, Anna and Justinas' dance styles didn't match that well and it showed in their results.

For instance arguably, in the partnership of Sergey and Melia, Sergey is the better dancer; in the partnership of Yulia and Riccardo, Yulia is the better dancer; and in the partnership of Michal and Joanna, Joanna is the better dancer. However, these couples still shine because the individual styles in the partnership complement each other.

Anna's dancing became more subdued with Justinas, and Justinas is not grounded or intense enough for her in his movements and he seems to make a lot of extra movements. She needs a dancer that brings out her fierceness and is a very masculine figure to her. In her partnership with Justinas she almost became the masculine figure because her style is so different from his. I still like her the best with Stefano, but she was also great and developing well when she was with Slavik. Justinas looked fine with Ekaterina because she's a softer dancer and she does a lot of extra movement as well, so they actually complement each other. Watch the videos to see if you agree with me.

Please comment if you here of any other news!





Slavik and all his solo wwhile dancing with Anna



Slavik holding Anna closely at the end.



Stefano and Anna looking amazing at the World Champions!



Justinas and Ekaterina

The way they were: The couples I miss the most from the dance floor!

Back after a long hiatus! Publishing some new posts :)


I know that all ballroom dance fanatics such as I have couples that they miss the most! I get very nostalgic trolling on Youtube and I thought I would share with you some of the most iconic couples that have broken up, yet have undoubtedly left a mark in the world of ballroom dancing!

1. Slavik Kryklyvyy and Karina Smirnff

They were young. They were hot. They were so talented!
Slavik and Karina were also in a private relationship while they danced together for four years.I remember reading in an interview that he had kissed her randomly when she was having a phone conversation and that was how their relationship began. The couple was known for their explosive dancing...and their rumoured explosive fights! I believe that their professional partnership was over when they broke up as romantic partners.

For me, their dancing was absolute perfection. Their chemistry, their technique....it just came across as very geniune and real!

I know Slavik has tried to find a partnership that could finally allow him to become the World Champion, but he has never been able to finding a partnership that lasted as long as his with Karina's

From watching the clips of Ballroom Dancer, it appears he is very much a perfectionist and this probably drove his former partners away.

Also with the release of Ballroom Dancer, we now know for certain that Slavik has retired. It is funny that if they had lasted another few years and continued to dance together after the retirement of Bryan Watson and Carmen Vincelji, they would have surely won Blackpool and become the World Champions.

Isn't this video cute? I have also posted their reunion videos. PLEASE continue to dance together, so I can make it to you show next near at Dance Legends!





2. Stefano di Fillipo and Anna Melnikova

This couple was smoulderingly hot! Stefano was a beast on the dance floor...and Anna was so gorgeous! They both still are amazing, but personally, I think they were the best together.

Like Slavik and Karina, Stefano and Anna entered into this partnership as a private couple. However, they soon broke up afterwards and Anna started to date Slavik. However, Stefano and Anna continued to partner each other and together they won the Amateur World Championships and Blackpool.

This couple just complemented each other so well. Stefano might not have the perfect refinement of Slavik, but he brings sheer masculinity and FUN to his dancing. At that point, I thought that Anna brought out the best of her herself. She was the most confident, sexy and dynamic in this partnership!

Although Stefano had a very successful partnership with Olga Urumova, their chemistry wasn't as natural. He is very solid at the moment with his wife Daria, but I miss the boldness he had as an amateur. I felt that Anna became less bold during her partnership with Slavik. With Justinas Duknauskas, she has really toned it down and become a more subtle dancer in my opinion. I think a lot of it has to do with the amount of energy she gets to feed on and also how comfortable she is in that partnership.

The saddest words are "what it might have been": The partnership between Slavik and Daria

Hi dance lovers,

Sorry it has been so long. Life has been very busy!

I was look at Youtube videos and I found the videos of Slavik Kryklyvyy & Daria Chesnokova.



Samba



Cha-cha



Rumba


They actually looked quite good together I thought...she definitely has the potential to consistently make the finals at world competitions. Slavik still still looked like he had his technical powress as well. I think they could have made an excellent partnership.

I think Slavik still wants to come back on the dance floor. The question is...who can he dance with? I think he needs to accept that he will unfortunately never be #1 again.

On another note, Michal and Joanna won UK Open, so it look likes the fight for being the #1 Professional Latin Dancer in the world is still debatable!

Ekaterina Lapaeva retires from competitive dancing!

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

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?

How ironic...Stefano di Filippo and Dariya Chesnokova dance together

Looks like another one bites the dust for Slavik Kryklyvyy....his partnership with Daria Chesnokva fizzled out and they broke up shortly after. According to Dancesportinfo they broke up in June. 

In some strange twist of fate, Daria will be dancing with Stefano di Filippo. Back in 2009, Slavik had convinced Anna Melnikova to break up with Stefano to dance with him. Now it loos like Slavik's ex girlfriend has left him to dance with Stefano. Daria and Stefano are also a couple in real life!

The dance universe is small indeed!

I am very happy that Stefano is back! He's insanely talented and he could easily make the finals with Daria. I wonder if Stefano will continue to do Dancing with the Stars in Italy...

What do you think will happen with Slavik next? I am now almost 100% sure his competition days are over. I would love to see some dance shows of the classic routines Slavik once did with Karina...he has never found a partnership that could match what he had with her.

Also thanks for all the readers who has emailed me about this! I am so sorry I have been MIA!

Is the partnership between Slavik and Daria over?

I just learned today about the new partnership between Slavik Kryklyvyy and Daria Chesnokova. They will be representing the US.

They were supposed to be at Blackpool competing in the Professional Latin division at Blackpool but they were a no show!

Apparently they had performed at the Sunshine State Dancesport Championships in Miami at the end of April and performed three dances. However although the MC had said they would return to perform more dances, apparently they just left.

A person on Dance Forums says:

they only danced 3 dances and received a standing ovation for Rumba, after doing Cha Cha and Samba......however, in the middle of the 5 dance show, they announced that Slavik and Daria were coming back after a costume change and would be back out (also note that never at any point did Slavik and Daria get a final send off from the MC....they never said anything more about why Daria and Slavik weren't coming back out, everything just ended and I asked a few people why they didn't come back out and you just got kind of a shrug, no explanation....
 It was very strange, even now I never found out what happened, but I kind of felt something happened right in the middle of the show...Then Daria and Slavik are registered for these comps and now the whole partnership is supposedly off...

However, according to their respective Facebook statuses, they are both a romantic couple. 

In my opinion, I think the two most talented guys in in the Pro Latin division are Slavik and Franco! Hopefully we find out what soon whether or not they will be back to compete!

Exciting news: Franco Formica will be dancing with Olga Müller-Omeltchenko!

Such good news!

Credit: Dancesportinfo.net

So Franco Formica will be competing again with Olga Müller-Omeltchenko! Their first competition with be Blackpool 2012. Here is their new Dancesportinfo profile.

Special thanks to a kind reader who alerted me to this news!

This will certainly be an interesting partnership. Olga has not competed since 2000. She was a former Blackpool finalist with her husband, Ralf Muller. She is definitely a dancer from the golden era of ballroom and I am interested to see how she will fare against some of the younger ladies in the finals. Most professionals retire in their mid 30s; so certainly Franco and Olga will be quite a bit older than the rest. According to Wikipedia. Olga is currently 39 or 40 and I believe that Franco is in his mid 30s (correct me if I am wrong).

Here is a video of Olga dancing with Ralf in 2011. The video was shot pretty far away from the couple, but her dancing still looks pretty good!



Here is Olga in competition with Ralf:




I would definitely appreciate seeing some more traditional approaches to Latin dancing. I like the innovative shapes and styling that dancers such as  Michal and Joanna bring, but sometimes, I wonder if Latin dancesport is going into the "right" direction.

I miss the classical approach to Latin dancing Bryan and Carmen bought to the dance floor, so perhaps Franco and Olga will bring some of this back!

Btw, I l enjoy how Franco choses whoever he would like to dance with regardless of who is the "top" lady. He chose Oxana Lebedew when she was a unknown young talent and now is he going to be with a previously retired dancer.

I do hope that he doesn't make the mistake that Slavik Kryklyvyy did when Slavik picked Hanna Karttunen to dance with him. It was very clear that Hanna and Slavik didn't have much of a connection. In addition, it was also pretty obvious to me that her Latin technique was no longer what it used to be when she was with Paul Killick. I hope Olga still has the technique to compete with ladies such as Joanna and Yulia!

With their first Blackpool competition, I am predicting they will end up in the finals. If not the finals, then at least top 10.

I have always thought that Franco is a very special dancer. I have a feeling that Franco, like Slavik wouldn't be satisfied with any result other than being #1 (hence he split with Oxana, as the pair seemed stuck in a limbo). With dance politics, it will be very difficult for him to get to first place, but I definitely think that Franco's talent makes that a real possibility!

Congrats JR Martinez and Karina Smirnoff on winning Dancing with the Stars Season 13!

I don't normally watch Dancing with the Stars, but I couldn't help it this season with one of my favorite dancers, Karina Smirnoff and her partner JR Martinez doing so well this season!

JR went into the show with absolutely no dancing training. He was definitely very talented and had I think the most positive attitude.

The finale night was tense, as the pair received a 7 from Len Goodman last night, and were in the bottom two the week before. I also felt they were somewhat underscored in the first few weeks, but I think his talent was so evident that the judges finally started to give him scores he deserved.

Thankfully, they won and now Karina Smirnoff can enjoy her first victory on the show! However, I think this victory means we probably won't be seeing her in the rumored show dances with Slavik Kryklyvyy any time soon.

Congrats again JR and Karina!

Here is my favorite dance from JR and Karina:

New Slavik Kryklyvyy and Anna Melnikova Documentary called Ballroom Dancer! (Although we already know the ending)

I think everyone obsessed with latin dancing will find the new documentary called Ballroom Dancer an interesting examination of why the partnership of Slavik Kryklyvyy and Anna Melnikova failed.

Slavik and Anna were in a private relationship a few years before their partnership, and many speculated that this was the partnership that was going to bring Slavik back onto the top. However, as we all know, Slavik is now dating Daria  Chesnokova and Anna is dancing with her husband, Justinas Duknauskas.

Slavik and Anna are undeniably one of the most popular dancesport dancers and watching the clips, you can see the intensity in their fights and their raw emotions.

Here is the movie trailer:


It looks so good! They were such a promising partnership! I will definitely watch it when it comes out. What do you think?

I feel like no matter, what Slavik and Anna would never have been first place within a year.

I almost feel sorry for Slavik in the documentary, as I have written before, I am afraid that Anna was Slavik's last hope for success and I think is professional career is over. In the film, it mentions that it was his last chance, so I am fairly sure we won't see Slavik on the dance floor anytime soon. The DVD for Ballroom Dancer will be available worldwide in the Spring.

Valentin Chmerkovskiy retires, joins Dancing with the Stars

Photo credit: Thomas Morton

The recent news that high level dancer, Valentin Chmerkovskiy at 25 has prematurely ended his competitive career has sent shockwaves throughout the ballroom dance community.

Like when Stefano Di Fillippo decided to switch from IDSF to WDC, Valentin issued a letter that explainned his reasons, which were primarily due to the politics in dancesport competitions today.

Valentin was dancing with Daria Chesnokova (girlfriend of Slavik Kryklyvyy) and at Blackpool 2011 he placed third. He was first the US and 9th in the world in the Amateur division.

He will be joining his brother Maksim Chmerkovskiy and be a pro on the 13 season of Dancing with the Stars. I think of all the male pros, he is probably the most talented.

He joins other high-level dancers such as Alexei Silde and Anna Firstova (who really did not get to reach their potential as professionals) in retirement. He was a truly great dancer who could have made the finals as a professional. Maybe he will one day decide to compete again (like Maxim Kozhevnikov), but that is rarely the case when a dancer joins DWTS.

To speculate, I think that Slavik might take Daria has his next partner. She is a very elegant dancer and high level who I think could hold her own against Slavik. If he does, let's hope that it lasts longer than his last partnership with Anna Melnikova.

UPDATE: I think Slavik isn't going to return to competition. Daria is on Dancing with the Stars with Val, so a partnership between them would be unlikely. In the upcoming documentary, I hear he has severe hip pain. Sad!

Here is a piece of Valentin and Daria's beautiful rumba

Maxim Kozhevnikov is back with Anastasia Grigorieva!

 Maxim and Anatasia

In an exciting interview with dancesport.ru, Maxim Kozhevnikov and Anatasia Grigoriev have a candid interview. Maxim is known for his choreography and his former partnership with current world champion, Yulia Zagorouitchenko.

He will be returning to competition with Anastasia Grigoriev in the Professional Latin category. 

Here are some of the tidbits from the interview:

On their first try-out: 

After just two training sessions in the same day, it all became clear. Everything came naturally like a sixth sense, which is what has always lead decisions in my life. You could say that I am glad to have found my “Star” !!!!!

He had some very nice things to say about his ex-partner and fiance, Yulia: 

For me Yulia is the best woman in Latin ballroom dancing now …. and not because she was part of my life. I danced with her, I brought her to America and I played a big role in her partnership with Ricardo at the beginning. As a professional, technically and emotionally, she is stronger now than she has ever been. With great respect for Joanna, and as a dancer and as a person, I prefer Yulia for justifiable reasons - her dancing. But my opinion (as you know), is very subjective in this. Honestly, I cannot say that as a couple Ricardo and Yulia are better than Michael and Joanna. In some areas I like one couple, and in other areas the other couple. 

On Slavik: 
I don’t believe it is enough to have naturally incredible talent, it takes more than that. An example of this is Slavik Kryklyvy. With all respect to his talent and spirit on the dance floor (and I am one of his biggest fans!), my opinion is that at the moment he has lost himself.

On Yulia choosing Riccardo over Slavik: 

I was right when I insisted to Yulia to choose Riccardo over Slavik, even though he tried hard to partner with her. Because as a team, Riccardo is better for many reasons which will help her achieve her dreams. I was right, and the results from this are that they are now World Champions. The lack of clearly structured work led to the failure of Slavik as an athlete. Many people know how much Kriklivyi deserves the title of Champion for his special abilities and talent. I am one of his fans who believe in him as a champion, however it never happened. He didn’t achieve the dreams others had for him to be a champion….

I am so happy that he has found a new partner to dance with and I look forward to seeing him compete soon. He sounds like a very nice person and I appreciate his honesty during the interview.

For the full English interview go here (thanks to Dancesportshow).

Here is their very cheeky cha cha:



Their Avatar interpretation:

Surprises at Blackpool 2011: Joanna and Michal win again and some notable couples are missing!

Sorry for being away for so long...was busy with real life.

I am going to write about how I honestly felt about the Blackpool results...sorry if this offends anyone, but these were my thoughts.

Michal and Joanna take first place in all six dances at Blackpool 2011

Photo credit: www.malitowskileunis.com

So the battle between Joanna Leunis and  Michal Malitowski and Yulia Zagorouitchenko and Riccardo Cocchi wasn't a tight race after all with Joanna and Michal placing first in all five dances. Last year, Yulia and Riccardo won the jive. I don't think any couple can come close to the Yulia and Riccardo's jive, so for me no doubt Joanna and Michal's unanimous victory leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Personally, I prefer the way Yulia and Riccardo dance. They are a lot softer and I think Yulia dances with more feelings than Joanna does. In addition, it's very evident that Riccardo is technically superior to Michal.

Btw, interesting note at the World Championships, Michal and Joanna were clearly very disappointed and did not speak to Yulia and Riccardo when they were standing on the podium. It's around 6:18 minutes. Yulia and Riccardo only spoke to Sergey and Melia. Michal and Joanna did not stay to watch Yulia and Riccardo's honor dance.

Here is the video:



Looking at dance politics, when Slavik Kryklyvyy and Karina Smirnoff were in the finals with Bryan Watson and Carmen Vincelji, Slavik and Karina could never beat them. Will Michal and Joanna win every year at Blackpool even when Yulia and Riccardo are winning the World Championships?

In addition, I have to point out that Sergey Surkov and Melia, as usual placed third. Sergey is a great dancer, but Melia in all honesty, is technically worse than any of the ladies in the top 20. She lacks hip action in the samba, cha cha and rumba and her jive lacks any bounce action.

I know everyone says she dances with great expression and feeling, and I think she does and I do enjoy watching her dance,  but does someone this level of technique deserve to be third in the world beating out exceptional female dancers like Melinda?

If any of you readers are professional dancers please explain to me what makes her technique even comparable to the top ladies like Yulia, Joanna or Olga. I know they train with Donnie Burns, but I find it shocking that someone so technically inferior can be a world finalist. For me, an interesting situation would be if Yulia and Riccardo and Joanna and Michal retired. That would make Sergey and Melia first in the world...even with her being a worse dancer than any of the top 20 ladies!!

Couple to watch out for: Stefano di Filippo and Olga Urumova placed fifth in the Blackpool Professionals. He looks like he has the most fun out of all the finalists and his hip action, energy and his choreography brings an authentic Latin flavour to the final. Olga is very good as well and they are very compatible together.

Notable missing couples: Some of my favourites in the Latin Amateur division that didn't compete (I am guessing due to IDSF restrictions) include Andrei Zaitsev and Anna Kuzminskaya and Zoran Plohl & Tatsiana Lahvinovich making the Amateur competition seem a bit emptier than the past few years.

Alexei Silde and Anna Firstova also were absent from the Professional division, and we won't be seeing them at any WDC competitions competing with other top 6 pairs. Sad...they are both so good!

So what did you think of my assessments of Blackpool? If you disagree with anything I said please let me know, eager to listen to some other opinions as well!

Anna Melnikova and Justinas Duknauskas debut in Hong Kong

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.

Daria Chesnokova is Slavik Kryklyvyy's new girlfriend

Slavik and his new love, Daria

Looks like Slavik has moved on from his recent split from Anna with another beautiful lady.

His new love is Daria Chesnokova, a Ukraine dancer. She has been in an amateur partnership with Valentin Chmerkovskiy, the younger brother of Maxim Chmerkovskiy since 2008. The pair placed 3rd this year in the UK Open and are consistently finalists at major competitions.

Let's hope that Slavik doesn't break up this successful partnership and he finds a partner of his own.

Wish the pair well and we will see if Slavik will continue competing.

Funniest World Super Star Dancing Parody!!!

 After spending hours on youtube...I came across this gem.



It's a parody of some of the World Super Star dancers. They nail dead-on Melia's bad foot actions (and dramatic poses), Slavik's love of dancing solo, Bryan's enthusiastic jive and finally Michal and Joanna's abstract shapes during their techno music performances. Missing noticeably are Riccardo and Yulia....but you will still laugh so hard.

It is very funny, but as a warning only dancers who have watched the WSS videos one too many times will get the performances.

Happy watching!

Justinas Duknauskas and Anna Melnikova are married!

Justinas and Anna together

Credit: dancesportinfo.net

After dating for over a year Justinas Duknauskas and Anna Melnikova are married! 

Hopefully this translates into some beautiful dancing for the pair.

I can't help but wonder how Slavik is feeling...

Nevertheless congratulations to this happy couple.

Slavik still has a chance...if his new partner is Ekaterina Lapaeva

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.

Is Slavik Kryklyvyy's dance career over?

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.

In this Ballroom Fantasy interview with Slavik and Anna, you can see the tension when she talks about dancing with him.

She says in the interview ''He's an amazing person, but it's just he's very difficult. But like all artists, he's a little bit mad.''

The sad moment was when Slavik says " We'll see if she's gonna survive for a year" and she responds "Yeah, I will."

They didn't make it.

Another interesting video is his practice session with Karina for the 2004 WSS. He is seen yelling at her at the beginning. You can see some definite tension.

 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.