Stefano di Fillipo and Olga Urumova get into the finals at UK 2011!

Stefano and Olga are back onto the dance floor after his public annoucement to leave the FIDS.

Photo credit: Peter Suba

Stefano and Olga were back on the dance floor yesterday beating many other top couples to make it into the finals.

The pair beat former finalists Markus Homm and Knesia Kasper and also Maurizio Vescovo and Andra Vaidiliate.

Stefano di Fillipo will be competing at UK Open this year!

I just received word that Stefano di Fillipo with Olga Urumova will be competing at UK Open 2011. This ends speculation that he had retired. Good luck to him and Olga!

Stefano di Fillipo is leaving the Italian dance federation (FIDS) to protest against competition restrictions

Photo credit: Valentin Behringer

  

Stefano di Fillipo, former Amateur World Champion is leaving the Italian dance federation, F.I.D.S. ( Federazione Italiana Danza Sportiva) to protest against competition restrictions.

The F.I.D.S. has banned it's dancers from competing in most elite Professional competitions in the world to accomodate Olympic entries for Dancesport. This means, no U.K, British and International Championships. Those competitions are under the World Dance Council.

The point is, the Stefano wants to be able to compete with the very best in the world, which would undoubtedly help him grow as a dancer.

His press release is here. Some of the points he makes are:

Recently I have been pressured not to dance in U.K. Competitions, and when on one occasion Olga and I were allowed to dance in England from our Federation, we found we have to suffer financial consequences after dancing !!??!!

It is with a heavy heart I find myself out of F.I.D.S. and i will not return back until my freedom and the general goodwill and fairness returns to the Italian dance system. This is not just about me, I believe in a fair open system which is for all of us, in every country and every federation!

I want to thank a reader who had commented on a previous post writing that Stefano is likely unable to compete with elite competitors, like Anna and Justinas due to restrictions on dancers imposed by F.I.D.S.

I also want to thank Donovan, who let me know that Stefano did not specify in press release that he was retiring. His press release also didn't say explicitly whether he would be dancing with the WDC. 

Hopefully we will see him on the dance floor soon.

I have met him and he is brilliant and way too young to retire.

Here is Stefano after winning his first Amateur Championship with Anna Melnikova in 2008. I think this honour dance is one of the best showcases of his talent.

It's Official: Anna Melnikova and Justinas Duknauskas will dance together!

Although Dancesportinfo.net has not reported of their partnership yet, acccording to her facebook photos, we can see that she did a show with Justinas Duknauskas. According to her status they are also now engaged.

Looking at how incredibly beautiful she is and how insanely talented she is, it is no surprise how quickly she moved on from Slavik Kryklyvyy.

Anna and Justinas during a show

Credits: Mindaugas Vaiciulis

Anna and Justinas during a photo shoot

Credits: Anna Melnikova

How high do you think this new pair will rank in the standings? Do you think this pair will beat Stefano di Fillipo and Olga Urumova or Maurizio Vescovo and Andra Vaidiliate in the finals? 

Knowing dancesport politics, I will say the pair might not beat those pairs initially, but can get  be a force to reckon with in the future.

I can't wait to see some Youtube videos of their dancing!

Update: Here is the video of their rumba.

Slavik and Anna split up = Anna + Justinas and Slavik + Karina?

So it is official.

Slavik and Anna have broken up!

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!