No surprise here... Ilia Russo and and his wife Oxana Lebedew will dance together!

Looks like we finally may have an idea of as to why former top pair Franco Formica and Oxana Lebedew split up. The rumor is that they had conflict over their 4th place finish at the World Championships in 2011.

Oxana Lebedew will be dancing with her husband, Ilia Russo, who also split with his partner around the same time. I wish the pair good luck in the future.

Ilia and Oxana Russo

I truly hope that Franco, one of my all-time favorite dancers returns to the dance floor. The man is so talented and I adore his dancing.

Someone finally posted some of the good quality videos of World Superstars Dance Festival 2011 on youtube.

Franco looks like he's dancing at WSD like it might be his last time performing there...especially during the samba at the end!

Another memorable performance was Stefano di Fillipo and Olga Urumova's very emotional rumba with Mikee Intron's wondeful live vocals to "Ma Che Ne So"! He sounded amazing live.


What a show! Hopefully one day I will get a chance to see it in person.

Happy New Year everyone!

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.

Poker Face and a three-person rumba at Blackpool Congress

I love creative dance routines.

The Blackpool Congress is the last place I would expect to see a cha cha and tango to Poker Face. For a minute, I thought the author had switched the music, but after hearing the applause, I realized it was real.

Here is a Latin couple and another standard couple (who I don't know the name of) dancing the tango.



Another favourite of mine is Bryan Watson, Carmen Vincelj and Hans Galke doing a three-person rumba at the Blackpool Congress in 2007

I love the song and the story of this piece. It was Bryan and Carmen's last year competing at Blackpool, so it was particularly moving.



That wasn't the first three-person dance routine, but I thought it was done particularly well and the choreography I thought was very thoughtful.

Video of Anna Melnikova and Justinas Duknauskas dancing (Finally!)

Merry Christmas dance friends,

A much anticipated video of Anna Melnikova and Justinas Duknauskas dancing a rumba to  Vittorio - All In Love Is Fair (Se l'amore c'è) has finally appeared on youtube.




Anna is still fantastic, she has a way of giving everything when she dances like Karina Smirnoff. However, her style is very different and she dances softer like Yulia Zagoruychenko. She also has some of the best facial expressions.

Comments on it have been somewhat critical about Justinas and their choreography. Of course Justinas is not yet near the caliber of Slavik Kryklyvyy yet, but only time will tell of how far he will go. Remember Justinas is only 24, while Slavik is 34. Justinas has 10 years less dance experience than Slavik.

I remember when Slavik first broke up with Karina Smirnoff and started dancing with Elena Khvorova. The comments were very harsh and makes me believe it attributed to their break-up. 

I think Anna and Justinas will only get better. Best of luck to this engaged couple.