Karina Smirnoff

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Karina Smirnoff
Born Karina Smirnova
January 2, 1978 (age 31)
Kharkiv, Ukraine
Other name(s) Karyna Kylkova
Karyna Smirnoff
Karyna Smirnova

Karina Smirnoff (born January 2, 1978) (Ukrainian: Карина Смирнова) is a world champion professional dancer.

She is a five-time U.S. National Champion, World Trophy Champion, and Asian Open Champion. Smirnoff has won the title at the UK Open, is a three time champion at the US Open, two time champion at the Asian Open, five time champion at the Dutch Open, five time US National Professional Champion. She is ranked 2nd in the world[citation needed], and took second at the British Open Blackpool Dance Festival [1].

She is "the first woman to ever make the British Professional Final with three different partners".[2]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Smirnoff was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine on January 2, 1978. When she was five years old, she began taking ballet lessons, followed by gymnastics, aerobics, figure skating, ballroom dancing and piano. Eventually she chose to pursue ballroom dancing. In 1992, Smirnoff emigrated to the United States [3] and became a U.S. citizen. Once in the U.S., Smirnoff took time off from studying dancing for school.

[edit] Education

Smirnoff attended Christopher Columbus High School in New York and the Bronx High School of Science[citation needed] before going to Fordham University, during which time she picked up her interest in dancing again. Smirnoff graduated from Fordham University with a double major in economics and information system programming [1]. During her academic studies, Smirnoff's goal was to go to law school and become an attorney; however, she found a dance school in Brooklyn, New York and over time dancing became her profession.

[edit] Dancing career

Smirnoff has made numerous candid appearances on reality shows such as Dancing with the Stars, and Chelsea Lately, featuring Chelsea Handler [3].

Early in Smirnoff's dancing career, Roman Nabatov and she competed as an amateur couple for USA. They ended their dance partnership in January 1997 [4]. Smirnoff soon after started dancing with Paul Killick in October 1998 as a professional couple for England; this partnership ended in July 1999. Immediately, Louis van Amstel and Karina Smirnoff, in July 1999, entered a professional dance partnership, representing the U.S.A; the partnership ended in December 2000 [5].

From January 2001 to September 2005, Karina Smirnoff was in a dance partnership with Slavik Kryklyvyy and they represented the U.S.A; this partnership thus far is her most successful one. Kryklyvyy and Smirnoff earned many top titles and high ratings together [6].

Smirnoff last professional partner recorded in competitons was Dmitri Timokhin representing Russia from October 2005. They won first place at the 2006 Grand-Prix Dynamo in Moscow, Russia [7]. They finished dancing together in June 2006[8].

[edit] Dancing with the Stars

Smirnoff was a performer on the third season of the ABC series Dancing with the Stars with celebrity partner Mario López. They finished in second place, losing to the team of Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke. Smirnoff returned on the show on March 19, 2007 for Season 4, this time partnered with Billy Ray Cyrus, country singer and Hannah Montana star [9]. The pair was the eighth to be eliminated from the competition on May 8, 2007. Her partner for Season 5 of the show was current five-division world champion boxer, Floyd Mayweather Jr. On October 16, 2007, Karina and Floyd were the fourth couple eliminated from competition and came in 9th place. She returned for Season 6, partnered with singer Mario and finished in 5th place. In Season 7, she was partnered with chef Rocco DiSpirito and they were the fourth pair to be eliminated with a finish of 9th place for the second time.

For the eighth season, Smirnoff's partner was Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak. They were eliminated in the fourth round on March 31, 2009, along with Holly Madison and her partner Dmitry Chaplin.

[edit] Personal life

She was the project manager/director of dancing event entitled "Day & Night" [10]. This event was held on November 18, 2006 at the Hollywood & Highlands Grand Ballroom.

Smirnoff had dated Mario Lopez after having been partnered with him during the Fall 2006 third season of Dancing with the Stars. The relationship lasted from 2006-2008.[11].

She began dating a fellow Ukrainian and fellow Dancing With the Stars dancer, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, in summer 2008. Just six months later they announced their engagement on December 31, 2008.[12] Smirnoff and Chmervoskiy have performed professionally, at the 2007 ALMA Awards[13].

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b ""Karina Smirnoff Bio"" (PDF). McDonald’s Electronic Press Kit. November 20, 2006. http://mcdepk.com/worldchildrensday2006/mediadocs/bio_KarinaSmirnoff.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-09-09. 
  2. ^ Ballas, Corky; Didio Barrera (September 1, 2002). ""Open British Professional Latin Championship"". dsninternational.com. http://www.dsninternational.com/members/pages/body/090102blackpool-latin-pro.html. Retrieved on 2007-09-02. 
  3. ^ a b Kim, Steve (September 8, 2007). ""'The Pretty Boy' Dances with the Stars"". maxboxing.com. http://www.maxboxing.com/Kim/. 
  4. ^ ""Dance Couple Profile of Paul Killick & Karina Smirnoff"". DancesportInfo. 2007. http://dancesportinfo.net/Couple/4991/Details.aspx. Retrieved on 2007-09-09. 
  5. ^ ""Dancers Details: Karina Smirnoff"". DancesportInfo. 2007. http://dancesportinfo.net/Dancer/1005826/Details.aspx. Retrieved on 2007-09-09. 
  6. ^ ""Couple results: Slavik Kryklyvyy & Karina Smirnoff"". DancesportInfo. 2007. http://dancesportinfo.net/Couple/3402/Results.aspx. Retrieved on 2007-09-09. 
  7. ^ ""Couple results: Dmitri Timokhin & Karina Smirnoff"". DancesportInfo. 2007. http://dancesportinfo.net/Couple/34115/Results.aspx. Retrieved on 2007-09-09. 
  8. ^ http://dancesportinfo.net/Couple/Dmitri_Timokhin_and_Karina_Smirnoff_34115/Details.aspx
  9. ^ "The Stars Align for a Fourth Season of ABC'S Hit Alternative Series, "Dancing with the Stars"". ABC Television Network. 2007-02-21. http://www.abcmedianet.com/ams/assets/both/2007/02/20/022107_01.html. Retrieved on 2007-02-27. 
  10. ^ "Day & Night". http://dancingevents.net/main.html. Retrieved on 2007-02-28. 
  11. ^ "Mario Lopez and Karina Smirnoff Split" (in English). People Magazine. June 5, 2008. http://tvwatch.people.com/2008/06/05/mario-lopez-and-karina-smirnoff-split-2/. Retrieved on 2009-01-04. 
  12. ^ Karina and Maksim Engaged
  13. ^ "2007 alma presenters/PERFORMERS" (in Engliash). June 5, 2007. http://www.almaawards.com/2007-performers.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-05. 

[edit] External links

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