One of the programs that we are most proud of here at Aria Ballroom is our competitive youth program that we call “Youth Dance Lab”. Last fall in one of our Student Spotlight articles we featured the male half of our top Preteen (Under 12) couple, Leo Liu. You can read about him here. But for this month we wanted to focus on the female half of our top Junior (Under 16) couple, Vlada Denysovets.
Not only is Vlada and her partner Kai our top Junior couple, but they are in fact one of the top Junior couples in the country. Kai and Vlada are regularly in the finals of the country’s most prestigious competitions. At their most recent competition, the Emerald Ball Dancesport Championships held at the beginning of May, Kai and Vlada finished 3rd in the Junior Championship Standard. This couple is extremely talented and they have the capacity to go “all the way”.
Vlada and Kai dancing their Tango
So let’s learn a little more about Vlada Denysovets.
Although Vlada is only fourteen years old, she actually started dancing when she was four and a half! She was born and lived the first seven years of her life in Ukraine, so she started dancing in Ukraine. Her older cousin was already a ballroom dancer and watching her cousin dance inspired Vlada to dance as well.
“I enjoyed dancing and thought that it was my thing,” Vlada said, “so I just continued to do it!”
When Vlada was seven years old, she moved to the United States. Her main coach, Kora Stoynova, can still remember the day little Vlada walked into the studio.
“She was so cute and small,” Kora reminisced, “but such a good little dancer. We knew we had to find her a partner right away.”
Kora’s mother, CoraLyn Uczekaj, owned and ran the nearby ballroom Impulse Ballroom. In their youth program was a boy named Kai. Kora and CoraLyn put their heads together and agreed to partner up the two kids. It worked out great!
“At first, Vlada couldn’t speak a word of English,” said Kora, “but that didn’t stop her. She and Kai had instant success!”
Seven years later, Vlada and Kai are still dancing successfully together. They do two styles, the International Latin and the International Standard, which makes them 10-Dancers. Vlada says her favorite Standard dance is the Foxtrot and her favorite Latin dance is the Cha Cha.
“What I like most about dancing,” says Vlada, “is that it teaches me new knowledge and skills. I also love learning new moves. Dancing helps me express myself differently on the floor.” When she talks about her dancing, her eyes light up and sparkle. You can see the passion radiating from her face. “Dance inspires me and is something that I really enjoy.”
One of the toughest parts about being a high-level competitive dancer, especially in the Seattle area, is that you must travel a lot in order to keep your skills fresh. Vlada and Kai are expected to travel out of state at least every-other month. While for some, travelling this often can be quite exhausting, for Vlada it’s exciting. She admitted,
“When it comes to competing, I like travelling the most. Trips to different states are always really fun.”
As talented as Vlada is at dancing, it’s not the only thing she enjoys doing. She has other hobbies she pursues as well. She also enjoys playing volleyball, skiing, acting, singing, and baking. But out of all the activities she pursues, ballroom dance takes the cake. She has high-flying goals with her dancing.
“I want to become a professional dancer,” she says energetically, “and a World Champion….” After a pause she added, “Or a Blackpool finalist in both Latin and Standard.”
For those who don’t know, the Blackpool Dance Festival is the most prestigious competition in the world. Being a World Champion is awesome, but winning a Blackpool Championship is almost better! So really, achieving either goal gives a ballroom dancer the same level of prestige.
We also wanted to ask Vlada about her family back in Ukraine. Since she moved when she was seven, she has a lot of memories about living in Ukraine. She says she misses Ukraine a lot, including many of her relatives whom she hasn’t been able to see for a long time, first because of the pandemic and now because of the war. She says the war has been very tough on her family.
Vlada’s partner shows his support for her home country by wearing the Ukrainian flag on his arm.
“At the beginning, my family was very stressed because of the constant sirens that went off everyday in our hometown,” she explained. “My
family and grandparents had to evacuate and hide every day! It was very scary. The prices in stores were going up very fast and there was a gasoline shortage.”
The brightness in her eyes dims with sadness when she talks about it. With a low voice, Vlada continued,
“My grandmother’s brother is in the military, so he has been fighting in the war since the very beginning. Because of how tense things got over there, my grandmother came to stay with us for a while. It had been six years since we’d seen each other! Luckily things aren’t quite as stressful now and all of our friends and family are doing ok.”
Many of us can’t imagine what Vlada and her family are going through, and we are so happy and relieved that everyone in her family are doing well right now. Having Vlada in the studio really is a joy. Her bright attitude, optimism, and cheerful spirit are enough to lift anyone out of a bad day. And that’s without watching her dance!
Vlada is such a talented dancer, and she’s tough to boot! She has even pushed herself to point of vomiting, which just goes to show you how dedicated she is to her dancing. With perseverance and discipline, we have every confidence in the world that Vlada will reach her goals. She has the ability to do it. Let’s all come together as a studio and keep cheering her on!
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