Artem Plakhotnyi Inna Berlizyeva
Interview with Artem Plakhotnyi and Inna Berlizyeva
Posted on Saturday, 10 Mar 2012, 14:51 by admin
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We met with Artem Plakhotnyi and Inna Berlizyeva in the lobby of the BIC. They won the Professional Rising Star Ballroom at the UK Open 2012. They represent USA. See their profile page
We take responsibility of developing ourselves. Sometimes you are your own best coach.
Let me congratulate you on your victory. It was fantastic to watch you dance the finals!
[Artem]: Thank you!
Please tell us how you started dancing?
[Artem]: I was about four years old when my parents brought me to the dance school. But they also brought me to the swimming pool and boxing hall. It was in Ukraine, in Kharkov. Somehow I chose the dancing. I was six and I honestly cannot remember why, but I ended up just dancing. It was Latin and Ballroom, both styles in the beginning. I continued dancing in Ukraine for about twelve years and when I was nineteen I moved to the United States. It was about six years ago.
[Inna]: I also come from Ukraine and that’s where I started dancing. We come from the same city: Kharkov. We know each other since we were kids. I started dancing when I was nine. My friend was in that little dance studio, I heard about it and also wanted to try. I knew straight away this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to wear all these beautiful dresses, I loved the music and all the dancers looked so beautiful to me.
How did you two meet each other?
[Artem]: We met in that dance school in Kharkov. There are lots of dance schools in there and when you change the club you meet other people. So when I changed the club, I met Inna. She was already dancing there. “Gorizont” is the best school in Kharkov and I came there to become a better dancer.
But it was not when you started dancing together…
[Inna]: No, we partnered up some two and a half years ago in USA. There is a little bit of a story. We knew each other for a very long time, came from the same dance school “Gorizont”, our coach was Alex Litvinov. I moved to Slovenia to dance there for couple of years with another partner. And then me and my Slovenian partner moved to the United States. And soon after that our studio asked for another male instructor. Artem did not have a partner in Ukraine then so he came to Phoenix, Arizona. He found a partner there. After couple of years we both found each other without partners and we decided to get together.