Igor Golovach & Michelle Blank – Dance Couple
Igor Golovach and Michelle Blank are an Amateur Latin couple. Aside from being the founders of WikiDanceSport and DanceSport Studio (DSS), they are 3-time USA National Showdance Vice-Champions (2018 - 2019), the 2019 USA National Amateur Latin Vice-Champions, and World Finalists of the 2019 WDSF World Showdance Latin Championship. They are sponsored by Freed of London. Igor and Michelle are certified as Instructors under the North American DanceSport Teachers Association (NADTA) in the International Style Latin division.
- Couple formed:
January, 2015
- Current location:
New Jersey, USA
- Current Status:
Active Competitors
Division: Adult Amateur International Latin 5 Dance
2-time USA National Showdance Vice-Champions (2018 - 2019)
2019 USA National Amateur Latin Vice-Champions
NADTA Certified Instructors
Owners of DanceSport Studio (DSS)
Owners of WikiDanceSport
Overview#
Michelle Blank and Igor Golovach began dancing together in 2015. Igor, 21 years of age, had just arrived from Ukraine, and Michelle, age 17 at the time, grew up in the United States. The couple came together to represent the USA in the Amateur Latin division.
WikiDanceSport#
As soon as Igor and Michelle started working together, they immediately bonded as not only a dancing couple but also as partners who were alike in their views and goals regarding their future careers. Together, they soon realized the need for a community data center to provide all dance enthusiasts with a one-stop information hub. The idea was to create an encyclopedia that would become an information center for all things DanceSport. Together, they founded WikiDanceSport.com, a free-access, free-content Internet encyclopedia of Ballroom Dancing.
They are actively participating in the development of this DanceSport collaborative platform by gathering data of the DanceSport industry, interviewing top celebrities, performing industry research, analyzing new articles, and examining their accuracy to help professionals and all dance enthusiasts organize information into one user-friendly data source.
DanceSport Studio#
In 2018, Igor and Michelle officially launched DanceSport Studio (DSS). DSS is a cross-federation collaborative training platform that is on the path to establishing one uniform Art of DanceSport Training System for competitive and social dancers in all aspects of fitness, health, and wellbeing (physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual). DSS encompasses organizations as well as individuals of multiple federations that work together as one unit in order to accomplish the highest standards of DanceSport training and education. The first DSS location is currently open in Medford, New Jersey (USA).
DanceSport Rankings#
The couple is also developing DanceSport Rankings (DSR). This idea was driven by the necessity to uniform and synchronize DanceSport industry-related activities. The platform will offer a way to rank and rate the individuals, organizations, and events of the industry based on various criteria, historical data, performance, and popularity, and will allow athletes to participate in the opinion sharing and evaluation of said models.
Instructors#
Both Igor and Michelle are certified as Instructors under the North American DanceSport Teachers Association (NADTA) in the International Style Latin division. They instruct all levels and age groups of competitive dancers from juveniles to seniors and offer such training at DanceSport Studio (DSS) in Medford, NJ (USA).
Competitive Career#
After just one year together, Igor and Michelle became the 2016 Virginia State International Latin Champions as well as the Liberty Ball Amateur International Latin Champions. They also placed in the semi-final of the 2017 USA Dance National DanceSport Championships.
In May of 2017, Igor and Michelle became the New England DanceSport Amateur Latin Champions. Soon afterward, October brought them to the second year of the American DanceSport Festival where they won the Bronze Medals at the WDSF Amateur Rising Star Championship.
In December, Igor and Michelle traveled to Riga, Latvia to compete internationally for the first time at the Baltic Grand Prix in the WDSF Amateur Rising Star and International Open Championships. The days prior to the competition, they participated in the Baltic Grand Prix Workshops where they met and trained with Alexey Silde and Zoran Plohl.
2018#
As the year of 2018 kicked off, Igor and Michelle took first place at the Islanders DanceSport Challenge in the Amateur Latin division.
In April, the couple became the USA National Amateur Latin Showdance Vice-Champions, a great feat to achieve in their first-ever Showdance performance. Later in the month, they traveled to San Marino to compete at the San Marino DanceSport Festival. They became semi-finalists in the Latin Rising Star event, placing 9th out of 33 couples, and quarter-finalists of the WDSF World Open Latin, placing 23rd out of 67 couples, out-dancing the champions of the Rising Star competition. This proved quite an achievement for Igor and Michelle’s 2nd international competition.
May brought a strong victory for the couple as Igor and Michelle took 2nd place at the WDSF Rising Star Latin Championship in Tbilisi, Georgia.
2019#
In 2019, Igor and Michelle became the National Vice-Champions of the United States of America in the Amateur Latin division. They also claimed their second title as U.S. Amateur Latin Showdance Vice-Champions with their performance of “Fear”, a piece based on Stephen King’s novel and famous cinematic masterpiece, It. As a result of these placements, they will be representing the USA at two upcoming WDSF World Championships, both to be held in Moscow, Russia.
Recently, Igor and Michelle have achieved a fantastic result in the WDSF World Open Latin held in Wuppertal, Germany in July at the DanceComp Wuppertal. Out of 103 couples dancing in the event, the couple placed 18th in the quarter-final, their highest result yet achieved at an international event. The conclusion of the dance year brought the duo a fantastic victory: on December 14th, 2019, Igor and Michelle became World Finalists of 2019 WDSF World Showdance Latin Championship held in the beautiful Kremlin Palace of Moscow, Russia. From all around the world, family and friends watched live as the Team USA couple brought home a strengthening victory with their performance of their showdance “Fear”, based on Stephen King’s famous It.
Trained With#
Igor and Michelle have had the opportunity to train with some of the top coaches of the industry including:
- Jürgen Neudeck
- Maurizio Vescovo
- Tatsiana Lahvinovich Galchun
- Barbara Ambroz
- Roberto Albanese
- Holger Nitsche
- Svetlana Verbytska
- Dirk Heidemann
- Anya Klimova-Preston
- Svjatoslav Jushkov
- Viktoriya Drubetskaya
- Martino Zanibellato
- Kevin Juul
- Dean Abraham
- Petr Horáček
- Anna Matus
- Gabriele Goffredo
- Giacomo Steccaglia
- Olga Müller-Omeltchenko
- Davide Gabusi
- Yuehwern Yih
- Julie Fryer
- Alexey Silde
- Zoran Plohl
- Aigars Stolcers
- Bryan Watson
- Allan Tornsberg
- Vibeke Toft
- Hans Galke
- Carmen Vincelj
- Colin James
- Rufus Dustin
- Markus Homm
- Maria Manusova
- Eugene Katsevman
- Andrei Gavriline
- Elena Kryuchkova
- Slavik Kryklyvyy
- Ruslan Wilder
- Katusha Wilder
- Melanie LaPatin
- Michael Wentink
- Andrej Skufca
- Melinda Torokgyorgy
HALL OF FAME
Current Instructors#
- Eugene Katsevman (New York, USA)
- Maria Manusova (New York, USA)
Accomplishments#
- DanceSport Studio (DSS), Owners
- WikiDanceSport, Co-Founders & Operators
- Certified Instructors
- World Finalists of the 2019 WDSF World Showdance Latin Championship: 5th Place (Moscow, Russia)
- Representatives of U.S. at the 2019 WDSF World Latin Championships
- Shoes Sponsored by Freed of London
- WDSF World Open Latin Quarter-Finalists – DanceComp Wuppertal (2019): Wuppertal, Germany
- 18th out of 103 couples
- USA Dance National Amateur Latin Vice-Champions (2019): Orem, UT (USA)
- 2-time USA Dance NationalAmateurLatinShowdance Vice-Champions
- 2019: Orem, UT (USA)
- 2018: Baltimore, MD (USA)
- Mid-Atlantic Amateur Latin Champions (2019): USA Dance National Qualifying Event: Bethesda, MD (USA)
- WDSF Rising Star Latin Open Bronze Medalists – Metu Open (2018): Ankara, Turkey
- Represented the USA at the WDSF World Showdance Latin Championship (2018): Bratislava, Slovakia
- WDSF Rising Star Latin Open Finalists – Prague Open Dance Festival (2018): Prague, Czech Republic
- NJ DanceSport Classic – Summer Sizzler Amateur Latin Champions (2018): USA Dance National Qualifying Event: Hackensack, NJ (USA)
- WDSF Rising Star Latin Open Vice-Champions – Caucasus Cup (2018): Tbilisi, Georgia
- WDSF Adult Latin Champions – New England DanceSport Championships (2018): Boston, MA (USA)
- 2-time New England DanceSport Amateur Latin Champions (2017 – 2018): USA Dance National Qualifying Event: Boston, MA (USA)
- WDSF World Open Latin Quarter-Finalists – San Marino DanceSport Grand Prix (2018): San Marino
- Latin Rising Star Semi-Finalists – San Marino DanceSport Grand Prix (2018): San Marino
- USA Dance National Amateur Latin Finalists: 4th Place (2018): Baltimore, MD (USA)
- 2-time Liberty Ball Amateur Latin Champions (2016, 2018): Philadelphia, PA (USA)
- Mid-Atlantic Amateur Latin Vice-Champions (2018): Baltimore, MD (USA)
- Manhattan Amateur Classic (MAC) Amateur Latin Finalists: 4th Place (2018): Jersey City, NJ (USA)
- Islanders DanceSport Challenge Amateur Latin Champions (2018): Staten Island, NY (USA)
- WDSF Rising Star Open Latin – American DanceSport Festival: 3rd Place (2017): Miami, FL (USA)
- American Star Ball Amateur Latin Finalists: 3rd Place (2017): Atlantic City, NJ (USA)
- USA Dance National Amateur Latin Semi-Finalists (2017): Baltimore, MD (USA)
- Mid-Atlantic Amateur Latin Finalists: 5th Place (2017): Baltimore, MD (USA)
- Virginia Open Amateur Latin Champions (2016): Reston, VA (USA)
Photo Gallery#
