Slavik Kryklyvyy

Slavik Kryklyvyy, the professional name of Viacheslav Leonidovych Kryklyvyi, was born on 1 July 1976 in Zaporizhzhia, then part of the Ukrainian SSR and now Ukraine. He began formal dance training at age eleven after his family moved to Melitopol, continuing at Valentina Fedorchuk's Sport-Dance club in Kyiv. His early competitive phase paired him with Alena Fedorchuk in amateur Latin events from 1997 to 1998, including the 1997 World Cup in Gothenburg and a Ukrainian amateur title in 1998.

In 1998, Kryklyvyy formed a partnership with Belgian dancer Joanna Leunis that marked his breakthrough into elite competition. Representing Belgium, they won the UK Open Amateur Rising Star Latin in 1999, then achieved the British Open Amateur Latin Championship at Blackpool and the IDSF World Amateur Latin Championship in Miami in 2000. They also won the 2000 European Amateur Latin championship. The partnership dissolved after that championship season.

Kryklyvyy entered the professional division in 2001 with American dancer Karina Smirnoff, representing the United States. Their five-year partnership became his most sustained professional prominence. The National Dance Council of America's champions archive records them as United States National Professional Latin champions in 2001, 2002 and 2003. They became British Open and WDC World Professional Latin silver medalists and won the 2005 UK Open Professional Latin title. In 2004, both appeared in Peter Chelsom's *Shall We Dance?*, with Kryklyvyy credited as the present-day Blackpool partner of Jennifer Lopez's character, Paulina.

After his partnership with Smirnoff ended in 2005, Kryklyvyy formed a new pairing with Elena Khvorova, representing Russia in competition. They won the Professional Latin event at the 2006 German Open in Stuttgart and the Kremlin Cup, then earned silver medals at the 2007 World, European and International championships. A brief subsequent partnership with Finnish dancer Hanna Karttunen followed; they placed sixth at the 2009 UK Open.

Kryklyvyy's attempted comeback with Russian dancer Anna Melnikova in 2009–2010 became the subject of Christian Bonke and Andreas Koefoed's documentary *Ballroom Dancer*, which premiered at the 2011 Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival and later screened at Tribeca in 2012. The film frames itself around his 2000 amateur world championship and the final professional push.

After his last sustained competitive partnerships, Kryklyvyy continued as a teacher, lecturer, adjudicator and show performer. He reunited publicly with Smirnoff for Dance Legends in 2014 and for later exhibitions. Recorded lectures on samba, rumba, cha-cha-cha, musicality and rhythm document how his influence moved from competition results into pedagogy.