Karina Smirnoff

Karina Smirnoff

Ukrainian and American professional dancer
Date of Birth: 02.01.1978
Country: USA

Content:
  1. Biography of Karina Smirnoff
  2. Early Life and Education
  3. Dancing Career
  4. Personal Life

Biography of Karina Smirnoff

Karina Smirnoff, a Ukrainian-American professional dancer, is currently ranked second in the world of dance. She made history as the first woman to reach the British Professional Final with three different partners. Smirnoff is a five-time champion of the U.S. National Dancesport Champions, World Trophy Championship, and Asian Open Championship. She has also won the US Open three times, the Asian Open three times, the Dutch Open five times, and the US National Professional Championship five times. Smirnoff also achieved second place at the Blackpool Dance Festival.

Early Life and Education

Karina Smirnoff, originally born with the last name Smirnova, was born on January 2, 1978, in Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. Her passion for dance began at the age of five when she started taking ballet lessons. She then explored aerobics, gymnastics, figure skating, ballroom dancing, and even learned to play the piano. Out of all her hobbies, Smirnoff decided to pursue ballroom dancing.

In 1992, she immigrated to the United States and reportedly obtained citizenship. Smirnoff attended Christopher Columbus High School and Bronx High School of Science in New York before enrolling at Fordham University. During her college years, she rekindled her interest in dance. After graduating with a double degree in economics and information systems programming, Smirnoff initially planned to attend law school and become a lawyer. However, fate led her to a dance school in Brooklyn, and dancing soon became her whole life.

Dancing Career

At the beginning of her dance career, Smirnoff and Roman Nabatov competed in amateur competitions representing the United States. After ending their partnership in January 1997, she began dancing with Paul Killick in October 1998, representing England at the professional level. Their creative partnership ended in July 1999, but in the same month, Smirnoff formed a professional partnership with Louis van Amstel, representing the United States. They danced together until December 2000.

From January 2001 to September 2005, Smirnoff partnered with Slavik Kryklyvyy, a master of ballroom dance. This period was the most successful for Smirnoff, as she achieved high rankings and won numerous titles with Kryklyvyy. Since October 2005, her dance partner has been Dmitri Timokhin, representing Russia. They won first place in the Grand-Prix Dynamo in Moscow in 2006 before parting ways in June of that year.

Smirnoff has appeared in various reality shows, including "Dancing with the Stars" and "Chelsea Lately" with Chelsea Handler. In the third season of "Dancing with the Stars," she partnered with famous American actor Mario Lopez, finishing in second place. She returned to the show in its fourth season, dancing with country singer and "Hannah Montana" star Billy Ray Cyrus. Smirnoff has participated in multiple seasons of "Dancing with the Stars," partnering with Floyd Mayweather Jr., Mario, Rocco DiSpirito, Steve Wozniak, Aaron Carter, and Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino.

Personal Life

Smirnoff dated Mario Lopez from the fall of 2006 to June 2008. She then began a relationship with Ukrainian dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy in the summer of 2008. They announced their engagement on December 31, 2008, but ended their relationship in September 2009 after nine months together. In October 2009, Smirnoff started dating Major League Baseball pitcher Brad Penny, and they got engaged on October 4, 2010.

Smirnoff has also been involved in animal rights activism. She appeared nude in a PETA advertising campaign with the slogan, "I'd rather dance naked than wear fur." Through this campaign, Smirnoff aimed to raise awareness about the cruelty of wearing fur and the mistreatment of animals for their skins. She stated that she stopped wearing fur when she learned about the suffering of animals: "I used to wear fur, especially when I was a little girl. But there are ways to stay warm and be fashionable without being cruel."

Dance

© BIOGRAPHS