Igor Golovach

Overview

Igor Golovach's dancing career began in his early childhood. At the age of 5, his father, a former Folk dancer, decided to take him to a dance studio in their hometown of Chernivtsi. From the first lesson, it was clear that the boy was gifted. Coming from a family fully involved with music, as Igor's mother was a piano teacher and father a dancer, it was said Igor felt the music naturally. He fell in love this new passion instantly.

Throughout his entire childhood, Igor dedicated himself to dance. It was one of the most important and dearest parts of him. Traveling throughout Europe to Germany, Austria, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and the Czech Republic, Igor represented Ukraine in the international dancing arena. His commitment to the sport led him to become a multiple-time champion of Open DanceSport Championships and Festivals held throughout Ukraine. He also became a multiple-time finalist in various WDSF competitions throughout Europe.

After finishing high school at the age of seventeen, Igor's father passed away. This stage in Igor's life was not easy for the young, talented athlete. Without doubt, his father was sure in the talent of his one and only son. With time, Igor understood that dance was the outlet that helped him fill the emptiness that consumed him after this tragedy.

Aside from training and competing for his own athletic career, Igor began getting involved with the careers of the younger generations. He began instructing Juvenile, Junior, and Youth dancers at Andrey Piskarev's Karnaval Dance Studio in his hometown where he led group classes of technique, musicality, and performance skills to prepare students better for competition. The dancers he instructed went on to win and place in the finals of some of the top Championships in Ukraine.

While training, competing, and instructing, Igor also attended the Chernivtsi National University where he obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Physical Education.

And the Competition Begins

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 afterwards, 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 have achieved in their first ever Showdance performance of their careers. Later that 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 the achievement for Igor and Michelle's 2nd international competition.

May brought a strong victory for the couple as the duo 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 the 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.

2020

In 2020, Igor & Michelle won the Mid-Atlantic Amateur Latin Championship, a USA Dance National Qualifying Event. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 and the restrictions inenforced everyall country ofthroughout the World, Igor & Michelle didn't have the opportunity to travel and compete as they and all dancers have done before.

From the month of March until the month of May (during the main lockdown timeline), Igor and Michelle, together with Alessandro Scalora, decided to take the time to unite people from all over the world of the beautiful DanceSport industry. Instructors, choreographers,choreographers, and dancers alike joined the trio to share their thoughts on staying strong and positive during this global crisis, sharing their advice on fighting on and not losing hope, sending their messages of support and aspiration. Thus, the project of "DanceSport - Stay United" was formed.

During the summertime period, when studios were allowed to reopen in the New Jersey area, Igor & Michelle started focusing on bringing in and developing the new generation of dancers in their studio - "[DanceSportDanceSport Studio (DSS)" as well as posting dance tutorial videos ("DanceSport Series") on their Youtube Channel (DSS Productions).

In November of 2020, Igor Golovach was elected one of new DanceSport Delegates of the USA Dance Federation, the USA Member Body of the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF).

Entrepreneurship

• WikiDanceSport.com: Co-Founder, Lead Editor
• DanceSport Studio (DSS): Owner, Director of the “Art of DanceSport Training System” in the Latin Division

At the age of twenty-one, Igor received an O1 visa (visa for extraordinary talent) and traveled to the United States to further excel in his career as an athlete as well as an instructor. Igor met Michelle-Angela Blank, with whom he would continue his competitive career representing the USA.

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 of 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.

DanceSport Studio

In 2018, Igor and Michelle 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.

Instructor

Igor is certified as an Instructor under the North American DanceSport Teachers Association (NADTA) in the International Style Latin division. He instructs all levels and age groups of competitive and social dancers from juveniles to seniors. He offers such training at DanceSport Studio (DSS) in Medford, NJ (USA)

Trained With

Throughout his dancing career, Igor has had the opportunity to train with some of the top coaches of the industry including:

• Jürgen Neudeck
• Maurizio Vescovo
• Tatsiana Lahvinovich Galchun
• Barbara Nagode 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
• Vladimir Karpov
• 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

Current Instructor

• Vladimir Karpov (New York, USA)

Dance Partners

Since relocating to the United States in 2015, Igor Golovach has partnered with Michelle-Angela Blank. They currently compete in the Amateur International Latin division, representing the United States of America.

• Michelle-Angela Blank (2015 - current)

Accomplishments

Competitor

• Mid-Atlantic Amateur Latin Champion (2020): USA Dance National Qualifying Event
• World Finalist of the 2019 WDSF World Showdance Latin Championship: 5th Place (Moscow, Russia)
• Representative of U.S. at the 2019 WDSF World Latin Championships
• Shoes Sponsored by Freed of London
• WDSF World Open Latin Quarter-Finalist - DanceComp Wuppertal (2019): Wuppertal, Germany
• 18th out of 103 couples
• USA Dance National Amateur Latin Vice-Champion (2019): Orem, UT (USA)
• 2-time USA Dance National Amateur Latin Showdance Vice-Champion
• 2019: Orem, UT (USA)
• 2018: Baltimore, MD (USA)
• Mid-Atlantic Amateur Latin Champion (2019): USA Dance National Qualifying Event: Bethesda, MD (USA)
• WDSF Rising Star Latin Open Bronze Medalist - Metu Open (2018): Ankara, Turkey
• Represented the USA at the WDSF World Showdance Latin Championship (2018): Bratislava, Slovakia
• WDSF Rising Star Latin Open Finalist - Prague Open Dance Festival (2018): Prague, Czech Republic
• NJ DanceSport Classic - Summer Sizzler Amateur Latin Champion (2018): USA Dance National Qualifying Event: Hackensack, NJ (USA)
• WDSF Rising Star Latin Open Vice-Champion - Caucasus Cup (2018): Tbilisi, Georgia
• WDSF Adult Latin Champion - New England DanceSport Championships (2018): Boston, MA (USA)
• 2-time New England DanceSport Amateur Latin Champion (2017 - 2018): USA Dance National Qualifying Event: Boston, MA (USA)
• WDSF World Open Latin Quarter-Finalist - San Marino DanceSport Grand Prix (2018): San Marino
• Latin Rising Star Semi-Finalist - San Marino DanceSport Grand Prix (2018): San Marino
• USA Dance National Amateur Latin Finalist: 4th Place (2018): Baltimore, MD (USA)
• 2-time Liberty Ball Amateur Latin Champion (2016, 2018): Philadelphia, PA (USA)
• Mid-Atlantic Amateur Latin Vice-Champion (2018): Baltimore, MD (USA)
• Manhattan Amateur Classic (MAC) Amateur Latin Finalist: 4th Place (2018): Jersey City, NJ (USA)
• Islanders DanceSport Challenge Amateur Latin Champion (2018): Staten Island, NY (USA)
• WDSF Rising Star Open Latin - American DanceSport Festival: 3rd Place (2017): Miami, FL (USA)
• American Star Ball Amateur Latin Finalist: 3rd Place (2017): Atlantic City, NJ (USA)
• USA Dance National Amateur Latin Semi-Finalist (2017): Baltimore, MD (USA)
• Mid-Atlantic Amateur Latin Finalist: 5th Place (2017): Baltimore, MD (USA)
• Virginia Open Amateur Latin Champion (2016): Reston, VA (USA)

Instructor

• Certified Instructor with the North American DanceSport Teachers Association (NADTA)

Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Physical Education (Chernivtsi National University)