Two Coquitlam dancers are hoping to cha cha their way to the finals in the upcoming national ballroom dance competition.
Maryana Dudchenko and Vlad Bohdanov, the current B.C. Latin dance champions, are busy training for the Canadian Closed DanceSport Championships April 6 to 7; the national competition will be part of the annual SnowBall Classic at the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel in Vancouver.
The weekend will mark the third time Dudchenko and Bohdanov have entered the nationals since they became dance partners in 2010. That year, the couple entered in the youth category and placed third in the country.
In 2011 the pair moved into the adult category and made it to the finals.
"This year I'm hoping to repeat the final and hopefully do better than last year," Dudchenko said.
She and Bohdanov will perform all five of the Latin dances - cha cha, rumba, jive, samba and paso doble - which have been choreographed and coached by their instructors from Toronto.
Each round is a test of stamina and endurance, Dudchenko said, as couples run through all five of the dances in quick succession.
"Everyone is trying to do their best and giving it all they got, so you've to to bring it as well," she added.
After daily rehearsals for the past year, forgetting the steps is a rare occurrence. Besides, Dudchenko said, the dancers can fall back on their extensive experience and improvise if they collide with other dancers.
"You have to be in sync with your dance partner and figure things out," she said.
A strong partnership is key in such cases and for Dudchenko and Bohdanov, their shared background and love of dance are working in their favour.
"I think we really understand each other, we're on the same page and at the same time we're really passionate about what we do," Dudchenko said. "We try to figure things out, we compromise if anything is wrong and we're really both focused on improving and becoming better."
Both are from Ukraine, though they lived in different cities, and started dancing at the age of four.
Dudchenko has been dancing exclusively Latin dances since she was seven, moving to the Lower Mainland in 2000 with her family.
Bohdanov had been competing in both standard ballroom and Latin until he moved here to partner with Dudchenko - leaving behind his family and friends in Ukraine - in early 2010. He's now strictly a Latin dancer.
"I like ballroom but my favourite is samba," he said. "For many years I used to prefer it all the time because of the music, the movement, everything."
Dudchenko has always preferred Latin, saying even as a kid she knew it was more entertaining to watch.
And she knows the competition is going to be tough.
"We know all the couples competing because we compete against each other throughout the whole year," Dudchenko said. "It's a battle. It's going to be tough, because everyone's getting better throughout the year."
The 24th annual SnowBall Classic will feature a competitive ballroom dance program including five standard ballroom dances (tango, quickstep, slow foxtrot, Viennese waltz and the slow waltz) and the five Latin dances.
Each year the competition attracts hundreds of top dancers from around the world. The Canadian Closed Championships are open to Canadian dancers only.
Visit www.dancesportbc.com for more information and tickets.
