Married in 2016, Tykhon & Yana arrived in the US a year earlier from Kiev, Ukraine, with a passion to compete and teach, they settled in Southern California.
Individually highly accomplished Latin dancers, in 2018 they decided to form a professional couple and switch their competitive focus from Latin to American Smooth.
In 2019 they took the Smooth circuit by storm.
Participating in 27 competitions that year, winning 23 rising stars titles and placing several times in the open smooth category, Tykhon and Yana were looking forward to a great 2020!
Unfortunately, 2020 did not go as planned for anyone!
Until recently, American Smooth was a style that was not widely known outside of the US and Yana has traveled back to her hometown of Kiev several times to promote and share her knowledge of the American Smooth dance style.
Yana and Tykhon are now Ambassadors of the Global Smooth System.
As someone who has known and learnt from this couple for the past 4 years... they are absolutely delightful. Many dancers are technically good but Tykhon and Yana express raw emotion that can easily bring the audience to tears.
Their waltz is soft and romantic, their Tango is passionate and dynamic, their Foxtrot playful and sexy. Their Viennese Waltz...magical!
We hope to see more of this truly wonderful couple on the competitive dance floor in 2021.
Learn about their experience coming to a new country, a new culture, a new language. Learn about the challenges faced when switching dance styles and how to gain credibility with judges and fellow dancers.
Take advantage of a Q & A. Ask them any dance related questions in the comments section of this post.
As dance instructors of all styles, learn how you can benefit from their knowledge.
