My Story 

" My name is Liya, and my dance journey began when I was just six years old. Even at that tender age, I set a bold goal for myself: to become a world champion. I had no idea what that truly meant or what it would take—but the dream was planted.

Time passed, and at the age of nine, with a new dance partner, I attended my first Blackpool Dance Festival. That experience opened my eyes to the vastness of the dance world, and from then on, we took our dreams seriously. Through relentless training and unwavering determination, my partner and I became National Champions of Kazakhstan at just twelve years old.

What followed was nothing short of extraordinary. For seven consecutive years, we held the national titles in both Standard and Latin categories—becoming twelve-time National Champions of Kazakhstan. Simultaneously, we began striving for international success. At seventeen, we reached the final of the Amateur World Indoor Games in Korea. At eighteen, we made the finals of the World Championships in Latin and 10 Dance, and the German Open Championship in 10 Dance. At nineteen, we returned to the German Open Championship and made the final again in the Amateur Rising Star category.

At twenty, I made a pivotal decision to continue my dance career in Europe. I lived in Germany for six months before moving to Poland, where I shared a short but impactful partnership with a new dance partner.

Throughout those years, I traveled the world for international competitions—many of which we won or medaled in. We trained endlessly across Europe and Russia with some of the world’s most renowned coaches. But none of it came easily. It was a journey paved with failures, tears, sweat, financial hardships, personal struggles—and in between, moments of joy, laughter, and triumph. It was an emotional rollercoaster.

Was I happy? Always.

Was it hard? Incredibly.

At twenty-one, I made one of the boldest moves of my life. I left behind my life in Europe, my beloved coaches, and my WDSF career to move to the United States and represent a new country under a new federation—WDC. In a single day, I crossed an ocean, changed partners, coaches, federations, and even competition categories. At just 21, I became a professional dancer.

I had to build everything from scratch -  find new friends, get alone with totally new community, get financially stable, and even relearn dance technique. Because at that point I realized that in the WDC federation, they have different values and different approaches to the dance on all levels. So I started to unlearn and relearn how to dance. 

Together after 7 years with my dance partner we’ve become United States RS Professional finalists, winners of many dance competitions in the US, Blackpool Professional RS semifinalist, World Professional Quarter finalists. "