KATYA VIRSHILAS

 

Biography: Lithuanian born Katya began dancing at the age of six when her family moved to Israel, learning jazz, ballet and modern dance, but it was after another move, this time to Canada, that she discovered ballroom dancing. At the age of 16, she became the youngest ever champion at the British Columbian Latin Dance competition. Katya has not confined herself to the dancing world, and in 2003, landed a role in the film Shall We Dance, as well as becoming the trainer for the lead actors in the movie. She went on to choreograph the Tango routine in the film Take The Lead, and performed it in the movie with Antonio Banderas. Katya has competed in Strictly Come Dancing since series seven and will be returning again for the ninth series.
Speciality: Ballroom/Latin/Swing/Mambo/Salsa
Height: 5' 6"
Achievements:
  • Canadian National Latin Champion (2000)
  • World Championship Semi Finalist (2001)
  • 2 time Canadian National 10-Dance Finalist (1999/2000)
  • IDSF Korean Champion (2000)
  • IDSF Moscow Cup Champion (2001)
  • 6 time BC Open Latin Champion (1996 -2002)
  • 6 time BC Closed Latin Champion (1996-2002)
  • 2 time Ontario Open Latin Champion (1999-2001)
  • 2 time Ontario Closed Champion (1999-2001)
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    Official Website: Follow Katya on twitter @katyavirshilas

     

     

    Strictly Come Dancing history

    Series Celebrity Last week Position Last dance(s)
    7 Phil Tufnell 9 8th American Smooth
    8 Gavin Henson 11 =4th Samba; Viennese Waltz
    9 Dan Lobb 3 13th Viennese Waltz

     

    Statistics*

    upto and including Series 9

    Dances   Score
    Type Number   Highest LowestAverage
    Ballroom 11   33 23 27.8
    Latin 8   29 22 25.1
    Speciality 5   31 19 24.4
    Overall 24   33 19 26.2

     

    Number of 10s: 0

    Number of 40s: 0

     

    *Statistics calculated on all dances in normal competition, i.e. excluding Christmas specials.