Wearing the best ballroom dance shoes for over two decades, Marat Gimaev and Alina Basyuk strived to make the final of the most prestigious competition ever, Blackpool Dance Festival. After becoming Professional in 2011, Marat and Alina have been constantly in 7th place a few marks away from the so coveted final. Then on the last competition that they decided to announce their retirement, Marat Gimaev and Alina Basyuk made the final of the Blackpool Dance Festival!!! What a special day for this partner as they culminated their career in spectacular fashion. Fighting for that final spot, they even placed fifth in two dances!

Marat Gimaev and Alina Basyuk are truly a rare breed of dancers and we are not sure if we'll ever see such a dynamic couple in the dancing world again. From being Ten-Dance World Champions to becoming Blackpool Finalists in all 4 major ballroom categories, their career has been nothing short of brilliant. It can really be broken down into 3 different eras: Ten-Dance domination, Amateur Ballroom finalists, and striving for that Blackpool final.

Marat and Alina have been the longest sponsored AIDA couple to date, with their sponsorship spanning an incredible 17 years! Now that is what we call brand loyalty. 

Ten Dance Domination

Marat Gimaev and Alina Basyuk began their dance career together in Moscow, Russia in the year 1999. Both Marat and Alina have Bachelor Degrees in Ballroom Dancing: Marat graduated as a “Teacher of Modern and Old-Time Ballroom Dancing” from the Russian Academy of Theatrical Arts in 2003, while Alina graduated as a “Physical Culture and Sports Specialist” from the Russian State University of Physical Culture in 2000. They quickly became IDSF Ten-Dance World Champions in 2001. They completely dominated the field becoming one of the youngest ten dance champions ever! They were one of the few couples who excelled in both styles of dance, and it showed when they made the final of the Under-21 Latin at the Blackpool Dance festival in 2000, the same year they became Ballroom World Semi-Finalists. This is quite impressive that a couple was able to compete at the elite level in both categories making it easy to see why they became 3 time World Ten-Dance Champions and 4 time Russian Ten-Dance Champions. 

Rise in Ballroom

After so much success as ten dancers, Marat Gimaev and Alina Basyuk yearned to be at the top without the asterisk that ten dancers so often get. Since Blackpool and the other most prestigious competitions such as the UK Open and The Internationals never host ten dance championships, it was time for Marat and Alina had to decide whether to hang up the ballroom dance shoe or the latin dance shoes. In choosing Ballroom, Marat and Alina had to forego a lot of amazing results they were able to achieve in Latin, including becoming semi-finalists of the UK Open in Amateur Latin. While most couples would be ecstatic to be in that position, Marat and Alina wanted to be the best. And within a year they became finalists of all major competitions in Amateur Ballroom. 

Professional Finalists

In 2011, Marat and Alina made two of the biggest career decisions they could've made: turning Professional and moving to America. In their first competition as Professionals, they WON the RS Professional Ballroom at the Blackpool Dance Festival. In joining Eugene Katsevman and Maria Manusova in Brooklyn, New York at the Brooklyn DanceSport Club, Marat and Alina joined forces with one of the most influential couples and studios in America. They culminated many champions and wonderful dancers, including the first American born Junior World Champions, Patryk Ploszaj and Anna Kaczmarski. Domestically, they quickly solidified themselves as the third best couple in America, behind World Champions Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova and World silver medalists Victor Fong and Anastasia Muravyova. But even with so much success domestically and in coaching they were still missing that coveted Blackpool Open Pro final appearance. Marat and Aline were constantly in 7th place, missing out on the final by a few marks every year. Until 2017. In 2017, not only did they make the final, but they also placed 5th in two of the dances, Waltz and Foxtrot! What a fantastic career for this couple and we are truly proud to have such an amazing couple represent AIDA Dance for the past 17 years. No couple will ever be as classy as Marat and Alina!

Marat and Alina have enjoyed much success in both their Amateur and Professional Dance careers, and have been an inspiration to many younger couples in the USA, Russia, and all over the world. Their Results include:

• 2001 World Amateur Ten Dance Champions
• 2002 World Amateur Ten Dance Champions
• 2003 World Amateur Ten Dance Champions
• 2003 European Cup Amateur Standard Winners
• 2004 European Cup Amateur Standard Winners
• 2008 European Amateur Ballroom Silver Medalists
• 2009 European Amateur Ballroom Silver Medalists
• 2000 Russian National Amateur Ten Dance Champion
• 2001 Russian National Amateur Ten Dance Champion
• 2002 Russian National Amateur Ten Dance Champion
• 2003 Russian National Amateur Ten Dance Champion
• 2001 World Amateur Ten Dance Champion
• 2002 World Amateur Ten Dance Champion
• 2003 World Amateur Ten Dance Champion
• 2005 World Game Finalist
• 2011 Blackpool Dance Festival RS Professional Ballroom Champions
• Medalists of all Major Championships including Blackpool, International, and UK Open
• IDSF Grand Slam Standard Winners