Valeriia Belozerova was born in Belgorod, Russia. She is a perfectionist in everything she does. Valeriia finished school with the highest marks (gold medal), achieved her university bachelor degree with the highest marks (red diploma), and got a Master’s degree in Government Management. She loves nature (forest and mountains are definitely winning against ocean and palm trees), skiing, and pets: dogs and cats (hopefully Igor reads this part).

Valeriia was 2.5 years old when her mom brought her to singing class. At first, she was singing in a group and then she started her career as a single pop singer and her coach back then told her that she should learn how to move on the stage. He highly recommended one studio in town, which was the best. They had produced amazing dancers such as the world famous: Yulia Zagoruychenko (her first teacher when she was 4 years old) and Yulia Spesivtceva, she continued at this studio until she was around 18 years old. This is how she found dancing, and few years later she moved to Moscow, and had to choose between singing and dancing. And even though she was successful in singing (winning a free entrance to a good Saint Petersburg academy) Valeriia’s heart belonged to dancing.

Valeriia was a ten dancer until she was 18 years old. She always felt that her Latin was actually on a same level as her Standard but because of her height, she can’t be as sharp and fast as all Latin petite girls. So when she couldn’t find a 10 dance partner, she had to choose between Latin and Standard. She went for Standard because she felt is more appropriate to her look. But deep inside she has a Latin soul for sure.

Igor Mikushov is originally from Tomsk, Russia. His mom brought him to dance class for the first time at the age of 6 and it really piqued his interest. He also played soccer throughout all his years in school but he had to choose between dancing and soccer at some point. The choice was obvious. He danced 10-dance until he was 23 years old. He represented the USA at the Amateur World Championships in 2008. Ballroom had always been his more successful side through all of the years he danced 10-dance so he eventually decided to continue with just Ballroom.

Igor & Valeriia met unexpectedly at the Michigan Open in 2021. Valeriia was there for work (make-up artist) and Igor was dancing Pro-Am with his student. One of their mutual friends found out that Valeriia was searching for a partner and told Igor to text her. After a nice dinner in a steakhouse with a couple glasses of wine, Valeriia received a text from Igor to try out after the comp. They had a quick try-out after the comp finished. Then after few weeks Valeriia flew to New Jersey, the couple practiced for a week and it felt great. They then decided to start their new dance chapter together. The couple training a lot in Rogers Dance Center (NJ) and also at Studio K (NJ).

Achievement as a couple:

• 3^rd Place - USDC Open to the World 2021
• 1^st Place - Southwestern Invitational 2021 & 2023
• 1^st Place - Constitution State Dancesport Championships
• 1^st Place - Paragon Open Dancesport Championships
• Finalists - Ohio Star Ball 2021
• 1^st Place - Tri- State Dancesport Championships 2022
• 1^st Place - Windy City Open 2022
• 3^rd Place - Heritage Dance Classic

Igor & Valeriia are aiming to become a couple that inspires others with our dancing and bring Standard program to a different level. They strive to become one of the strongest couples in the United States