Our Coaches

Linas Koreiva

Linas Koreiva started dancing in Lithuania at age 6. Among some of his proudest accomplishments is that he was the Youth World Champion in 1997 and Blackpool Under 21 Champion in 1998. He has won all major competitions in the Under 21 division. Linas was a European cup winner as an amateur and has represented the US since 2005. He was a finalist in all major US professional Ballroom competitions and has been coaching the Rutgers Ballroom team for the past 6 years. Away from the glitz and glamour of the dancing he enjoys quiet time fly-fishing in Montana.

Nikita Malakhov and Nadezda Vlasova

Nikita Malakhov was born in Riga and raised in Montreal, where he eventually started dancing and competing at the age of 6. He was a finalist in all major Canadian juvenile and junior division competitions. Nikita’s dance career in Montreal came to a close when he became the Junior II National champion in the Standard, Latin and 10 dance categories, landing him a chance to represent Canada at the Junior II 10 dance World Championships in Ireland. Nikita then moved to USA to continue his dancing. Soon after, he became the vice champion at the 2009 USA Dance National Championships giving him and his partner a chance to represent the US at the Youth Latin World Championships in China, where they were quarter finalists. Nikita also landed some prestigious positions on TV shows such as top 16 male dancers on So You Think You Can Dance Season 7!

Nadezda Vlasova, born in St-Petersburg, Russia, started competing in ballroom dance at the age of 8. In 2005, she was ranked 3rd in the Youth Latin division by the St-Petersburg DanceSport Federation. Nadya was featured as a lead dancer in the movie “Lucky: No Time For Love”. They met in 2008, working for the same company, Dance With Me USA. After some time Nikita and Nadya became a couple off the dance floor, which in turn sparked the beginning of a new dance partnership. Marking their fourth year as a competitive couple, they have have been the USA Dance National Champions, placing 1st in 2013 and being runners up in 2014. Furthermore, in 2013 they secured the World Masters title at the Yankee Classic and in the next year of 2014 they became Ohio Star Ball Finalists. Some of their international results include being 8th at the 2014 Dutch Open Rising Star Amateur Latin, Bronze medalists at the 2014 Fred Astaire Cup in Paris and 8th at the 2015 UK Open Championship Rising Star Latin. They also earned 7th place at Latin Showdance event at the 2013 WDSF World Dancesport Games, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.  The couple recently placed 3rd in Rising Star Latin at the UK Open in 2016.

Nikita and Nadya are representing Paragon Ballroom under the coaching of Andrei Gavriline and Elena Kruchkova. Some of their trainers also include Eugene Katsevman, Maria Manusova, Graham Oswick, Carmen and Ruud Vermeij. This couple has a bright future and radiate high hopes for the entire ballroom community, which ultimately got them their sponsorship from AIDA Dance US at the end of 2014.