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Marharyta Ivochkina comes to us from Southern Ukraine. She got her start in the world of Ballroom Dance at the age of 7. Having fallen in love with dance at the age of 12, she spread her wings into many other forms of dance, including Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Afro-Jazz, Jazz-Funk, Vogue, and Lyrical.
Some of her first achievements were competing with her dance team. Her team went on to compete in Hip-Hop, Jazz, and Contemporary, winning many accolades in Bulgaria (Sofia), Hungary (Budapest), and Greece (Afiny). As a result of her teams’ achievements, she and her team had the opportunity to work with many of the most outstanding professionals from all over central Europe, including Thomas Borgersen, a European champion.
Marharyta started a career teaching at 18. Having been inspired by her own childhood in dance, she wanted to introduce children to dance the same way that she had been. She focused primarily on the style of Ballet to begin with. Ballet is one of the strongest fundamental styles of dance to learn for bettering all other styles that may later come for the children.
At 20 years old, she participated in a TV show that many of us here in America know well, “So you think you can dance?”. Many other countries created an adaptation of the show, including Ukraine. Marharyta earned herself a ranking in the top 100 dancers of her home country. While this was an impressive ranking on its own for Marharyta, it was not good enough by the standards to which she holds herself. She strives to improve and be the best that she possibly can constantly.
She continued her journey with dance as a coach for the Ukrainian National DanceSport Team, eventually opening her own dance studio in Ukraine. Over the next two years, she had the opportunity to work with many children in her studio. Eventually, certain worldly circumstances brought cause for her to pursue other avenues in dance, leading her here to America.
Her passion for ballroom dance reignited, and with the knowledge and skills of so many other forms of dance, she is an extremely valuable addition to the Fred Astaire Middletown team. Aside from teaching, she has already gone on to competing professionally with owner Andrew Kerski, winning in her first event here in the United States. Marharyta inspires, educates, and drives people to new heights with their dancing everyday.