Katya Virshilas | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1983-09-10)10 September 1983 (age 41) |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, dancer |
| Height | 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)[1] |
| Spouse(s) | Dmitry Ilyushenov(divorced) Klaus Kongsdal(7 July 2012–present) |
| Children | 2 |
Katya Virshilas (born 10 September 1983) is aLithuanian-Canadian[2] dancer and actress.
Virshilas was born inLithuania, to aJewish family. She subsequently moved toIsrael at age 6, and toVancouver,British Columbia, Canada, at thirteen.[3] She began dancing at the age of 13.[4]
She was a Vancouver British Columbia Dancesport Champion four times, from 1998 to 2002.[5] In 2001, she and her partner won the Canadian Latin Dance Championship.[6] Virshilas has appeared in theHollywood filmsShall We Dance? (2004),Take the Lead andJohn Tucker Must Die (both 2006), and in the television showsSmallville,Supernatural,Psych, and others.
Based in the United Kingdom from the start of her appearances in theBBC'sStrictly Come Dancing series, she has since 2009 been professionally partnered withDanish dancer Klaus Kongsdal.
Virshilas toured the UK withPasha Kovalev from 26 March 2012 in their own show.[7]
She appeared as a professional dancer onseries 7 (2009) ofStrictly Come Dancing partneringcricketerPhil Tufnell. They were knocked out of the competition in week 9.[citation needed] On that week, they were in the bottom-two couples after a combination of the judges' points allocation and the audience's votes, alongsideRicky Groves andErin Boag but were not saved by the judges.
Virshilas returned for theeighth series of the dancing show in autumn 2010 and was partnered with rugby playerGavin Henson. In week 1 they scored 28 (their highest so far) and in week 4 they scored 23 for a tango toBritney Spears's "Toxic". However, were knocked out on the semi-final. In the ninth series, she was paired withDan Lobb[8] who was at the time one of the presenters ofDaybreak.[9] However, they were eliminated in week 3 of the competition.
On 20 June 2012, it was announced that Virshilas would not appear in thetenth series.[10]
| Series | Partner | Place |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Phil Tufnell | 8th |
| 8 | Gavin Henson | 5th |
| 9 | Dan Lobb | 13th |
Highest and Lowest Scoring Per Dance
| Dance | Partner | Highest | Partner | Lowest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Smooth | Phil Tufnell | 28 | Gavin Henson | 27 |
| Argentine Tango | ||||
| Cha-cha-cha | Gavin Henson | 29 | Phil Tufnell | 22 |
| Charleston | ||||
| Couple's Choice | ||||
| Foxtrot | Gavin Henson | 33 | ||
| Jive | Gavin Henson | 22 | ||
| Paso Doble | Gavin Henson | 26 | ||
| Quickstep | Gavin Henson | 33 | Phil Tufnell | 24 |
| Rumba | Phil Tufnell | 28 | Gavin Henson | 22 |
| Salsa | Phil Tufnell | 24 | Gavin Henson | 19 |
| Samba | Gavin Henson | 27 | Phil Tufnell | 25 |
| Showdance | ||||
| Tango | Phil Tufnell | 30 | Gavin Henson | 23 |
| Viennese Waltz | Gavin Henson | 31 | Dan Lobb | 24 |
| Waltz | Phil Tufnell | 29 | Dan Lobb | 24 |
| Week№ | Dance / Song | Judges' scores | Score | Result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horwood | Goodman | Dixon | Tonioli | ||||
| 1 | Did not perform | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2 | Waltz / "Sam" Cha-cha-cha / "Daddy" | 7 4 | 8 6 | 7 6 | 7 6 | 29 22 | Safe |
| 3 | Quickstep / "Put on a Happy Face" | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 24 | Safe |
| 4 | Salsa / "Long Train Runnin'" | 4 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 24 | Safe |
| 5 | Viennese Waltz / "Mad About the Boy" | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 27 | Safe |
| 6 | Samba / "Daddy Cool" | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 25 | Safe |
| 7 | Tango / "Back to Black" | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 30 | Safe |
| 8 | Rumba / "Maybe I'm Amazed" | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 28 | Safe |
| 9 | American Smooth / "Come Fly with Me" | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 28 | Eliminated |
| Week№ | Dance / Song | Judges' scores | Score | Result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horwood | Goodman | Dixon | Tonioli | ||||
| 1 | Waltz / "You Light Up My Life" | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 28 | No Elimination |
| 2 | Salsa / "Don't Stop the Music" | 3 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 19 | Safe |
| 3 | Rumba / "Always on My Mind" | 3 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 22 | Safe |
| 4 | Tango / "Toxic" | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 23 | Safe |
| 5 | Paso Doble / "Uprising" | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 26 | Safe |
| 6 | Cha-cha-cha / "Don't Cha" | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 29 | Safe |
| 7 | Quickstep / "I Want You to Want Me" | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 33 | Safe |
| 8 | American Smooth / "She's a Lady" | 4 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 27 | Safe |
| 9 | Jive / "Hey Ya!" | 3 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 22 | Bottom two |
| 10 | Foxtrot / "Minnie the Moocher" | 7 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 33 | Safe |
| 11 | Samba / "Bamboleo" Swing-a-thon / "In the Mood" Viennese Waltz / "Yow Know Me" | 6 Awarded 6 | 7 1 9 | 7 Extra 8 | 7 Point 8 | 27 28 31 | Eliminated |
| Week№ | Dance / Song | Judges' scores | Score | Result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horwood | Goodman | Dixon | Tonioli | ||||
| 1 | Waltz / "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" | 4 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 24 | No Elimination |
| 2 | Salsa / "Upside Down" | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 21 | Safe |
| 3 | Viennese Waltz / "Somebody to Love" | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 24 | Eliminated |
On the first series of the televised reality dancing competitionSo You Think You Can Dance, Virshilas choreographed or semi-choreographed four routines for different couples:
Virshilas reappeared on the second series to choreograph more routines:
Virshilas started dating Klaus Kongsdal in 2009 after the two met at the BBC bar.[11] They announced their engagement in January 2011.[12] The couple married on Saturday 7 July 2012 in a chateau in Loire Valley, France.[13]The couple since then moved to Hong Kong and founded Ballroom Bees dance class for children below 6 years old, the dance courses are sold online and offline atYWCA.org andKuddo. After Virshilas initially suffering a miscarriage in 2014, the couple had their first child, a boy, in May 2016.[14]