Oleksii Ivanets and Lisa Bellinger-Ivanets
from England
We met with Oleksii Ivanets and Lisa Bellinger-Ivanets in their home in
Southampton, England. They are currently the best English Amateur couple
dancing Ten Dances and second in Latin style. They got married last summer.
Who are they?
Lisa Bellinger-Ivanets (from England) started dancing ballet,
jazz and tap dance when she was three and then took medals in latin
and ballroom. She moved to competitve dancing at the age of seven. Lisa's
parents (Robert and Linda Ballinger) are teachers and have a dance studio in
Eastleigh.
Oleksii Ivanets (from Ukraine) was seven years old when he
began ballet and Russian folk dancing. At the age of thirteen
he started ballroom and latin and later, at sixteen, he moved to Poland to
expand his career.
Amateur Latin dancers. Represent England - see their
results page
How did they get together?
In July 2001 Oleksii split with his partner in Poland and went for holidays to
England to see the famous dance locations. In the studio in Cheam he met Denise
Weavers, who advised him to contact Lisa and who arranged a try out for them.
They practiced for about a week and were sure from the first day that they
should dance with each other. Unfortunately, Oleksii had to arrange a British
visa to come to England. They started dancing together almost half a year
later and in December 2001 a new couple was born.
In August 2003 they decided to get married and bought a house.
Opinions, views....
What do you think about the declining popularity of
dancing?
Lisa: "I do not think there is a decline in dancing. There is a decline
in competitive dancing. When you go for a University competition there are
hundreds of dancers."
Oleksii: "I think there is [a decline]. Fashion changes �
ballroom and latin dancing are seen as out of date. However, other forms of
dancing are very popular. Our shop [Lisa runs a dance shop in
Eastleigh which offers dancing, tap, jazz and ballet shoes, clothes
and accesories - Ed.] is very, very busy. Ballet and street
dancing are very popular. We think it�s only temporary."
How does your personal relationship
relate to dancing?
Oleksii and Lisa: "We keep that very
separate,
when we are on the floor it's strictly business"
What is in
your opinion the best country to dance in?
Lisa: "England - good studios, the best teachers"
Oleksii: "England, but also Japan � the audience is very receptive. It's
a very polite nation, very appreciative"
What would you like to do if you were not
dancing?
Lisa: "I can't imagine, I would be miserable"
Oleksii: "I would like to do something with foreigners, working for a
foreign company for instance, or in politics [Oleksii works as a
translator, he speaks several languages - Ed. ]"
Personality....
What is
your favourite dance?
Oleksii : "Paso Doble"
Lisa : "Rumba"
So now what is your favourite ballroom dance?
Oleksii and Lisa: "Foxtrot!"
What is your biggest dream?
Oleksii : "To become the Professional World Champion, open my own
studio and to work in what I love"
Lisa: "Also to be No 1 in professional Latin - this is my biggest dream.
For now I have 'smaller' dreams, more achievable - first I would like to
become No 1 in Amateur Latin in England. In 10 years time I would like to have
a baby [laughs]"
What is
your biggest nightmare?
Lisa: "If I could not dance I would be very miserable. I cannot imagine
it, it�s my life."
Oleksii: "I try not to think about it. But losing Lisa would be the
worst thing"
Your favourite food?
Lisa: "Mashed potatoes!"
Oleksii: "Chicken, any form, with garlic or lemon"
Any food
you hate?
Oleksii: "I like most of the foods [long pause]... but if I
have to name something it will be English Christmas pudding! I hate this kind
of pudding."
Lisa: "Beef, and I absolutely detest sweet corn!"
What is
your favourite pet?
Oleksii : "Dog"
Lisa: "Dog � spaniel [they have a spaniel at home � his name is TJ,
short from Tango Jive � these dances Lisa liked the most several years ago
- Ed.]"
What is
your favourite hobby?
Lisa: "all the artistic crafts e.g. needlework, reading and �
watching Eastenders [a popular English TV soap opera - Ed. ] "
Oleksii: "I like reading very much and I am very interested in politics"
Your nicest memory?
Lisa: "Winning Blackpool Under 21 category in 2000"
Oleksii: "Our wedding. [they both laugh] I have never won
Blackpool. If I had maybe my answer would be different"
Partnership....
What is
your partner's biggest virtue and biggest flaw?
Oleksii : "Lisa is very dedicated to dancing and hard working but also
very stubborn!"
Lisa : "Thoughtful and caring and he knows what he wants! But Oleksii is
also very stubborn"
What is your biggest virtue and biggest flaw?
Lisa: "I am a hard worker and a caring person, but I agree that I can be
stubborn at times!"
Oleksii: "I am dedicated to what I choose to do and I work hard. And,
OK, I am stubborn!"
Passion....
What was your biggest argument about?
Lisa: "Mainly about dancing. There were many small arguments rather than
just one big one. We have no arguments outside of dancing."
Oleksii: "And we enjoy making up after these arguments [both laugh]"
Do you fight often?
Oleksii: "Once in a while"
Lisa : "We have similar personalities � we are both stubborn, so we
clash sometimes"
Friendship....
What is
most important for you in friendship?
Lisa : "Loyalty and dedication"
Oleksii : "Trust and being there for the friend"
Are your
best friends dancers as well?
Oleksii: "We have got quite a few close friends. Some of them dance, but
we try to separate our competitions from 'off the floor' relationships.
Our friends understand that we don't have much time for socialising."
Lisa: "We have more friends between ballroom dancers, but it is only
because it just happened so, not because we do not compete against them [laughs
] "
Have you
got time for friends and activities other than dancing?
Oleksii: "Not a lot of time for friends, but we try to go to
the gym often. We would like to do some other forms of dancing e.g.
ballet, jazz but we are just too busy"
Lisa: "We do yoga, we would like to do more ballet"
Fun, holidays, relaxation....
What do you like to do for fun?
Lisa: "Watching films, catching up with family and friends, playing on
the computer "
Oleksii: "Pretty much the same, going out, to the theatre, shows"
Lisa: "We are not into clubbing!"
What is your favourite book or film?
Lisa : "'Chicago', 'Pretty Woman' and I am also a 'Friends' freak!"
Oleksii: "'Pappillion', all the movies with Al Pacino e.g. 'Scent
of a woman','Living in Las Vegas'. I like reading the classic Russian
literature e.g. Dostoyevsky or Chekhov"
Have you got time for holidays? Could
you describe your dream holidays?
Oleksii: "We have never been on proper holidays and we never plan
any, we just take a last minute weekend holiday offer"
Lisa: "Our last holiday was our honeymoon in Spain last August. We would
like to return to Spain with some friends next summer. It all depends on our
dancing schedule"
You compete abroad a lot � do you try to make a
holiday out of it?
Oleksii and Lisa: "No � not really, we only did this
once, in Ukraine. It was a very active holiday � we did a lot of mountain
hiking for instance!"
Are you
happy to try foreign, exotic food?
Oleksii: "Yes. When we were in China, we had some aromatic crispy duck
cooked by the local chef and it was fantastic!"
Lisa: "I am very carefull with what I eat because I am allergic to
wheat. I don't want to try things which I don't know because they can make me
ill"
Future...
What about
the Internet and dance webpages?
Oleksii: "We like your site very much! [Oleksii and Lisa often send us
news and results from competitons - Ed]. My family in Ukraine often
visits your website to check my results - they say it's very convenient,
because they don't have to call me!"
Plans for the future?
Oleksii: "We would like to stay Amateurs for a while, then turn
professional and eventually retire from competitions and open our own school"
Lisa: "Same, but eventually I would also like to have children. Now I
want to expand my shop. I'm afraid my career comes first for now [laughs]"
Thank you very much and good luck for the
future!>