Katya Virshilas (born 10 September 1983) is a Lithuanian-Canadian dancer and actress.

Early life Virshilas was born in Lithuania, to a Jewish family. She subsequently moved to Israel at age 6, and to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, at thirteen.Sexy Katya to Salsa in Mumbai The Times of India, 19 August 2007 She began dancing at the age of 13.

Career She was a Vancouver British Columbia Dancesport Champion four times, from 1998 to 2002.Shiamak is India's Michael Jackson! The Times of India, 13 November 2007 In 2001, she and her partner won the Canadian Latin Dance Championship.Katya Virshilas Free-Press-Release.com Virshilas has appeared in the Hollywood films Shall We Dance? (2004), Take the Lead (2006) and John Tucker Must Die (both 2006), and in the television shows Smallville, Supernatural, Psych, and others.

Based in the United Kingdom from the start of her appearances in the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing series, she has since 2009 been professionally partnered with Danish dancer Klaus Kongsdal.

Virshilas toured the UK with Pasha Kovalev from 26 March 2012 in their own show.

Strictly Come Dancing She appeared as a professional dancer on series 7 (2009) of Strictly Come Dancing partnering cricketer Phil Tufnell. They were knocked out of the competition in week 9. On that week, they were in the bottom-two couples after a combination of the judges' points allocation and the audience's votes, alongside Ricky Groves and Erin Boag but were not saved by the judges.

Virshilas returned for the eighth series of the dancing show in autumn 2010 and was partnered with rugby player Gavin Henson. In week 1 they scored 28 (their highest so far) and in week 4 they scored 23 for a tango to Britney Spears's "Toxic". However, were knocked out on the semi-final. In the ninth series, she was paired with Dan Lobb who was at the time one of the presenters of Daybreak. However, they were eliminated in week 3 of the competition.

On 20 June 2012, it was announced that Virshilas would not appear in the tenth series.

Series Partner Place7Phil Tufnell8th8Gavin Henson5th9Dan Lobb13th

Highest and Lowest Scoring Per Dance DancePartnerHighestPartnerLowestAmerican Smooth Phil Tufnell 28 Gavin Henson 27Argentine Tango Cha-cha-cha Gavin Henson 29 Phil Tufnell 22Charleston Couple's Choice Foxtrot Gavin Henson 33 Jive Gavin Henson 22 Paso Doble Gavin Henson 26 Quickstep Gavin Henson 33 Phil Tufnell 24Rumba Phil Tufnell 28 Gavin Henson 22Salsa Phil Tufnell 24 Gavin Henson 19Samba Gavin Henson 27 Phil Tufnell 25Showdance Tango Phil Tufnell 30 Gavin Henson 23Viennese Waltz Gavin Henson 31 Dan Lobb 24 Waltz Phil Tufnell 29 Dan Lobb 24

Series 7 - with celebrity partner Phil Tufnell Week Dance / Song Judges' scores Score ResultHorwoodGoodmanDixonTonioli 1 Did not perform - - - - - - 2Waltz / "Sam"Cha-cha-cha / "Daddy"748676762922Safe3Quickstep / "Put on a Happy Face"566724Safe4Salsa / "Long Train Runnin'"476724Safe5Viennese Waltz / "Mad About the Boy"677727Safe6Samba / "Daddy Cool"676625Safe7Tango / "Back to Black"778830Safe8Rumba / "Maybe I'm Amazed"687728Safe9American Smooth / "Come Fly with Me"788828Eliminated

Series 8 - with celebrity partner Gavin Henson Week Dance / Song Judges' scores Score ResultHorwoodGoodmanDixonTonioli 1 Waltz / "You Light Up My Life" 6 8 7 7 28 No Elimination 2Salsa / "Don't Stop the Music"365519Safe3Rumba / "Always on My Mind"367622Safe4Tango / "Toxic"566623Safe5Paso Doble / "Uprising"577726Safe6Cha-cha-cha / "Don't Cha"588829Safe7Quickstep / "I Want You to Want Me"789933Safe8American Smooth / "She's a Lady"478827Safe9Jive / "Hey Ya!"367622Bottom two10Foxtrot / "Minnie the Moocher"799833Safe11Samba / "Bamboleo"Swing-a-thon / "In the Mood"Viennese Waltz / "Yow Know Me"6Awarded67197Extra87Point8Eliminated

Series 9 - with celebrity partner Dan Lobb Week Dance / Song Judges' scores Score ResultHorwoodGoodmanDixonTonioli 1 Waltz / "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" 4 7 7 6 24 No Elimination 2Salsa / "Upside Down"466521Safe3Viennese Waltz / "Somebody to Love"576624Eliminated

So You Think You Can Dance On the first series of the televised reality dancing competition So You Think You Can Dance, Virshilas choreographed or semi-choreographed four routines for different couples:

Week 1 helped James Jordan with the choreography of Robbie White and Yanet Fuentes's American Smooth style foxtrot Week 2 choreographed (alongside professional partner Klaus) Mark Calape and Lizzie Gough's Viennese Waltz, which was highly praised by the judges Week 5 choreographed (alongside professional partner Klaus) Mandy Montanez and Alastair Postlethwaite's Paso Doble, which was criticized by the judges for the lack of passion, in particular, Nigel Lythgoe, series creator and judge, said it was the worst performance the pair had given over the course of the whole series Week 6 (final) choreographed (alongside professional partner Klaus) Lizzie Gough and Tommy Franzén's tango, much to the praise of the judges

Virshilas reappeared on the second series to choreograph more routines: Week 2 choreographed (alongside professional partner Klaus) Stephanie Powell and Gian Luca Loddo's cha-cha-cha, which was praised by the judges, despite Powell and Loddo being placed in the bottom two couples by public vote and consequently eliminated Week 2 choreographed (alongside professional partner Klaus) Alice Woodhouse and Charlie Wheeller's American Smooth style waltz, praised highly by the judges Week 7 choreographed (alongside professional partner Klaus) the boys' group Paso Doble performance (Lee Bridgman, Luke Jackson and Matt Flint) Week 8 (final) choreographed (alongside professional partner Klaus) Matt Flint and Kirsty Swain's American Smooth style waltz/foxtrot

Personal life Virshilas started dating Klaus Kongsdal in 2009 after the two met at the BBC bar. They announced their engagement in January 2011. The couple married on Saturday 7 July 2012 in a chateau in Loire Valley, France. 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 at YWCA.org and Kuddo. After Virshilas suffered a miscarriage in 2014, the couple had their first child, a boy, in May 2016.

References

External links

Katya Virshilas in the dance drama "Take the Lead" with Antonio Banderas Katya Virshilas and Pasha Kovalev