Aric Yegudkin is an Australian choreographer and professional dancer born on 14 November 1985. Yegudkin is best known as a professional dancer on the
Australian Dancing with the Stars.
Early life
Yegudkin started taking ballroom dance lessons at 8 years old after his parents noticed him dancing to Michael Jackson songs. They chose ballroom for their son because they were Russian as was the local ballroom dance teacher.
Yegudkin competed as a
Latin American dancer in
dancesport
Dancesport is competitive ballroom dancing, as contrasted to social or exhibition dancing. In the case of Para dancesport, at least one of the dancers is in a wheelchair.
Dancesport events are sanctioned and regulated by dancesport organizat ...
competitions.
In July 2001, Yegudkin partnered with Masha Belash, and the two began competing together in the youth category of dancesport.
Together the pair won the Australian National Youth Latin American Championship three times.
Yegudkin is an accredited Dancesport Australia instructor.
He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949.
The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...
.
Career
Yegudkin first competed as a professional dancer Australian ''Dancing With the Stars'' in
season 3. He won his first season of the reality dance competition with celebrity partner
Ada Nicodemou
Ada Nicodemou (Greek: Άντα Νικοδήμου) (born 14 May 1977) is an Australian actress of Greek Cypriot descent. She began her acting career in 1994 in TV serial '' Heartbreak High'' as Katerina Ioannou. She also starred in '' Police Re ...
.
After winning their season of ''Dancing with the Stars'', Nicodemou and Yegudkin competed against past winners
Tom Williams and
Kym Johnson in a special televised competition. Both couples performed three dances over two weeks for the panel of judges. Nicodemou and Yegudkin won the competition and were given the "Champion of Champions" trophy.
Yegudkin's other past ''Dancing With the Stars'' partners include Haley Bracken,
Zoe Cramond,
Rhiannon Fish and
April Rose Pengilly.
For the fifteenth season of ''Dancing with the Stars'', Yegudkin was partnered with presenter
Emma Freedman in which they won on 7 September 2015.
In October 2016
Channel Seven announced ''Dancing with the Stars'' would not return, making Freedman and Yegudkin the final winners of the series on
Seven Network
Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
.
After
Network Ten
Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...
revived the show in 2019, Yegudkin returned partnering
Michelle Bridges
Michelle Bridges (born 20 October 1970) is an Australian personal trainer, author and television personality. From 2007 to 2015, she was a trainer on the Australian version of ''The Biggest Loser (Australia TV series), The Biggest Loser'', makin ...
in season sixteen and then
Claudia Karvan in season seventeen.
Yedgukin's Dancing with the Stars results are shown on the table below:
Outside of television, Yegudkin has served as a choreographer and dancer in the Australian touring stage show ''Shake, Rattle 'n'Roll''.
Yegudkin has also performed in productions of ''
Burn the Floor
Burn the Floor is a live dance show which has performed around the world, including on Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in New York City and the West End of London, West End in London. Since 1997, Burn the Floor has performed in over 130 countries ...
'' and ''Dance, Dance, Dance''.
In January 2017, Yegudkin and Belash announced they would be opening a dance studio in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
called Move by Aric and Masha.
Personal life
Yegudkin proposed to his professional dance partner Masha Belash in 2013. Yegudkin and Belash married in October 2018. Their wedding was featured in Vogue Australia the following April. The couple are parents to twin daughters born in 2020.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yegudkin, Aric
Australian ballroom dancers
Dancing with the Stars (Australian TV series) winners
Living people
1985 births
Australian male dancers
21st-century Australian dancers