Inna Brayer (born in

Moscow, Russia Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

) is a

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

-based amateur ballroom dancer competing in the International 10-Dance division. She is best known for being the 2007 Amateur USA Dance National 10-Dance Champions with her partner, Pasha Pashkov. From 1998-1999, Brayer was partnered with fellow

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

co-star

Maksim Chmerkovskiy Maksim Aleksandrovich Chmerkovskiy (born January 17, 1980) is an American Latin– ballroom dance champion, choreographer, and instructor. He is widely known as one of the professional dancers on the American television series '' Dancing with t ...

's brother

Valentin Chmerkovskiy Valentin Aleksandrovich "Val" Chmerkovskiy (born March 24, 1986) is a Ukrainian-American professional dancer, best known for his appearances on the U.S. version of '' Dancing with the Stars'', which he won three times. Chmerkovskiy is a two-time ...

. A native of Russia, Brayer is of Jewish descent. She was raised in the U.S. from the age of 2, and began dancing at age 7. Her coaching has included Latin champions Taliat & Marina Tarsinov. In addition to their 3-time U.S. title, Pashkov & Brayer have also placed 11th at the World Championships in Tokyo, and 9th at the World Cup in Vancouver. Inna attended

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

in New York City, where she graduated in 2012. On August 25, 2008, it was announced that Inna would be participating as a pro on

Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 7) Season seven of ''Dancing with the Stars'' premiered on September 22, 2008, on the ABC network. Instead of twelve couples as in previous seasons, this was the first season to feature a lineup of thirteen couples. This season also introduced fou ...

. She was paired with actor

Ted McGinley Theodore Martin McGinley (born May 30, 1958) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jefferson D'Arcy on the television sitcom '' Married... with Children'', Charley Shanowski on the ABC sitcom '' Hope & Faith'', and as Derek on the ...

. They were the second couple eliminated from the competition on the 1st Week. As of 2019, Inna has 2 dance schools in New York which she owns. Although she retired from competitive dancing she is very much involved.

References

Russian emigrants to the United States Hunter College alumni American ballroom dancers Dancers from Brooklyn Living people Participants in American reality television series Year of birth missing (living people) {{Dance-bio-stub