Karina Smirnoff - 2012 BTP Guest Artist

For the past six years, Karina Sminoff has made her mark on primetime television as one of the professional dancers on ABC's top-rated program, Dancing with the Stars (DWTS).  In the most recent season (#13) in the fall of 2011, she was partnered with US military hero and All My Children star, JR Martinez.  Her first appearance on the series was in Season Three when she was partnered with actor and television host Mario Lopez.  She arrived to DWTS with a plethora of accomplishments in ballroom dancing including five U.S. Latin Ballroom Championships, five-time champion at the Dutch Open, three-time champion at the U.S. Open, two-time champion at the Asian Open, the U.K. Open Championship and the World Trophy Championship.  At one time, she was ranked the number two ballroom dancer in the world.  In June 2009, she made her Broadway debut in the exciting ballroom-themed show Burn the Floor which opened to rave reviews and sold out performances. 

Born and raised in Ukraine, Karina started to study dance when she was a mere five-year-old, and she started to compete in ballroom dancing by age 11.  Karina and her family moved to the U.S. when she was a teenager, and viewers of Dancing With The Stars might be surprised to learn that, at Fordham University in New York, she earned degrees in Economics and Information Systems Programming and had planned to become a lawyer – before the world of dance pulled her in. 

Karina has since found additional opportunities in the world of merchandising.  She released a fitness DVD, Shape up with Karina Smirnoff, launched the Karina Collection of boots with Bearpaw Shoes, and partnered with Girlactik Beauty on a Karina brand of cosmetics.   In 2011 Karina plans to open her first dance studio in Los Angeles, which will incorporate competitive and social classes, as well as a scholarship program directly related to her charity Dance Intervention, which supports the Oakland, CA-based Alternative Intervention Models, an arts and athletics organization founded to help creative kids in poverty or privilege deal with the emotional literacy challenges brought on by bullying, gangs, suicide, trauma, drug addiction, LBGT issues or family drama.